Preamble

This document describes the conference protocol for the annual international conference of the International Federation for Digital Scholarship in the Humanities (IFDiSH).

A. Conference Venue

1. The IFDiSH Conference Coordinating Committee (CCC) will solicit bids for the conference venue, according to a procedure documented in the annex to this protocol. They will advise bidders in formulating bids. The IFDiSH steering committee will make all final decisions concerning bids. Bids may be entertained from any region in any year, but the intention is that the conference should rotate geographically so as to distribute the travel burden equitably among the whole membership.

B. The Program Committee and the Reviewing Process

2. The academic program of the conference will be determined by an international program committee (IPC).

3. Regional chapters of IFDiSH may designate members of the IPC according to guidelines specified in the annex to this protocol, following the principle of equal membership from all affiliates. The IPC shall be appointed no later than two years in advance of the conference.

4. The Program Chair is appointed by the IFDiSH steering committee. He or she will be drawn from the membership of the regional chapters, and will normally be drawn from the regional chapter hosting the conference. The Program Chair serves in addition to the designated representatives of the regional chapters. The Program Chair is a voting member of the Program committee and has the casting vote in case of a tie.

5. There will be a Local Organizer who acts as the point of contact between the host institution and the Program Committee. The LO is a non-voting member of the IPC.

6. The roles of Program Chair and Local Organizer shall not be filled by the same person.

7. The CCC shall ensure that an email list is established for each IPC and that IPC members are promptly subscribed thereto. In addition to the IPC members, each email list should include as listeners the chair of each regional chapter, the chair of IFDiSH steering committee, the chair of CCC, as well as the future LO and the future IPC Chair once these have been designated.

8. The IPC approves the structure and content of the entire academic program. The academic program will normally include a mix of papers, panels, posters, and plenary sessions, including keynote addresses, the balance of which is the responsibility of the Program Committee. The Program Committee may designate any paper or session as a plenary if in their view it is of sufficient interest to the community. The conference theme is decided by the Program Committee in consultation with the LO. Keynote speakers are decided by the PCommittee in consultation with the LO, and should ideally represent a range of disciplines, interests, and geography.

9. The Program Committee, the Local Organizer, and the executive council of each regional chapter may each sponsor a special session for inclusion in the academic program, subject to approval by the IPC.

10. The review process is as follows:

• a. The CCC maintains and updates a list of reviewers. Members of the IPC may serve as reviewers. The reviewers should be selected to represent a range of disciplines, interests, and geography.
• b. The PC Chair initiates and oversees the review process for all proposals received by the deadline.
• c. Proposals that are received after the deadline for submissions or that fail to conform to the guidelines announced in the call for papers will be accepted for review at the discretion of the IPC.
• d. The Program Committee will take reviewers' comments and other relevant factors into account in determining acceptance and rejection of proposals.
• e. The Program Chair for a conference may not submit a proposal for presentation there. Members of the Program Committee and reviewers may submit proposals, but every effort must be made to avoid conflict of interest.

C. Conference Organization and Financing

11. Financing the conference is the sole responsibility of the Local Organizer; neither IFDiSH nor the regional chapters will subsidize the conference.

12. The name of the conference is IFDiSH International [Year].

13. The CCC is responsible for providing a draft of the call for papers, following a standard model supplied in the SOP. The draft may be modified each year by the Program Committee, taking into account the chosen theme of the conference.

14. The Local Organizer will provide at the start of the conference a volume of abstracts of the papers accepted for presentation.

15. A selection of conference papers will be published in the IFDiSH journal (both print and online as appropriate).

16. These conditions must be accepted by the Local Organizer before the location for a conference is approved.