JCDL Conference 2007
  • IMPORTANT DATES

    May 21, 2007
    Advance Registration ends
    May 17, 2007
    Deadline to obtain conference rate at the Westin Bayshore
    April 9, 2007
    Revision deadline for accepted submissions
    March 24, 2007
    Doctoral Consortium abstracts due
    February 5, 2007
    Short papers, posters, workshop & demonstration proposals due
    January 29, 2007
    Full papers, panel & tutorial proposals due

Doctoral Consortium

What is the Doctoral Consortium?
The Doctoral Consortium is a workshop for Ph.D. students from all over the world who are in the early phases of their dissertation work (i.e., the consortium is not intended for those who are finished or nearly finished with their dissertation). The goal of the Doctoral Consortium is to help students with their thesis and research plans by providing feedback and general advice on using the research environment in a constructive and international atmosphere. Students will present and discuss their thesis work in the context of a well-known and established international conference outside of their usual university atmosphere. The workshop will take place on a single full day. Up to 15 students will have the opportunity to participate.

At least six prominent professors and one experienced practitioner in the field of digital library research in organizations from different countries and continents will conduct the workshop. They will review all the submissions and comment on the content of the thesis as well as on the presentation. Students will have 20 minutes to present their research, focusing on the main theme of their thesis, what they have achieved so far and how they plan to continue their work. Another 20 minutes is reserved for discussion and feedback from both the professors and other participants. In the course of the workshop students will also get advice on more general questions, e.g., the differences among Ph.D. studies in different countries.

The consortium also will have a guest speaker who will address key issues and activities related to digital library research worldwide.

Call for Papers and Topics
Students interested in participating in the Doctoral Consortium should submit an extended abstract (see details below) describing their Digital Library research. Submissions relating to any aspect of Digital Library research, development, and evaluation are welcomed, including: technical advances, usage and impact studies, policy analyses, social and institutional implications, theoretical contributions, interaction and design advances, and innovative applications in the sciences, humanities, and education.

To apply for participation at the Doctoral Consortium, please provide an extended abstract of your doctoral work submitted in electronic form via the JCDL 2007 submission web page by March 24, 2007. The extended abstract is restricted to 4000 words (approx. 8 pages). Submissions should be submitted electronically in PDF-format. The abstracts should:

  • clearly formulate the research question,
  • identify the significant problems in the field of research,
  • summarize the current knowledge of the problem domain, as well as the state of the art for solutions,
  • clearly present any preliminary research plans and ideas, and the results achieved so far,
  • sketch the research methodology that is to be applied,
  • describe the expected contributions of the applicant to the research area, and
  • (for technical research) describes how the research is innovative, novel or extends existing approaches to a problem.

The part of the document dealing with the last three bullets should be covered in no less than 1500 words, preferably more. Submissions will be judged on originality, significance, correctness, and clarity. Workshop participation is limited to 15 Ph.D. students.
Travel Support
An NSF grant on DL curriculum development (see http://curric.dlib.vt.edu/) has allocated $1000 each for 10 participants to help cover expenses. Those seeking this support should state their interest in their submission document. Preference will be given to US citizens. Those receiving support must agree, and have their thesis supervisor also agree, to help in the development of DL curricular resources. For example, they may review modules being developed that relate to their DL specialty area, and may prepare a small module as their dissertation is completed so others may have an easier time understanding their work, in the context of related work.
Proceedings
Accepted abstracts will be distributed to participants as the workshop proceedings and made available to participants via the JCDL Doctoral Consortium Digital.
Important Dates
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 
Notification of acceptance:
Camera-ready papers due:
JCDL 2007:
Doctoral Consortium:
March 24th, 2007
April 7th, 2007
May 1st, 2007
June 17-23rd, 2007
June 19, 2007

Requests for more information should be e-mailed to doctconsort@jcdl2007.org.

Accompanying Practitioners:

Geneva Henry
Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
Rice Digital Library Initiative
ghenry@rice.edu

Mick Khoo
National Science Digital Library (NSDL)
mjkhoo@ucar.edu
http://mjkhoo.info/cv.html

Accompanying Professors:

Gary Marchionini
University of North Carolina
march@ils.unc.edu
http://ils.unc.edu/~march/

Christine Borgman
University of California, Los Angeles
borgman@gseis.ucla.edu
http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/cborgman/

Elaine Toms
Dalhousie University
elaine.toms@dal.ca
http://management.dal.ca/People%20and%20Groups/Faculty/Toms,_Elaine.html

Sally Jo Cunningham
University of Waikato
sallyjo@cs.waikato.ac.nz
http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/people/

George Buchanan
University of Wales, Swansea
g.r.buchanan@swansea.ac.uk
http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/~csgeorge/

Ed Fox
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
fox@vt.edu
http://fox.cs.vt.edu/foxinfo.html

Nadia Caidi
University of Toronto
nadia.caidi@utoronto.ca
http://www3.fis.utoronto.ca/faculty/caidi/home.htm