The conference allows for two types of presentations to be handed in. Please be sure to tell us which by the time you hand in a proposal, as we will try to balance out the two types of presentation.
Slides & Text
This type of presentation means that you type up your talk in text form and provide us with slides/images you’d like to accompany each text block. This is fairly low-tech and requires interested attendees to read your text while looking at the slides as additional information.
The basic requirements and restrictions are:
- no more than 12 slides/images
- no more than 1200 words
- text file: doc, docx, rtf, txt
- image files: jpg, png
This should roughly approximate 3-4 pages of writing and reading time of no more than 10 minutes. We will edit for obvious spelling and grammar before publication, but are going to send back your draft should it not adhere to these restrictions.
When writing your text, please indicate where the accompanying slides fit. Insert a marker, i.e. [Slide 1] or –Slide1– into the file or use a double return between paragraphs so that we know where to place your slides on the blog. Please be aware that text will be transferred via copy&paste and is likely to lose extensive formatting. Please use formatting as sparingly as you can manage (italics, bold).
When you do slides in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi, you will need to save each slide as a separate image. This usually means exporting to the above mentioned file formats (there are tutorials available online). Clearly mark your text as well as your slides by your name and a consecutive number:
- Smith.doc
- Smith1.jpg
- Smith2.jpg …
You can send these files via email directly to the conference address or should your mailbox not accommodate this, you can zip the files into a folder or share them via Dropbox or WeTransfer.
Video
A video presentation means that you will have to record your presentation using your own equipment. This can either be accomplished by a screencast (a recording of your computer screen, i.e. the slide presentation) or a “talking head”-kind of video of you presenting your paper. The technical expertise to do these varies on the tools you would like to use.
The basic requirements and restrictions are:
- length of between 5-10 minutes
- upload to a video hoster (i.e. youtube or vimeo)
There are a variety of ways that you can record a presentation. Three solutions with different tools:
Computer and microphone
The simplest way to record a lecture is to use PowerPoint or Keynote on your computer and a microphone (most PCs will have an integrated one, but the sound quality is relatively bad, so try to use a headset or stand-alone microphone). Both major presentation softwares have built-in solutions to record a slideshow – there are tutorials like this one online – and you can simply ‘talk over’ your slides while presenting them. The lecture will be simple and just the slides with your voice, but it works.
Computer and (integrated) webcam
A bit more complex, there are options to record your screen as well as your camera image, meaning you can record slides and yourself while presenting. For this, you will need screencast software. You might have tech support at your university and even a license for a proprietary software such as Camtasia. If not, there are free options which you can use: OBS Studio might be a good start – there are tutorials such as this one or this one out there if you need to learn about this.
External camera and slides
The last option, if you have a photo or video camera – you can even do this via your iPhone – is to record your presentation with that camera and then edit it to suite your needs with slides or other video material (such as film clips etc.). For this to work, you will need to have an editing software such as Adobe Premiere (expensive and complex, check with your institution) or if you are looking for open-source and free OpenShot. Again, you can find online tutorials to learn how to edit film.
Uploading and hosting the video
You will need to upload your video to a hosting service and send us the link. Youtube does offer free service (with advertising) and no limits to uploads, whereas Vimeo will limit you to 500 MB per week on the basic/free account but remains free of advertising. Hosting the video yourself (by having an account), the video remains under your control and you can decided when to take it down – ideally, the video remains hosted so as to be archived at the conference. Please consider: If you decide to take it down, the presentation will be unavailable on our website as well.
Technology / Tools
In general, please remember that better equipment in terms of camera and microphone make for better videos, but even small budgets can produce great work. A simple headset (for gaming) has a much better sound quality than the build-in mic that your computer uses.
Many departments/institutions will have support for recording a video. They might not be able to do this with you in a studio on campus, but they might be able to provide licenses of software to your computer, help with set up and advice or aid in editing for a better end result. Ask them for support, if you can. Also, there is a huge amount of helpful tutorials online, via text or via video – check them out. And should you need assistance and don’t know how and where to get it, then send us an email and maybe we can aid by setting you up with a coach or something. Communicate.
Copyright and Fair Use
A word of warning for all presentations. These will be online and thus within the public domain. We ask you to consider copyrights as well as other limitations on what you can show on slides or in videos. Academic fair use regulations usually allow for quotations of text, film, images etc as long as they provide a necessary component of an academic argument. But please, be sure that your use of copyrighted materials is not ornamental or for pure entertainment. If possible, look for cc-licensed materials or ask permissions from content creators.
Similarly, clearly mark your materials with a notice of content ownership or copyright, if you need or want it. In the spirit of open science practices, we would recommend using a CC-license such as CC-BY, CC-BY SA, CC-BY ND.