Student volunteers (SVs) are essential, priceless, and form the very core of a successful conference! Being a volunteer provides a unique opportunity to contribute to organizing a conference and interacting closely with CSCW contributors, attendees, and peers. SV chairs are working with the rest of the organizing committee and the CSCW community to deliver the best possible online CSCW 2021 SV program. The enrollment for CSCW 2021 student volunteers is now open!
SV Program at a Glance
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We are seeking SVs for pre-conference and during conference support.
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Important dates:
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August 15, 2021: Deadline to register for volunteer lottery
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August 31, 2021: Applicants will be informed of their acceptance or waitlist status.
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- Submit your application at this link.
- In return for your work, you will get a complimentary CSCW 2021 Conference registration, among other benefits.
How to Apply
Volunteers must be undergraduate, Master’s, or Ph.D. students during the 2020-2021 academic year. Students of all backgrounds, regardless of discipline, and from all geographic locations are encouraged to apply. You do not need to have a paper accepted to participate. No previous student volunteer experience is required, but we are looking for enthusiastic and reliable people.
Go to https://new.chisv.org/ and create an account. Make sure to fill in all the relevant information. Then, go to https://new.chisv.org/conference/cscw2021 to submit your application. The deadline for registering is August 15, 2021.
Please note that enrollment in the “CHISV” system does not guarantee your spot as an SV. We will run a lottery across the received applications and notify individuals of their status (accepted or on the waiting list) on August 31, 2021.
What Will I Do as a Volunteer?
All SVs agree to an informal contract, where you agree to:
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Commit to a minimum of 15 hours of work between Oct 23 and Oct 27 or before the conference if you are selected for pre-conference SV support.
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Attend the training session taking place at some time before the conference (date TBD). We will be working towards accommodating time zone differences.
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Be available and perform assigned tasks in a timely manner.
Over the years, SVs have become an essential part of the CSCW organizing team. They play a significant role in executing structural tasks – especially during the conference. During the in-person conference, among other things, the SVs can be seen handing out and checking badges; helping with directions (to session rooms, cafeteria, water dispensers, and washrooms) and demo set-ups, figuring out where that missing paper presenter is and why, oh why, isn’t the microphone working anymore?
With CSCW going virtual, the SV tasks may have changed slightly, but the responsibility has increased multifold. SVs will be pivotal in assisting and supporting attendees in navigating the virtual infrastructures to ensure a smooth CSCW experience. Along with others organizers, the student volunteers will be putting A LOT of effort into helping remote CSCW run smoothly.
How Will I Benefit From Serving as a SV?
Student volunteers are essential to the success of the CSCW conference. In return for help at the conference, student volunteers receive many benefits, including:
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Free conference & workshop registration.
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Social events with your peers.
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Networking events with senior HCI researchers.
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Even more awesome SV benefits are still being planned and discussed, so stay tuned!
While the volunteer duties are not always glamorous, they provide a unique opportunity to interact closely with CSCW contributors, attendees, and other student volunteers. Volunteering provides a structured, cordial environment for students in various stages of their research careers to become part of the CSCW community. Students often report that the ‘social networks’ they build from these meetings are the most significant benefit of serving as a volunteer. Indeed, it is not uncommon for future collaborations, internships/jobs, and friendships to be made through the SV experience.
Who Are the SV Chairs?
SV chairs are two senior SVs (we too are students, just like you!) who have seen the process through multiple years of serving as SVs. As SV chairs, we work with the rest of the organizing committee and the CSCW community to deliver the best possible SV program. We invest 100+ pre-conference hours planning a worthwhile experience for serving SVs and SV tasks while ensuring the conference is adequately supported by the SV program. During the conference, we spend the majority of our time at the conference managing and addressing incoming requests.
If you need to communicate with us, please always use the sv2021@cscw.acm.org address so that all of us receive it. Reply-to-all on our correspondence so we both stay in the loop and can better help you.
We can’t wait to have you as a part of our incredible SV program!
Anupriya Tuli (IIIT-Delhi, India)
Morgan Scheuerman (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
SV Co-Chairs, CSCW 2021