Call for Papers

Important Dates

~~Thu, November 30~~ THU, DECEMBER 07 (DEADLINE EXTENDED), 2023: Paper submission deadline
Wed, January 31, 2024: Notification
Thu, February 29, 2024: Camera-ready versions due
Tue-Fri, May 21 – May 24, 2024: Conference dates

All dates are 23:59 Anywhere on Earth time

Possible topics across methodological approaches and digital contexts include but are not limited to:

Understanding the Web

Automation and AI in all its manifestations relevant to the Web
Trends in globalization, fragmentation, and polarization of the Web
The architecture and philosophy of the Web
Critical analyses of the Web and Web technologies

Making the Web Inclusive

Issues of discrimination and fairness
Intersectionality and design justice in questions of marginalization and inequality
Ethical challenges of technologies, data, algorithms, platforms, and people on the Web
Safeguarding and governance of the Web, including anonymity, security, and trust
Inclusion, literacy, and the digital divide

The Web and Society

Social machines, crowd computing, and collective intelligence
Web economics, social entrepreneurship, and innovation
Legal issues, including rights and accountability for AI actors
Humanities, arts, and culture on the Web
Politics and social activism on the Web
Online education and remote learning
Health and well-being online
The role of the Web in the future of (augmented) work
The Web as a source of news and information, and misinformation

Doing Web Science

Data curation, Web archives and stewardship in Web Science
Temporal and spatial dimensions of the Web as a repository of information
Analysis and modeling of human vs. automatic behavior (e.g., bots)
Analysis of online social and information networks
Detecting, preventing, and predicting anomalies in Web data (e.g., fake content, spam)

2024 Emphasis: Reflecting on the Web, AI, and Society

In addition to the topics at the heart of Web Science, we also welcome submissions addressing the interplay between the Web, AI, and society. New advances in AI are revolutionizing the way in which people use the Web and interact through it. As these technologies develop, it is crucial to examine their effect on society and the socio-technical environment in which we find ourselves. We are nearing the crossroads wherein content on the Web will increasingly be automatically generated, blended with that created by humans. This creates new potential yet brings new challenges and exacerbates existing ones in relation to data quality and misinformation. Additionally, we need to consider the role of the Web as a source of data for AI, including privacy and copyright concerns, as well as bias and representativity of resulting systems. The potential impact of new AI tools on the nature of work may bring a transformation of some careers while creating whole new ones. This year’s conference especially encourages contributions documenting different uses of AI in relation to how people use the Web, and in the ways the Web affects the creation and deployment of AI tools.

Format of the submissions

Please upload your submissions via EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acmwebsci24

There are two submission formats:

Full papers should be between 6 and 10 pages (including references, appendices, etc.). Full papers typically report on mature and completed projects.
Short papers should be up to 5 pages (including references, appendices, etc.). Short papers will primarily report on high-quality ongoing work not mature enough for a full-length publication.

All accepted submissions will be assigned an oral presentation (of two different lengths):

All papers should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template under “Word Authors”) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform, which is available at https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty. In particular; please ensure that you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template.

All contributions will be judged by the Program Committee upon rigorous peer review standards for quality and fit for the conference by at least three referees. Additionally, each paper will be assigned to a Senior Program Committee member to ensure review quality.

WebSci-2024 review is double-blind. Therefore, please anonymize your submission: do not put the author(s) names or affiliation(s) at the start of the paper, and do not include funding or other acknowledgments in papers submitted for review. References to authors’ own prior relevant work should be included but should not specify that this is the authors’ own work. It is up to the authors’ discretion how much to further modify the body of the paper to preserve anonymity. The requirement for anonymity does not extend outside of the review process, e.g., the authors can decide how widely to distribute their papers over the Internet. Even in cases where the author’s identity is known to a reviewer, the double-blind process will serve as a symbolic reminder of the importance of evaluating the submitted work on its own merits without regard to the authors’ reputation.

For authors who wish to opt-out of publication proceedings, this option will be made available upon acceptance. This will encourage the participation of researchers from the social sciences that prefer to publish their work as journal articles. All authors of accepted papers (including those who opt out of proceedings) are expected to present their work at the conference.

*** We are collaborating with the prestigious ACM journal “Transactions on the Web“. A selection of papers from the WebSci’24 Conference will be invited to submit a slightly extended version of their paper for fast review. ***

Program Committee Chairs:

Oshani Seneviratne (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Luca Maria Aiello (IT University of Copenhagen)
Yelena Mejova (ISI Foundation)

For any questions and queries regarding the paper submission, please contact the chairs at acmwebsci24@easychair.org.

Call for Workshops and Tutorials

Important dates

Workshop/Tutorial proposal submission: ~~Dec 2, 2023,~~ FRI, FEBRUARY 09 (DEADLINE EXTENDED)
Workshop/Tutorial proposal notification: ~~Dec 16, 2023,~~ FRI, FEBRUARY 16 (DEADLINE EXTENDED)
Workshop & Tutorials Day: May 21, 2024

Note that all submission deadlines are end-of-day in the Anywhere on Earth (AoE) time zone.

Overview and Purpose

We invite proposals for workshops and tutorials at the ACM Web Science Conference 2024 (WebSci’24). The conference will take place in Stuttgart, Germany, from May 21 to 24, 2024, and serve as center stage for the special theme: “Reflecting on Web, AI, and Society”. Workshops will take place on May 21, 2024, during the first day of the conference.

The ACM Web Science Conference 2024 will feature co-located workshops and tutorials to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research. Contributions may stem from a variety of disciplines, for instance (but not limited to) Computer Science, Sociology, Digital Humanities, and Computational Social Science. Researchers and practitioners studying the complex and plural impact of the Web and AI on society and vice versa can engage in discussions on relevant topics (including but not limited to those mentioned in the CfP for the main conference program). WebSci’24 workshops/tutorials may address any topic relevant to the global Web Science community, e.g., questions of basic research as well as applied research, Web-related practices, new methodologies, emerging application areas, privacy, ethics, sustainability, or innovations. Each workshop/tutorial should strive to generate ideas that can give the community a fresh or synthesized perspective on the topic or suggest promising directions for future work. For instance, how can the Web science community develop methods, tools, or frameworks to help us responsibly navigate the age of generative AI? How can we build resilience against the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the age of LLMs? The tutorials could cover a wide variety of Web Science approaches and methods. If you are working in an emerging area in the broad landscape of Web Science research, do consider contributing or participating.

Submission Guidelines

Submission System: Submissions should be sent to workshops@iris.uni-stuttgart.de.

Format & Length: All workshop proposals should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available here under “Word Authors”) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform, available here. In particular, please ensure you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template. Submission must be as a single PDF file: 4 (four) pages in length, including references.

Structure: Workshop/Tutorial proposals should conform to the following structure:

A title and an acronym for the workshop/tutorial
The names, affiliations, and contact information of ALL organizers
Proposed duration of the workshop/tutorial – half or full-day (please specify your flexibility where applicable)
A statement of the workshop/tutorial objectives (including the motivation, relevance, and desired outcomes)
An outline of the proposed workshop/tutorial format, discussing the planned activities (where applicable) such as paper presentations, invited talks, panels, breakout sessions, discussion sessions, etc.
A brief description of the workshop/tutorial audience and the expected number of submissions/participants
If the workshop/tutorial was held before, when applicable, please share details on the venues and dates, number of participants, format, number of submissions, and number of accepted papers, and indicate how the proposed edition will differ from earlier editions
A short bio of the organizers, including a description of their relevant qualifications and past experience in organizing workshops/tutorials or similar gatherings

Review Process & Next Steps

The workshop and tutorial chairs, in consultation with the general chairs, will create a carefully curated list of workshops with an aim to reflect the needs and desires of the Web Science community at large. Please note that we might propose modifications and augmentations, such as suggesting that workshops be shortened or combined where appropriate. The workshops/tutorials ought to address timely topics and phenomena; therefore, it depends on the year which topics are considered particularly relevant and interesting. Workshop/tutorial series or follow-up workshops/tutorials from those in previous conferences will be given special consideration but are not automatically accepted. Space in the program and technical limitations will also influence the number and form of the selected workshops and tutorials.

Once accepted, organizers are responsible for publicizing the workshop/tutorial and soliciting potential participants.
Depending on the format of the workshop/tutorial, organizers may decide to cap the number of attendees.
Workshop/tutorial organizers solicit participants for their workshop through their Call for Participation, which is posted to the Web Science 2024 website and includes a link to the workshop’s public website. The workshop organizers determine the submission format.
The workshop organizers will review submissions using their own criteria (not set by the Workshop Chairs or the Web Science PC).

Workshops/Tutorials Chairs

Ujwal Gadiraju (Technical University Delft)
Raphael Heiberger (University of Stuttgart)

For any questions and queries regarding the workshops/tutorials, please contact the chairs at workshops@iris.uni-stuttgart.de.

Call for PhD Symposium

Important Dates

~~Mon., February 26, 2024~~ MON., MARCH 18, 2024 (DEADLINE EXTENDED): Paper Submission Deadline
~~Mon., March 18, 2024~~ MON., APRIL 08, 2024 (DEADLINE EXTENDED): Notification
~~Mon., April 8, 2024~~ MON., APRIL 15, 2024 (DEADLINE EXTENDED): Camera-ready Versions due
Tues., May 21, 2024: PhD Symposium

Call

One of the WebSci’24 events on the 21st of May 2024 will be the Interdisciplinary PhD Symposium, offering PhD students the opportunity to present and discuss their research plans and ongoing research for an interdisciplinary audience. We aim for a lively and engaged discussion, maximizing early-stage ideas exchange and interdisciplinary discussion on emerging or novel ideas/research.

To achieve this, we are seeking up to 5 pages (including references, appendices, etc.) single-blind submissions, and the student should be the single author. All papers should adopt the current ACM SIG Conference proceedings template (acmart.cls). Please submit papers as PDF files using the ACM template, either in Microsoft Word format (available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template under “Word Authors”) or with the ACM LaTeX template on the Overleaf platform, which is available at https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/association-for-computing-machinery-acm-sig-proceedings-template/bmvfhcdnxfty. In particular; please ensure that you are using the two-column version of the appropriate template.

All contributions will be judged by the PhD Symposium Program Committee. Accepted submissions will be included in the WebSci’24 companion proceedings and allowed for oral presentation during the PhD Symposium on May 21. Further, a limited number of travel grants is foreseen (please follow the WebSci’24 dissemination channels for further details).

The Web Science conference welcomes participation from all disciplines including, but not limited to, arts, computer and information sciences, communications, economics, humanities, informatics, law, linguistics, philosophy, social and political sciences, psychology, and sociology, in pursuit of an understanding of the Web. This conference is unique in bringing these disciplines together in creative and critical dialogue. We particularly welcome contributions that seek to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. Possible topics for submissions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Theoretical, methodological, and ethical approaches for web science
Web practices – individual and/or collective and/or institutional
Web science and AI
The architecture and philosophy of the web
Web science and the Internet of Things
Web economics
Web science and cybersecurity; personal data, trust, and privacy on the web
Web governance, democracy, intellectual property, and the commons
Web access, literacy, and development
Temporal Web analytics
Knowledge, education, and scholarship and the web
Health and well-being online
Humanities, arts, and culture on the web
Data curation and stewardship in web science
Web archiving
Communities on the Web

Please upload your submissions via EasyChair by selecting the ACM-WebSci24 PhD Symposium track at

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acmwebsci24

PC members

Nathalie Aussenac-Gilles, IRIT, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Gianluca Demartini, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Stefan Dietze, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
Shady Elbassuoni, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Adam Jatowt, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Mark Weal, University of Southampton, UK
Katrin Weller, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany

Ph.D. Symposium Chairs

Katharina Kinder-Kurlanda (University of Klagenfurt)
Marc Spaniol (Université de Caen Normandie)

For any questions and queries regarding the Ph.D. symposium, please contact the chairs at phd-symposium@iris.uni-stuttgart.de.

Call for Posters

Important Dates

~~February 15, 2024~~ FEBRUARY 29, 2024 EXTENDED Deadline for poster submission
April 1, 2024 Notification of acceptance. Acceptances and rejections of posters are sent out.
May 1, 2024 Final publication version due.
Presenters who do not opt out of having their contribution appear in the ACM proceedings must upload the camera-ready copy of their paper to EasyChair by this date.

*All deadlines are with respect to Anywhere on Earth time (AoE)

The review process and publication information are the same as for the WebSci’24 paper track, while considering shorter contributions.

Call

We invite submissions to the poster session of the 16th International ACM Conference on Web Science in 2024 (WebSci’24). The poster session is an opportunity to present shorter, early results, and for researchers from different disciplines to share both unpublished and previously published work with one another and with the Web Science community.

Posters submitted will have an opportunity to be archived by the ACM Digital Library and included in the ACM proceedings as adjunct companion if they present original work that has not been previously published and in English. Additionally, to support a greater audience, this year we are encouraging authors who would like to present their posters but opt-out of proceedings to take part in conferences. All posters submitted go through the same review process regardless of their opt-in/out of proceeding status.

In addition to the topics listed for Web Science paper submissions, additional possible topics appropriate for poster submissions include (but are not limited to) the following:

Qualitative study of community
Theorizing Web behavior, content, and structures
Artwork providing challenges to and imaginings around the Web
Emerging legal frontiers around Web Science
Practitioner perspectives from industry

Submission instructions

Posters must not exceed 2 pages in ACM SIG Conference Proceedings format, including references. See http://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template (from the zip files provided, please select the SIGCONF version.) Submissions that opt-in to be included in the ACM proceedings must present original, unpublished work.

Please upload your submissions via EasyChair by selecting the ACM-WebSci24 Posters track at:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=acmwebsci24

Review Process

Posters receive 2 reviews and one Meta review from the senior PC committee. While the review process is lighter than main track papers we encourage the authors to state the contribution and originality of your work clearly and explicitly: What is the problem? How does your approach help? Why is it better than other available approaches? Focus on the contribution of your work rather than the background, including just enough background to make clear how your work differs from significant prior research.

Post-Acceptance

Authors of accepted posters are required to submit their final camera-ready by 1st of May 2024 for inclusion in the ACM Digital Library. Additionally, authors will be asked to prepare a 1-page poster.

As WebSci 2024 is fully in-person, we expect at least one author for each accepted poster to attend and present their work. Poster authors will need to bring a physical poster in a portrait layout that will be displayed during the poster session at the conference. The space allocated for each poster is 48 inches (121.9cm, height) by 36 inches (91.4cm, width).

Posters should be affixed to the poster boards with push pins, not tape. The conference will provide push pins. Each board will have a label indicating where your poster should be placed; please allow time to find your board and set up your poster.

Poster Chairs

Agnieszka Faleńska (University of Stuttgart)
Afra Mashhadi (University of Washington)

For any questions and queries regarding posters, please contact the chairs at posters@iris.uni-stuttgart.de.

Call for Initial Statements of Interest for Hosting ACM Web Science Conference 2026

Important Dates

The important dates for applying to host the Conference are:

Friday, May 10, 2024 Deadline for receiving statements of interest
Friday, May 24, 2024 Notifications to shortlisted bids are sent out
Friday, July 05, 2024 Formal applications received from shortlisted bids

Friday, July 19, 2024 Shortlisted applicants informed

Call

The Steering Committee of ACM WebSci is seeking statements of interest from organizations or consortia interested in hosting the 18th ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci 2026). The conference series usually moves between the continents. We will accept bids from all locations, but for the 2026 conference, we will give preference to bids within Europe. We expect the conference to take place in May-June. Co-location with other ACM conferences will be considered and hosting the conference as a hybrid event is encouraged. Please include a statement on how you would propose offering remote attendance.

Process

The process consists of two stages. During this first stage, the Steering Committee solicits informal statements of interest through an open call. We will prefer statements that commit to running an event with low registration costs encouraging participants from all disciplines, including ones with lower financial provisions.

Organizations wishing to host the conference should contact Susan Davies (sdd1@soton.ac.uk) with a short paragraph outlining your interest, which should include the main organizer, the proposed venue and potential dates. Any organization can apply to host the conference, but the local organizing committee must include a representative of a local research group.

Once the first phase is complete, the Steering Committee will shortlist applications who will be invited to submit a full proposal.

Announcement ACM WebSci 2025 Hosts

The hosts for ACM WebSci 2025 will be announced at this year’s conference in Stuttgart, Germany from 21-24 May.