Doctoral Consortium Call for Contributions

The JCDL doctoral consortium is a venue for students to share their work and receive feedback and mentorship. The consortium also offers the opportunity to attend JCDL, the pre-eminent venue in the digital libraries field.

We are accepting submissions from students who are at or beyond thesis proposal stage, typically one year in for those in a three-year PhD program in e.g. UK or Australia. Students should have at minimum settled on their topic, completed a significant literature review, and have some idea of what methodology they are going to use in their research. If you are unsure whether you are ready to participate, please contact the chairs for a preliminary conversation.

Structure of the DC

We would love to see you in person! This will be a one-day event where students have the opportunity to present their work, and receive feedback on it. Alongside group sessions and feedback, students will each receive some one-on-one time with a hand-picked digital libraries scholar for mentorship (subject to mentor availability these sessions may be online).

Dependent on demand, we may also run a 4-hour online DC for those who cannot attend in person prior to the conference.

Benefits of attending the DC

  • Opportunity to apply for a scholarship that will cover at least in part travel to the conference, registration and lodgings
  • Opportunity to present your work and receive feedback from several DL scholars
  • One-on-one time with a mentor
  • Publication of the abstract for your DC proposal in the JCDL proceedings

How to Participate

We welcome submissions from students in all areas of digital libraries including but not limited to:

  • Information interfaces and interaction
  • Digital humanities
  • Search and retrieval algorithms
  • Digital library management infrastructure
  • Non-search information seeking
  • Online reading and information consumption
  • Non-text digital libraries
  • Context of use of digital libraries
  • Digital librarianship practices
  • Preservation and provenance
  • Digital library policy
  • ...anything else related to the collection, management, and access of large, curated collections of digital objects

Students who wish to participate in the DC should submit a 2-page + references description of their work in the ACM 2-column format. This description should include an abstract of up to 200 words, a research question motivated by the relevant literature, and the methodology the student is using to address the question. If early results are available, these may also be included however this is not obligatory. The student should be the sole author of this their extended abstract. However if this is a problem for an individual student, please contact the DC chairs.

Alongside this extended abstract, students should include a (maximum 500 word) personal statement of why they are interested in attending the DC and how far they have progressed in their PhD. They should also attach a maximum one-page letter of recommendation from one of their advisors/supervisors stating why the DC would benefit them, and what they can bring to the DC. Submissions are to be made via https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=jcdldc2023 (note that this is a special EasyChair URL different from that used by the rest of the conference).

Proposals will be assessed by the DC chairs and accepted based on stage of PhD, quality of the abstract, and potential for the student to benefit from attending the DC.

Deadlines

In recognition of the difficulties many students face in getting travel visas, the DC will have two deadlines. The first deadline, for early acceptance, is to allow an extended period for visa applications. Students who are not accepted in the early acceptance round are ineligible to reapply in the later round. We strongly recommend all students who need to apply for a visa submit to the early acceptance round.

Key dates are:

  • Early acceptance deadline: 18 Jan 2023, 1159PM AoE
  • Early acceptance notification: 25 Jan 2023 (6 months prior to JCDL)
  • Late acceptance deadline: 19 April 2023 1159PM AoE
  • Late acceptance notification: 3 May 2023

Doctoral Consortium Chairs

For more information and any questions, please contact the JCDL 2023 doctoral consortium co-chairs: