It is high time to contact potential host institutions to organize CIT 2005. Last year, we received 2-3 requests (ITER, Bhubaneswar ; IIIT Allahabad and another School from Bhubaneswar. The guidelines and request forms were not formalized then. I have enclosed the relevant documents for you to circulate among the Institutions at Bhubaneswar and check if any one is interested to host the CIT 2005. I shall request the OITS body to be pro-active in this process and help identifying the host institutions. I shall appreciate inputs from all of you. We need to identify the host by November 1 so that they can take time to design the CFP and build a team of volunteers for CIT 2005. The call for paper should be available at CIT 2004 conference.
Any feed back from any of you shall be very welcome.
Rabi N Mahapatra
For Steering Committee
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (CIT)
1. Introduction
This document provides overall guidelines for hosting CIT and objective of the conference. The document may be updated by steering committee as appropriate.
Some of the main objectives of the conference are:
1. To provide a meeting that will simulate growth and advance the knowledge in the filed of Information Technologyly
2. To provide a forum for free discussion of new ideas, research, development and applications, including techniques and methods to stimulate and inspire pioneering work
3. To provide an atmosphere to enhance the interpersonal rapport of large number of scientists, students,engineers, academicians, researchers interested in specialized and loosely related field
4. To provide an opportunity for students and young engineers to meet their experienced peers and gain/share experience and knowledge for mutual benefits
5. To provide an forum for interaction of members form academics and industry for potential collaborative work effort
6. To provide and open forum discussion (e.g., panel discussion) by experts and recommend suggestions on important/critical area that is of national and local importance.
Orissa Information Technology Society (OITS) is the parent organization supporting this conference. The conference will be held annually, preferably during 20th to 24th of December before Christmas. The main objective is to uplift the level of IT in Orissa while maintaining the quality of the Conference.
2. Conference Organising Committee
This section describes the various committees and their over all role and responsibility.
2.1 Steering Committee
Steering committees provide continuity of leadership for annual meetings and steering charter's offer guidance to future committees. The steering committee is responsible for the general oversight of and setting policy and strategic direction. The steering committee is normally responsible for making the major strategic decisions, namely, the selection of chairs, selection of host, dates and locations, major theme etc.
The following are the members of the Steering Committee for CIT-2005
1. Rabi N Mahapatra, A&M University, (Steering Chair),rabi@cs.tamu.edu
2. Prasant Mohapatra, University of California at Davis, prasant@cs.ucdavis.edu
3. Ganapati Panda , NIT Rourkela, gpanda@nitrkl.ac.in
4. Siba P Misra, spmisra1@yahoo.com
5. Arun K Pujari, (General Chair, cit2004), akpcs@uohyd.ernet.in
6. Chitta Baral, (General Chair, cit2004), baral@asu.edu
7. Gautam Das (Program Chair, cit2004), gautamd@microsoft.com
8. V P Gulati, (Program Chair, cit2004), vpgulati@idrbt.ac.in
9. Chakravarthy Bhagabathi, (Organising Chair, cit2004), chakcs@uohyd.ernet.in
10 J R Sahu, (President, oits), jr_sahu@yahoo.com
(The CIT Steering Committee will be constituted with four long-term members in order to enable support strategic planning/direction over a longer period of time. It would include general and program chairs, organising chair of the previous Conference and the president of OITS, the first four above being the permanent members.)
2.2 Conference Executive Committee - Chair(s) Roles and Responsibilities
This section describes constitution of conference committee and possible chair(s) for the conference with broad overview of their roles and responsibilities. However, additional chairs (e.g., local chair in addition to organizing chair, workshop chair) may be added as necessary depending on the situation. Though following section describes overall responsibilities of the chairs, it is expected the conference committee members will work as a team and supplement/compliment various responsibilities /activities with mutual understanding. The conference committee has the full responsibility of the conference led by general chair(s).
2.2.1. General Chair(s)
The general chair(s) has primary responsibility for all aspects of the conference and is accountable to the steering committee and the sponsors with respect to the discharge of that responsibility. General chair may consult steering committee as and when required. It is recommended that there would be one GC from overseas and another from India
2.2.2. Program Chair(s)
It is recommended that there would be one PC from overseas and another from India. The primary objective of the program chair(s) is to ensure that a well-balanced, high-quality program is organized and presented at the conference. Some of the primary duties as follows:
Prepare the call for papers
Receive and track submitted papers
Setup the paper review committee (program committee)
Select the papers to be presented in consultation/recommendation of program committee.
Organize session and select session chairs
Correspond with authors on acceptance/rejection
Finalize the advance program
Work with publications committee on conference proceedings
Advise speakers and session chairs
Work with publicity committee on key content of program for publicity
Work with exhibit committee to coordinate exhibits with program content
Liaison with tutorial, workshop, finance, and organizing chair(s).
2.2.3. Organising Chair(s)
Some of the primary responsibilities of organizing chair include:
Co-ordinate and get sponsorship
Liaison with finance chair
Organise the Meeting Facilities including Audio visual arrangement and Room allocation/arrangement for meeting/talk/presentation
Hospitality for Delegates and guests
Function planning
Security, if needed and as is possible
Social programs as considered appropriate
Local transportation (as needed), local trips/tours
Hotel selection and negotiations
Registration activities
2.2.4. Finance Chair(s)
The finance chair(s) is responsible for the following:
Opening/closing bank account
Budget/cash flow
Income/Expense Records
Get the account audited
Financial report
2.2.5. Tutorial Chair(s)
The tutorial chair(s) will be responsible for inviting tutorials from prospective speakers, selection and organization of tutorials.
2.2.6. Publication Chair
Primary responsibility of publication chair is to co-ordinate and publishes the proceedings and any other conference materials.
2.2.7. Publicity Chair(s)
The duties of the publicity and public relation chair(s) is to promote the conference throughout the entire planning process:
Arrange for publicity/mailing of the call for papers
Arrange for placement of the conference on the calendar of various publications
Arrange for advertising in related conferences
Arrange for publicity of the advance program
2.2.8. Exhibit Chair
The exhibit chair is responsible, partially or entirely for the following:
Guidelines for exhibit
Exhibit prospect preparation
Exhibitor contact, exhibitor registration
Exhibit guide
3. Conference Organizing Host(s)
3.1. Hosting the Conference
The organizing host may submit the CIT hosting request from to steering committee before prescribed date providing all the details. Organizing host could be educational institute, industry, and/or recognized research organization(s). The person/individual submitting the request shall have an institute affiliation and is expected to have support in hosting the conference. Conference may be jointly hosted by multiple organizations or directly by OITS. This request may be made by email to the steering chair or sent as a hard copy.
Selection of host organization would be done by steering committee. Steering committee's decision communicated by the steering chair as per available response is final and binding.
It is expected that the organizing chair(s) will be from host organization. The organizing host has primary responsibilities for local arrangements and safe/successful hosting of the conference. Host must be aware of general guidelines of the conference.
Hosting organization has the financial responsibility for hosting the conference with an expected positive cash balance. Hosting organization may take financial assistance from OITS as an advance as in section 6. The advance and surplus from the conference shall be returned to OITS as per guidelines in section 6.
4. Guidelines of the Conference
4.1 Conference Proceeding
The conference proceedings are the publication of papers presented at the conference. Conference may require that papers missing the publication deadline for the proceedings cannot be presented in the conference. For CIT there must be a conference proceeding published by a reputable publisher. Publication chair along with consultation of program and general chair(s) will do selection of publisher. Proceeding may be published in hard copy (book format) and/or in CD.
4.2 Support and Honorarium (Keynote Speakers, Invited Speakers, Tutorial Speakers)
The actual supports in terms of supporting travel, accommodation and honorarium for are dependent on financial situation of the conference. Specifics may be considered on case-by-case basis in consultation among conference executive committee. Following are general guidelines, which should be followed as much as possible. The following recommendations are not binding and may be revised by steering committee/program organisers from time to time.
1. No registration fees charged for keynote speaker, invited speakers, and tutorial speaker(s)
2. Free accommodation to keynote speaker, invited speakers, and tutorial speakers maximum of two nights, or as funds permit on case by case basis (ex: if a industry person is coming as keynote speaker, he/she will have funding from his company for accommodation). The decision for this shall be made by the organising chair (in consultation with the other chairs).
3. Usually travel support shall not be available. However, domestic travel support may be made available if possible on case by case basis depending on availability of funds.
4. A memento (as possible) to keynote speakers, invited speakers, and tutorial speakers in appreciation for their time and support.
4.3 Registration Discount and Travel Grants for students
The actual supports in terms of supporting travel grant, accommodation for some young participants and students depends on financial situation of the conference. Specifics may be considered on case-by-case basis in consultation among conference executive committee. The following recommendations are not binding and may be revised by steering committee/organisers from time to time depending on funds/special grants.
1. Student registering only for tutorials may be charged very nominal fee just to cover tutorial materials. Students will register for the conference with a discounted fee than regular participant. Student must have valid student ID and must be a full time students. Students pursing higher studies with corporate sponsorship will not be given students discount.
2. Out-of-station students may be given free accommodation in hostels and travel grants on case-by-case basis.
3. Faculties (without research grant and institution support) may be provided grants as possible on case-by-case basis.
4. OITS life members may be given a registration discount of 25% in consultation with OITS executive body (or more if they do not have institutiona/project support).
4.4 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q.1. If somebody is a tutorial speaker and s/he has an accepted paper in the conference, whether s/he will be required to pay for the registration?
A.1: No registration fee for the tutorial chair(s). Refer section 4.2
Q.2. If somebody has two accepted papers, whether s/he will pay for two registrations?
A.2: Only one registration fee. Fee is per participant.
Q.3. If somebody is a faculty but has joined a PhD program, will s/he be treated as a student?
A.3: No (if he still hold the faculty position).
Q.4. If somebody while submitting the paper was in India but migrated to abroad at the time of acceptance of the paper, whether s/he will be treated as some body from India or abroad?
A.4: Abroad. Status on the date of registration will be counted.
Q.5. If somebody while submitting the paper was a student but later became a faculty at the time of acceptance of the paper, whether s/he will be treated as a student or a faculty?
A.5: Faculty. Status on the date of registration will be counted.
Q.6. In case of multi-authors, the status of `student' or 'faculty' will depend on the first author or one who is going to present?
A.6: One who is presenting the paper.
Q.7. Will the conference executive members will pay registration fees?
A.7: Yes, as applicable (industry, academic, abroad, as per other rules or notifications).
5. Conference Sponsorship and Awards
Primarily the conference executive committee (specifically organizing chair) with support from steering committee will lead the work effort to get sponsorship from various entities. Sponsorship(s) may be requested from Private individuals, industries (private, public and govt. sectors), academic/research institutes, and, semi-govt./govt. entities/organizations in India and abroad. The sponsorship could be in terms of financial grant and/or sponsoring of specific items or events (e.g., proceeding publication, banquet dinner etc.) for the conference. The sponsoring entities must be given publicity/benefits (as deemed necessary) by the organizing committee.
Private individuals, industries (private, public and govt. sectors), academic/research institutes, and, semi-govt./govt. entities/organizations in India and abroad can sponsor specific award/prizes. Establishment of any award/prize on permanent/long term basis will be done in consultation with steering committee/executive committee of OITS. The endowment for such permanent award will be with OITS account earmarked for the awards.
At present, there are two awards in the conference: (i) Amiya K Pujari IT award, and, (ii) Narayan Misra IT award, respectively for the best paper presented at the Conference, and, the same from Orissa.
In case of industry exhibition, the exhibiting industry/entities may be requested for sponsorship/fee as mutually agreed by organizing chair and the exhibit unit.
6. Budget and Accounting
6.1 Advance from OITS
Conference finance chair in consolation with organizing chair could request for advance from OITS for pre-conference activities. The advance given by OITS is usually Rs.40,000. 00 /-, but OITS executive committee as desired can modify this amount. The advance could be paid in lump sum and/or installment with mutual agreement of OITS authority and finance/organizing chair. The main amount shall be paid to the account cit2005 (for cit2005). It has been usual to open and operate this account by the finance chair only, who does all transactions in consultation with the organising chair.
6.2 Pre-conference Budget Estimate and Final Financial Report
A pre-conference budgeting exercise is advised to be done, which would be chaired by general chair with participation/consultation with organizing chair, finance chair and steering committee members (if available). The situation in the beginning is always fuzzy, but this can be useful. The objective is to make some rough guess and see that the conference becomes self-sustained manner with potential revenue surplus.
Within limited time, preferably not exceeding six months of the conference date, finance chair will repay advance taken from OITS, distribute surplus to OITS, complete detail financial report which would be submitted to OITS, general chair(s), program chair(s), organizing chair(s), and steering committee, with an audited account of the Conference, and close the account.
7. Post-Conference Activities
7.1 Wrap-up Session and Conference Report
The first official post-conference activity, which occurs, is the warp-up session. It is traditionally done during afternoon of the last day of the conference when first, awards are distributed, and then the program chairs/others. discuss the problems and success of that occurred with the conference, which is also shared with attending future conference chairs who can get an over all picture of conference activities, and ways in which we could do better.
The program chair(s)/organising chair/general chair are also encouraged to provide a brief final report that would include the information discussed during wrap-up session and also items such as:
Narrative potion containing innovation, caveats, etc.
Time line showing major activities of the committee
A list of committee members, who can be contacted for more detail information
List of participants in electronic form to assist future conference and statistics
Suggestion/recommendation for future improvement/growth
The report is to be shared with steering committee, as well as future executive committee and generally may be available as soft copy.
7.2 Archival of Information
Organizing chair is encouraged to help achieving of the conference information including photographs that may have been taken during the conference to OITS parent website in the appropriate directory.
7.3 Letters of Appreciation
As soon as possible following the close of the conference, the general chair and conference committee chairs should send letters of appreciation to all who have contributed to the success of the conference. Letter should be written to volunteer groups, supervisor of individual who made significant contributions, speakers, exhibitors, patrons, session organizers etc. It is important to thank all those contributed time, effort and money to the success of the conference. Though the letters should be personal to the extent possible, many can be prepared in advance of the conference, and sent immediately following.
Links to (i) host request form , (ii) Camera ready copy format (ieee), and, (iii) possibly financial report format.