Final Call for Papers

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SAICSIT'08 is the premier South African forum for research into Computer Science, Information Systems, and Information Technology. The conference is held under the auspices of the national society, SAICSIT. Following a history of very successful SAICSIT conferences, we invite you to submit papers for the 2008 event. SAICSIT'08 is an international conference and contributions from all parts of the world are warmly welcomed.


SAICSIT'08 will be co-hosted by the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems and the School of ICT, both from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. This year’s conference will be held on the Garden Route, at the Wilderness close to George.


The conference will be hosted over 3 days, with the first day (Monday) being restricted to the presentation of research offered by Masters and Doctoral students to their peers and supervisors. The remainder of the conference (Tuesday and Wednesday) will include some keynote addresses and research papers. Students that presented at the student symposium will also on these days exhibit posters based on their work.


The wave of technology is a metaphor for the rapid development, uptake, evolution and obsolescence of technology (and computer technology in particular) in modern societies. Technology transforms societies, provides new ways of communicating and interacting, creates opportunities for economic growth and betters the lot of humanity when used in an ethical way. The wave of technology is ridden by those who do research and development and those who use technology. It is exciting to ride and full of change and turmoil. Computer Scientists and Information Technologists are at the forefront of the researchers who ride the wave. SAICSIT has showcased the research of these researchers, both emerging and established, since 1982.


The non-exhaustive list of topics for SAICSIT’08 appears below. We encourage local and international researchers to submit fundamental and applied papers for this premier conference of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists.


TOPICS

The topics below are given as a guideline, not to put constraints on submissions. Submissions on any topic in the field of Computer Science, Information Systems and Information Technology will be considered.

Bioinformatics software Human Computer Interaction
Community Informatics Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Computer supported co-operative work Knowledge Management
Data mining Mobile Computing
Digital Forensics Model Driven Architectures
Digital repositories and libraries Natural Language understanding
E-government, e-Commerce Next generation networks
Ethics and Informations Systems Security and Trust management
Health Informatics Social contexts of computing
High performance Computing Software construction
Enterprise Architecture Telecommunications
Grid Computing Ubiquitious & Pervasive computing


PAPERS

Research papers present significant intellectual and technical contributions by researchers and practitioners to basic research, development, and practice in all areas of Computer Science and Information Systems. Papers will be submitted electronically and will be reviewed by at least two members of the Programme Committee. Accepted papers will published in a way that would enable a subsidy claim under the South African subsidy rules. More information to follow later.


INDUSTRY ORIENTED PAPERS / CASE STUDIES

In a bid to foster more communication between industry and academia, SAICSIT’08 solicit papers / case studies from industry members. Industry papers will be reviewed separately from research papers. Marketing material unfortunately is not acceptable.


TUTORIALS/ PANEL DISCUSSIONS

If you wish to present a tutorial or suggest a panel discussion, please do so by contacting the organizers on saicsit@nmmu.ac.za.


STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

SAICSIT’08 offers a unique opportunity for postgraduate students at Masters and Doctoral levels to actively engage with knowledgeable and experienced researchers on the first day of the conference. Successful students will be required to present their research during the dedicated sessions, and will also be required to display their work by means of a poster for the duration of the conference. Posters can highlight achievements or work in progress, but should emphasize the applicability of the work to the conference theme. Submission is restricted to students enrolled at tertiary education institutions.


FOLLOW-UP TO BIRCHWOOD COLLOQUIUM

As a follow-up to the Birchwood Colloquium of 2007, a Research Grand Challenge Workshop is planned for 6 October. This will be a joint venture of SAICSIT, the CSSA and Rhodes University. Further details will follow.


FORMAT FOR PAPERS

Research papers for the main conference present significant intellectual and technical contributions by researchers and practitioners to basic research, development, and practice in all areas of Computer Science and Information Systems. Accepted full papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings as well as on the ACM Digital Library after the conference where they will be accessible to the international audience. Papers should address the conference theme and should be directed at a reasonably general audience. Please take note of the following requirements:

  • Papers are limited to 10 pages in the ACM Proceedings Format (http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html)
  • Deadline for submission extended to 23 June 2008 (14:00 GMT-12)
  • Electronic submissions must be made at https://www.softconf.com/starts/saicsit08, please choose "Main Conference or Industry Tract"
  • Submissions can be as PDF, postscript or Word files
  • Papers will be reviewed by three PC members. We use a single blind process; reviewer identities not released to authors, but reviewers know who authors are
  • Papers will be published in a proceedings with an ISSN, indexed by the ACM
  • There is no connection between the conference and SACJ
  • Submission implies a commitment to attend if accepted
  • Authors and PC members are required to declare potential conflict of interests. See the interpretation of the term for this conference below.

Papers for the post-graduate symposium should be the work of in-progress post-graduates. While supervisors may co-author, emphasis is on feedback on and discussion of work in progress. Students wishing to submit final results of their post-graduate work are expected to submit to the main conference. Accepted papers and posters will be distributed on the conference website, but does not form part of the official conference proceedings. Since the focus of the symposium is on development papers will undergo a much less rigorous review process and would in South African terms not qualify for subsidy claim purposes.

Conflict of Interest

We believe that all authors would want to get an as unbiased opinion on their work as possible. In order to facilitate this authors and PC members will have to declare potential conflicts of interests. In essence a conflict of interest is anybody who could potentially be biased (positively or negatively) towards your work. Examples of conflicts of interest are:

  • Your colleagues at your institution
  • Current active collaborators on work related to the topic of your paper
  • Family members
  • PC members whose general philosophical standpoint is completely incompatible with yours
  • Your PhD promoter (especially if recent).

Important Dates

26 September 2008
Final date for Registration

6 October 2008
Postgraduate Symposium
Grand Challenges Workshop

7-8 October 2008
SAICSIT Conference