Online participation will be available!

In addition to Childhood and Time Conference, which will be held in Tampere, we will pilot a virtual extension of the conference to reduce the environmental costs of attending a conference (i.e., carbon footprint  associated with air travel), as well as to minimize costs and alleviate barriers that hinder participation in the annual conference due to various travel related obstacles. The goal is to make the conference more accessible and increase the diversity and equity in research among conference participants. We realize that a virtual extension of conference will not provide the same experience as an in-person conference, but we expect that this will nevertheless lead to new connections and a lively interaction between the participants. We hope to have more participation by people who otherwise would or could not attend the conference for environmental or other reasons.

Online contributors’ profiles with research interests, expertise, and contact details will be available on the conference program to raise the interest and facilitate communication among Tampere conference participants and online presenters. The conference organizers hope that in person and online attendees will identify synergies across profiles and presentations, leading to new connections and collaborative research opportunities.

The virtual extension of the conference will feature a series of submissions directly related to the conference theme in the format of video recordings and accompanying slides that are uploaded to the conference website two weeks before the conference. They will be available before, during and two weeks after the conference during which time period the viewers can ask questions from the presenters, who will have a chance to respond. Online presentations will take place if preferred or videos of the presentations will be screened at the Tampere conference in two parallel sessions which will be facilitated from Tampere and during which conference delegates, both online and on site, can ask questions and engage with presenters.

Besides engaging in these two virtual parallel sessions, online conference participants will be also able to view the keynotes during the conference.

Online presenters should submit their abstracts to the general call and there will be a place to mark their wish to be included in the online conference. Please note that spaces for the online conference are limited and therefore only those papers will be accepted that address the conference theme explicitly and substantially. If the conference organizers evaluate that the abstract submission does not substantially address the conference theme, they will redirect the paper to the general pool and the delegate will be able to participate in the onsite conference. However, in this case the delegate has to travel to Tampere to participate. We limit the virtual sessions to two as these incur substantial IT support and in person facilitation.

Upon acceptance of the abstract, speakers will create a video of their talk with a maximum length of 15 minutes and will have the opportunity to attend presentations in two session for the entire conference in addition to the live streamed keynotes. Authors are expected to upload their video presentations one month prior to the conference following the presentation guidelines provided by conference organizers upon acceptance of the abstract. Accepted online conference papers’ authors will receive instruction about recording and sending their presentation.

Picture: Siiri-tietopalvelu, Museums in Tampere, CC BY ND 4.0