3RD ANNUAL WEB AUDIO CONFERENCE – CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The 3rd Web Audio Conference (WAC) will be held August 21-23, 2017 at the Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London. WAC is an international conference dedicated to web audio technologies and applications and addresses research, development, design, and standards concerned with emerging audio-related web technologies such as Web Audio API, Web RTC, WebSockets, and Javascript. The conference welcomes web developers, music technologists, computer musicians, application designers, researchers, and people involved in web standards. The first and second Web Audio Conferences were held in 2015 at IRCAM and Mozilla in Paris, and in 2016 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The conference will be collocated with Audio Mostly (August 23-25, 2017) and participants will have the opportunity to attend both at a discounted rate. More information can be found on the conference website: http://wac.eecs.qmul.ac.uk

The internet has become much more than a simple storage and delivery network for audio files, as modern web browsers on desktop and mobile devices bring new user experiences and interaction opportunities. New and emerging web technologies and standards now allow applications to create and manipulate sound in real-time at near-native speeds, enabling the creation of a new generation of web-based applications that mimic the capabilities of desktop software while leveraging unique opportunities afforded by the web in areas such as social collaboration, user experience, cloud computing, and portability. The Web Audio Conference focuses on innovative work by artists, researchers, students, and engineers in industry and academia, highlighting new standards, tools, APIs, and practices as well as innovative web audio applications for musical performance, education, research, collaboration, and production.

Theme and Topics

The theme for the third edition of the Web Audio Conference is Collaborative Audio. We particularly encourage submissions focusing on multi-user interaction, exchange, and collaboration across the web in the context of production, distribution, and consumption of audio material. Further areas of interest include:

  • Web Audio API, Web MIDI, Web RTC and other existing or emerging web standards for audio and music
  • Development tools, practices, and strategies of web audio applications
  • Innovative audio-based web applications
  • Web-based music composition, production, delivery, and experience
  • Client-side audio engines and audio processing/rendering (real-time or non real-time)
  • Cloud/HPC for music production and live performances
  • Audio data and metadata formats and network delivery
  • Server-side audio processing and client access
  • Frameworks for audio synthesis, processing, and transformation
  • Web-based audio visualization and/or sonification
  • Multimedia integration
  • Web-based live coding and collaborative environments for audio and music generation
  • Web standards and use of standards within audio-based web projects
  • Hardware and tangible interfaces and human-computer interaction in web applications
  • Codecs and standards for remote audio transmission
  • Any other innovative work related to web audio that does not fall into the above categories

Keynote Speakers

Keynote 1
Chris Chafe, Director of Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in
Music and Acoustics (CCRMA): “Probing Rhythmic Synchronization in our Mind’s Ear”

Keynote 2
Franziska Schroeder, Senior Lecturer at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), Queen’s University Belfast: “Distributed Listening – A Practitioner’s Perspective”

More details can be found here.

Submission Tracks

We welcome submissions in the following tracks: papers, talks, posters, demos, performances, and artworks. All submissions will be single-blind peer reviewed. The conference proceedings, which will include both papers (for papers and posters) and extended abstracts (for talks, demos, performances, and artworks), will be published open-access online.

Papers: Submit a 4-6 page paper to be given as an oral presentation.

Talks: Submit a 1-2 page extended abstract to be given as an oral presentation.

Posters: Submit a 2-4 page paper to be presented at a poster session.

Demos: Submit a work to be presented at a hands-on demo session. Demo submissions should consist of a 1-2 page extended abstract including diagrams or images, and a complete list of technical requirements (including anything expected to be provided by the conference organizers).

Performances: Submit a performance making creative use of web-based audio applications. Performances can include elements such as audience device participation and collaboration, web-based interfaces, Web MIDI, WebSockets, and/or other imaginative approaches to web technology. Submissions must include a title, a 1-2 page description of the performance, links to audio/video/image documentation of the work, a complete list of technical requirements (including anything expected to be provided by conference organizers), and names and one-paragraph biographies of all performers.

Artworks: Submit a sonic web artwork or interactive application which makes significant use of web audio standards such as Web Audio API or Web MIDI in conjunction with other technologies such as HTML5 graphics, WebGL, and Virtual Reality frameworks. Works must be suitable for presentation on a computer kiosk with headphones. They will be featured at the conference venue throughout the conference and on the conference web site. Submissions must include a title, 1-2 page description of the work, a link to access the work, and names and one-paragraph biographies of the authors.

Tutorials: If you are interested in running a tutorial session at the conference, please contact the organizers directly (wac2017prog@qmul.ac.uk).

Important Dates

December 1, 2016: submission system opens

April 7, 2017: submission deadline (updates possible until April 14, 2017, see below)

May 17, 2017: author notification

July 19, 2017: camera-ready versions due

August 21-23, 2017: conference

Preliminary versions of all submissions are due on April 7, 2017. The submission system will stay open until April 14, 2017 allowing authors to update their submissions during that time. At least one author of each accepted submission must register for and attend the conference in order to present their work. A limited number of student bursaries will be available.

Templates and Submission System

Latex and Word templates for all types of submissions are identical and are available here.

We now accept submissions: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/WAC2017

Best wishes,
The WAC 2017 Committee