Practical information

The conference will take place online via Zoom. All registered participants will receive Zoom meeting links and passwords from the organisers before the conference. Please do not share the Zoom meeting links and passwords you receive with anyone. On the day, each presenter will have 2-4 min. presentation summary + 10 min. discussion, followed by a general discussion at the end (max. 30 min.).

The conference languages are English and International Sign. Recorded presentations will be published prior to the event and both signed and spoken presentations include subtitles in English. The discussion sessions (on the recorded presentations) and the keynote talks will take place live in Zoom, and possibly in Gather Town (a virtual social space). These sessions will include IS<>EN interpreting.

We recommend using the Zoom application for participating in meetings. You can, however, also participate in a Zoom meeting using the browser without the Zoom application. You should note, that the browser version of Zoom has limited functionalities and that it works best in Google Chrome. The Zoom Client for Meetings as well as the Zoom Mobile Application is available for manual download here. 

The deadline for submissions of pre-recorded videos is 23 July 2021

The talks for this conference must be pre-recorded, and have requirements for subtitles. In order to aid the subtitling process, we have decided to upload the videos to a private YouTube channel which uses an automatic captioning AI. Please submit the following to ssml2021@helsinki.fi when submitting your talk: 

• A link to your video
• *Text transcript of your talk if subtitling is a major issue
• Optional: Slides of your talk

Below are more details about how to record, submit, and subtitle videos:

Recording

Your pre-recorded videos should be 20 minutes in duration.

For signed pre-recorded talks:  The video of the signer should be large enough so that the signing is understandable (e.g. video + slide/graphics = 50% + 50% of the frame). If using slides or other presentation graphics together with the signing, the graphics should not overlap with the signing.

For spoken pre-recorded talks: Organisers of the World Congress of African Languages 10 (Leiden University) have kindly allowed us to share their instructions for pre-recording talks. Please follow the link and follow their instructions if you would like assistance on how to pre-record a talk. NB: Leave space at the bottom of the slides, so that slides are not covered by subtitles!

Subtitling

For signed pre-recorded talks: When adding subtitles to the video, make sure the text does not overlap with the signing and slides/other presentation graphics. If submitting a transcript in English instead of time-aligned subtitles, enough space (between 1/4 and 1/3 of the slide) should be left for subtitles at the bottom edge of the frame

For spoken pre-recorded talks: 

Youtube allows for automatic captioning. If you wish to use this service, we encourage strongly that you test for yourself before submitting, whether the Youtube AI is able to caption your recording adequately. Speaking clearly with a good microphone will make the AI more accurate. Note that English varieties that are not known to the Youtube AI may cause captioning errors. Instructions are available here. If you submit your Youtube video, please make sure the visibility of your video is set to “Unlisted” (not “Private”).

Youtube also appears to allow integrating subtitles to videos. In other words, you can subtitle your video via Youtube’s platform, rather than using some other third party software. More information available here and here. If you submit your Youtube video, please make sure the visibility of your video is set to “Unlisted” (not “Private”)

If you would rather avoid using Youtube, you will have to find another way of integrating the subtitles into your video recording. Organisers of the World Congress of African Languages 10 (Leiden University) have kindly allowed us to share their instructions for integrating video and subtitles. Please note however that there are known issues with these instructions.

If any of the options above are not possible, we can also accept the submission of a video file and a separate text file containing a transcription of your talk. 

Submitting

You may submit your video through any means you prefer, such as via a file sharing service of your choice (e.g. Dropbox, WeTransfer etc.) Once you have submitted your files, we will upload these to the private Youtube channel. Please name your files by the conventions: Surname_TalkTitle (some kind of abbreviation of your talk title is fine e.g., Fishman_BilingualismDiglossia, Labov_SocStratNewYork. Surname of the first author alone will suffice.)

You may submit a link to your talk which is already published on Youtube

Please email your submission/link to the file sharing service here: ssml2021@helsinki.fi 

For the par­ti­cipants:

• Choose an uncluttered location inside, quiet and free from interruptions.
• When possible, use a wired network connection on your computer to avoid screen freeze or ensure you have a stable and secure Wifi connection.
• Preferably, use a separate microphone or headset to improve audio quality.
• An external web camera will improve the video quality. Zoom works fine also with a built-in web camera.
• Join a test meeting beforehand to test your speakers, microphones and web camera.
• Before joining the meeting, close all unnecessary applications and turn off all sound notifications on your computer.
• When joining the meeting, please use your full name as your screen name.
• Remember to mute your audio and turn on only while speaking.
• Turn off your video and use only while speaking (if not otherwise instructed).
• Follow the organisers' instructions on how to make questions and comments during the sessions. 

Ex­tra tips for the presenters:

• Put your web camera at eye level or higher – experiment for best angles. Make sure that you have a light-coloured background behind you.
• Pay attention to the lighting in the room. Too much light behind you will make you appear a dark figure. To counteract backlighting make sure you have a good source of light in front of you.
• Have the content and applications that you intend to share open and prepared ahead of time. Close applications that have pop-ups.
• If you are using an external monitor, be sure you are very confident screen sharing your presentation through this monitor before you present live.
• If possible, look directly at your camera while speaking. In that way, your attendees will feel much more included in the conversation.

Conferencing, online and in-person can be exhausting so you will need to take breaks. Breaks are built-in to the conference program. Stand up and stretch, get a snack or of a cup of coffee and come back refreshed! If you leave the Zoom meeting on, make sure that you mute your microphone during the break.

Funet Miitti (Zoom) and the pub­lic Zoom ser­vice are dif­fer­ent services

The University of Helsinki uses the Funet Miitti (Zoom) service, which is provided by CSC and implemented through the NORDUnet in cooperation with other Nordic countries. The service is implemented in compliance with Finnish law and European data protection regulations. The Zoom service provided by CSC and NORDUnet is technically different from the Zoom service provided by the US-based Zoom Video Communications, Inc.

The news on the transmission of phone numbers or credit card information does not concern the service provided by CSC and NORDUnet. TheNORDUnet environment does not use Zoom cloud storage, and Zoom has no access to the video or audio from meetings. The service description of Funet Miitti is public.