Update on GamiFIN 2020 in relation to the coronavirus – GamiFIN 2020 conference will be held as an online conference

Dear GamiFIN Participants,

As we all are aware, the international situation regarding COVID-19 has progressed very rapidly, and continues to create significant uncertainty for the coming days as we approach the planned conference dates. The situation has made international travel very difficult, even impossible, for most of us and has led to a situation where attending a physical conference has become impractical and risky. Furthermore, beyond other existing and forthcoming restrictions, the Finnish government has now made a strong recommendation to cancel all public gatherings, especially those with an international dimension.

Therefore, we are unfortunately forced to move the conference online and to cancel the physical event at Levi, Finland. While convening online sets limitations in regard to the ease of networking and other socializing with colleagues, as well as for winter activities, we will still be able to enjoy the substantial scholarly content of the conference.

We recognise that it would have been favorable to be able to make the decision earlier, in order to accommodate the many hurdles involved in the practical arrangements/cancellations of bookings. Unfortunately, the situation has evolved very rapidly and there have been conflicting regulations and guidelines issued by relevant authorities and countries, meaning that a faster reaction has been impossible.

The conference will take place on the same days: April 1-3.

While not being able to host the conference normally, in the grander scale of things we all are even more saddened by the international state of emergency, and we wish to show our respect and condolences to everyone affected by the situation. We also wish to remain resolute and to attempt to minimize the effect on scholarly progression by ensuring that the substance and hard scholarly work undertaken by all authors, presenters, peer-reviewers, program committee and conference organizers will not be in vain.

Please be informed of the following instructions:

• The conference will take place online.
• Each participant should prepare to be able to participate by using a microphone, headphones and preferably a camera as well as a stable internet connection.
• We will inform everyone about the exact online conferencing tool we will be using closer to the time. There will be the possibility to pretest the connection and equipment before the conference begins.

In terms of the conference fee, 50% of the registration fee will be returned in order to more accurately reflect the updated costs of organizing the conference and proceedings, in addition to potential fees paid for activities at the conference. We will send further details about the reimbursement of the fees when we have managed to organize the practicalities of the reimbursement.

Paper sessions: Paper presentations will be held normally (using online conferencing tools). Paper presentation is mandatory for the paper to be included in the conference proceedings publication.

Keynotes: Keynote sessions will be held normally via the online conferencing tool.

Posters: Poster presentations will be held similarly to paper sessions, but with shorter presentation slots. This means that the poster will be presented in 5 minutes to all conference participants, and will be followed by comments from the audience. Moreover, poster presenters will be able to provide .pdf files of the poster that will be made available to everyone, with possibility to give additional written feedback. The instructions for providing the .pdf will be sent later.

Doctoral consortium: Our current aim is to hold the doctoral consortium but we are currently evaluating ways in which this could be organised through an online format. The main function of doctoral consortium is commonly to provide an entry point to a community of scholars as well as to facilitate a communal setting of discussing each doctoral research and future academic career.

Workshops: Our current aim is to host the workshop on gamifying sustainable consumption (in partnership with S-Group) but we are currently evaluating ways in which this could be organised via an online format, more concrete information about this will be provided as we move forward with the online conference planning.

In case, you wish to cancel participation, the normal cancellation policy has been extended until 19th of March. However, please remember that we are unable to include papers that have not been presented at the (online) conference in the conference proceedings publication.

We sincerely hope that everyone will remain healthy and to be able to retain relative peace of mind. While it is difficult, we would like to arrive at a positive outcome. Amidst all of the uncertainty, we are encouraged that we, as a community, are able to have GamiFIN 2020 in some form.

If you have any questions related to GamiFIN 2020, please email us at info@gamifinconference.com