Call for submissions: Hands-on Workshop on Collaborative Modeling 2021 (HoWCoM)

The ability to collaboratively engineer models of systems has become a particularly important topic in Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). Apart from becoming multidisciplinary, engineering teams are also getting more and more distributed in space and time. The lack of physical presence forces engineers to rely on digital means of collaboration. Given the recent trends in the research and development of collaborative MDE tools, it is high time for their hands-on evaluation.

The rare opportunity, provided by the online format of the 2021 edition of MODELS, enables studying the dynamics of collaborative modeling endeavors in a realistic environment: with physically distanced participants forced to rely on means of collaboration provided by the tools under study.

ABOUT
1st International Hands-on Workshop on Collaborative Modeling 2021 (HoWCoM)
10 – 12 October 2021 — Virtual Edition
https://howcom2021.github.io/
Co-located with the MODELS 2021 conference

HoWCoM aims to bring together developers of collaborative MDE tools, and the extended modeling community, in order to enable the evaluation of these tools by hands-on experimentation. The results of the evaluations will be used to assess the features, maturity, and challenges of the domain.

TOPICS OF INTEREST
The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
-Real-time synchronous means of collaboration
-Asynchronous means of collaboration
-(In)consistency management
-Advanced conflict visualization and resolution techniques
-Data-level collaborative techniques
-Domain-specific collaborative solutions
-Informal means of collaboration
-Semantic techniques (versioning, visualization, etc.)
-Human factors in collaboration

SUBMISSIONS
We invite the following three types of submissions.
CASE PAPERS (up to 10 pages) elaborating on a collaborative case, and demonstrating its solution via a tool of choice. The description of the case should include a general challenge, and an example scenario of that challenge. Authors of the accepted papers will be invited to give a talk during the morning session, and their tools will be used during the afternoon session. The submitted cases will be used by the organizers to construct the modeling tasks of the afternoon session. Please refer to the specific instructions for case papers on the official website.
VISION PAPERS (5 pages) presenting innovative ideas. Authors of the accepted vision papers will be invited to give a regular talk.
EXTENDED ABSTRACTS (1 page) presenting innovative ideas or position statements. Authors of the accepted extended abstracts will be invited for a lightning talk.

All submitted papers must adhere to the IEEE Conference format, and submitted electronically through EasyChair. All submissions will be reviewed by at least 3 members of the program committee. Authors of case papers should expect a particularly detailed feedback to allow them to leverage the opportunity the workshop provides to the fullest extent. Case papers and vision papers will be published in the MODELS Companion proceedings. Extended abstracts will not be published. All accepted papers will be available on the workshop website prior to the start of the workshop.

To be published in the proceedings, at least one author of an accepted paper must present their work at the workshop. Additionally, authors of accepted case papers commit to conduct a hands-on session for their tool during the afternoon session.

IMPORTANT DATES
-July 16, 2021 – Abstract submission deadline.
-July 23, 2021 – Paper submission deadline.
-August 21, 2021 – Notification of acceptance.
-August 28, 2021 – Final papers submission deadline.
-September 6–10, 2021 [Case papers only] – Technical preparations.
-September 30, 2021 [Case papers only] – Final case descriptions.
-October 1, 2021 – Final program announced.
-October 10-12, 2021 – Workshop.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Istvan DAVID, University of Montreal, Canada
Eugene SYRIANI, University of Montreal, Canada
Antonio GARCIA-DOMINGUEZ, Aston University, UK

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Sanaa ALWIDIAN, Ontario Tech University, Canada
Kousar ASLAM, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jordi CABOT, ICREA / Open University of Catalonia, Spain
Juan DE LARA, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
Davide DI RUSCIO, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy
Steven KELLY, MetaCase, Finland
Sahar KOKALY, General Motors / McMaster University, Canada
Ivano MALAVOLTA, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gunter MUSSBACHER, McGill University, Canada
Blazho NASTOV, Axellience, France
Ahsan QAMAR, Ford Motor Company, USA
Alexander RASCHKE, Ulm University, Germany
Taylor RICHE, National Instruments, USA
Vasco SOUSA, University of Montreal, Canada
André VAN DER HOEK, University of California Irvine, USA
Manuel WIMMER, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria