The 18th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education and the 6th Annual Conference on Research in Information Technology (RIIT) will be hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology and will take place at the Hyatt Regency Rochester Hotel October 4 – 7, 2017. Both conferences are sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group of Information Technology Education (SIGITE).The dual conferences provide a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to information technology research, education, applications, IT-industry-academia relationships, and our roles as professionals, educators, and advocates for the effective use of information technology. This year is the sixth for the Research in IT conference, which aims to provide a venue for showcasing research in information technology that may or may not have a connection with teaching IT. These two conferences will be co-located and tightly integrated so that participants can attend the sessions of both at no additional charge.

Theme
The theme of both conferences is “Enabling the Future”. From its establishment in the early 1800s, Rochester, NY has long been a city that leveraged innovation. The Erie Canal allowed Rochester millers to ship their flour across the state to Albany (earning it the nickname, “Flour City”), flexible photographic film allowed George Eastman to grow his Kodak empire, and today photonics are creating new possibilities. The canal, the flexible film, and photonics are all enablers, but in the Internet of Things, ubiquitous computing, and smart communities, information technology is the enabler. The networking, the massive data stores, and the user experience all depend on information technology. The aim of the conferences is to showcase how information technology enables the future.

Submissions: Due May 15, 2015The submission site is: csm.ist.rit.edu

All submissions should use the ACM templates: http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates. A PDF document should be submitted for all types of submissions. Panel and workshop proposals should include author information. All other submissions (papers, lightning talks, and posters) should be anonymous, with all author information removed. Submissions must adhere to the page limits described below, and submissions that exceed the limits will be rejected without review. Authors must register for and attend the conference as specified below in order for their work to appear in the published proceedings.

Papers
Submissions will be no longer than six double-column pages and will undergo a blind peer reviewing process. Authors will have approximately 30 minutes for their presentation, including the question and answer period. Accepted papers must be presented by at least one author and will be published in the conference proceedings.Panels Panels allow experts to discuss a current topic of interest in IT education or research. Panel organizers are responsible for selecting appropriate panelists to participate. A panel will normally have at most four panelists including the organizer.

Panel
submissions should include a list of panelists, their affiliations, a description of the topics, and a brief position statement from each panelist. All panelists are expected to attend the conference and participate in the panel. Panel proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Workshops
Workshops allow presenters to provide a hands-on exploration of a topic in which attendees are expected to actively participate. The workshop proposer is required to attend the conference. Workshop proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Lightning talks
Lightning talks present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback or short curricular, pedagogical, or research techniques of interest to the SIGITE/RIIT communities. Accepted lightning talks will be presented in a session where each author is given 10 minutes to present the work and obtain feedback. A one-page summary of the accepted lightning talks will be published in the conference proceedings.

Posters
Posters present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback. A one-page summary of the accepted posters will be published in the conference proceedings. Posters must be E-Size or smaller.

Other Information
Exhibits Booths, opportunities for presentations, and/or space in the program will be made available to publishers, software houses, and other interested vendors who wish to sponsor SIGITE 2017 and RIIT 2017. Interested parties are invited to contact the sponsorship chair Hollis Greenberg (greenbergh1@wit.edu) and Bryan Goda (godab@uw.edu) for information about exhibiting at or sponsoring the conference.

Students
Students are encouraged to present papers at either conference. SIGITE will cover the conference registration and provide $200 toward expenses of attending the conference for the first 10 accepted student papers. Female students may apply for additional funding from the ACM-W organization, with the application procedure described here: http://women.acm.org/scholarship.

Important dates
May 15, 2017: Paper, panel, workshop, lightning talk, and poster submissions due
June 30, 2017: Acceptance/rejection notification & reviewer feedback for papers, panels, and workshops
August 1, 2017: Final versions of papers, panels, workshops, lightning talks, and posters due
October 4 –October 7, 2017: SIGITE 2017 and RIIT 2017

AUTHORS TAKE NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

Contact information
For questions about submissions, contact one of the program chairs: Tom Ayers (tayers@broward.edu) or Dan Bogaard (dan.bogaard@rit.edu)

For questions about the conference location or logistics, contact the conference chair: Steve Zilora (steve.zilora@rit.edu.)