SIG 2 Conference 2024

Comprehension of texts and graphics: from human to artificial intelligence

The EARLI SIG2 meeting in 2024 will come back to Valencia after 20 years. We would like to take advantage of this opportunity to reflect on how our conception of what it means to comprehend texts and graphics has evolved in the past two decades. The traditional view that our ability to comprehend texts and graphics is shaped mainly by our capabilities as humans is being challenged by the irruption of new technological scenarios and tools.

Sometimes these emergent contexts present some challenges for readers. Will humans be able to discern true information if the increasing digital pollution of fake news on the Internet escalates? Will it be necessary to integrate information from different sources -texts or graphics - when generative artificial intelligence could do it for us? Will leisure reading become an extravagance and be finally replaced by other media consumption?

Against this apocalyptic scenario, current research on text and graphics comprehension explores ways in which technology can be integrated into learning and instruction to boost students’ capabilities. While new literacy abilities must be learned to adapt to new technological scenarios, most of the aspects that constitute our ability to comprehend texts and graphics are still essential to understand our world.

We, therefore, invite all researchers to draw further attention to the changes the field of text and graphics comprehension has experienced in the last decades, with a look for a future in which comprehension remains a key component of what makes us human, following the theme: Comprehension of texts and graphics: from human to artificial intelligence.

The EARLI SIG2 Comprehension of Text and Graphics meeting will be held immediately after the EARLI SIG15 Special Educational Needs, which will also take place in Valencia. We would like to take this opportunity to strengthen links between both communities, and we plan to organize combined activities, such as joint symposiums or joint poster sessions, on topics such as struggling digital readers, multimedia to support comprehension of students with special needs, etc. Please contact the organizers if you would like to propose or to participate in such events.

Typical SIG 2 Topics

Please note that the conference theme and the mentioned topics are only meant to inspire submissions, but not to limit their scope. All proposals that address any question related to text and/or graphics comprehension are more than welcome!

Typical SIG 2 topics include learning from or testing with:

• Text reading
• Texts and pictures
• Graphical representations
• Comprehension assessment
• Multiple documents
• Hypermedia
• Search as learning
• Animations and videos
• Simulations and games

Please note that we welcome anyone who is interested in the topics related to SIG 2 and wants to get in touch, even if they have not (yet) conducted research in the field of text and graphics comprehension.

You are also very welcome to register for the conference without submitting a proposal. Feel free to join the conference to focus on interpersonal exchanges within the community and to listen to the presentations and keynotes. This also (and especially) applies to interested undergraduate and graduate students.

The submission format will be the same for all three presentation types (see below). To keep the workload for both participants and reviewers at a lower level, we decided to reduce the allowed length for the submission proposals:

Proposals should be no longer than 600 words, plus a brief abstract that is no longer than 60 words. The word limitation for the proposal does not include references or tables/figures (up to two), which can be added in a pdf file attachment.

The brief abstract should highlight just the main idea or important results of the research. It will be printed in the conference program.

Please note: Both empirical and theoretical contributions are welcome!

For empirical contributions, the proposal should be written concisely and include a brief background and the motivation for the conducted research as well as sufficient information regarding the research questions, design, sample, methods, and (if already present) results with important conclusions. Of course, it will not be possible to include a comprehensive theoretical background for the work in the short proposals and this is not expected. Please focus on making sure that the added value and the quality of your own research stand out in the submission.

For theoretical contributions, the proposal should be written concisely and include a review of previous literature with diverse perspectives on a topic and build on existing work in the field. They can include a data section, or extend the current theory literature without including data. It should become clear what is original about the contribution and why it is important with respect to theory and/or practice. In addition, it should highlight how the contribution is relevant to the SIG 2 topics in particular and the implications of the contribution for theory and/or practice.

PRESENTATION FORMAT AND GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS

The conference will have three presentation formats that will allow participants to present work in different stages and also make room to discuss work in progress.

Please note that authors will be asked to indicate which of the three presentation formats they prefer during the submission process. The final decision on the presentation format will be made based on the review results and the fit of the proposed work to the scope of the SIG 2 conference.

1) Oral Paper Presentation

This is the standard format that gives participants the opportunity to present and discuss the results from recently completed research as well as work in progress but in the late stages. The paper proposals that receive the most favorable reviews and that fit well to the conference’s scope will be allocated 17-minute oral presentation format (13 minutes presentation and 4 minutes for questions and discussions).

2) Scientific Poster

The poster sessions will be of substantial length and scheduled at convenient times during the conference, making this a lively and interactive presentation format to present studies and make interpersonal connections. This format is perfectly suited to present new ideas or work in progress.

Please note that, for organizational reasons, the research blitz is no longer feasible. Instead, all the posters will be exhibited to allow for spontaneous discussions.

For the posters we recommend a maximum size of A0 (portrait or landscape format).

3) Symposia

Symposia present research on one topic or theme, providing a coherent set of papers for discussion. Symposium sessions consist of 3-4 oral paper presentations and the discussant’s contribution. For symposia, please submit an overarching abstract of 100-150 words describing the contents and purpose(s) of the symposium. Furthermore, please submit for each paper a short abstract of 60 words + extended summary of max. 600 words. Symposia are directed by a chairperson, who should be one of the presenters. In symposia, participants should come from at least two different countries. Please note that every participant must register individually.

Each paper will be allocated to the 17-minute oral presentation format (13 minutes presentation and 4 minutes questions), followed by a 20 minutes discussion. The Discussant is encouraged to prepare a short presentation (max. 10 minutes) to support their discussion, ensuring enough time for interaction with presenters and attendees.

Common aspects to all presenters

• Before presenting: Presenters can either use their own laptop or send their presentation (preferably in PDF format) to the organizers at SIG2@earli.org before presenting.
• During presenting: Time allocation is of great importance. Each session chair will keep track of the time and will communicate the remaining time to the presenter to ensure a smooth and balanced session.

Please Note: Number of Submissions

You are welcome to submit more than one proposal for the conference! However, to ensure that many different researchers will have the chance to present their work, please note that if you submit several paper proposals as a first author, only one can be accepted as an oral presentation (the one that receives the highest review scores).

Additional proposals can be accepted as posters or located in symposia sessions.

The number of co-authored presentations is not limited. However, the first author is expected to be the presenting author and to be registered for the conference.

How to Submit Your Proposal

To submit a proposal, you will need an EARLI account. If you do not have an EARLI account yet, simply create one here – it’s free of charge.

The SIG 2 conference submission system will open on December 10th, 2023. And will be open until February 21st at 23h59 (UTC +1).

Note: All submissions should be completely anonymous to ensure a fair and blind review process. Therefore, please make sure that you do not include any names or institution names in your submission or in the attached pdf file.

Please adhere to the submission guidelines. Most importantly, make sure that your abstract is no longer than 60 words and the proposal (excluding references) is no longer than 600 words. If you wish to add references and tables/figures (up to two), you are invited to send them in a separate pdf file.

To submit your proposal via the EARLI system, please follow these steps:

1. Log into the EARLI system.
2. Go to “My submissions” and click on the right side on "+New Submission" (green button).
3. Select the correct conference (SIG 2 Conference 2024) from the list and click on "+New Submission" on the right side.
4. Fill in the form with the basic data for your proposal and click on "Save Draft" (green button).
5. Then click on "Paper Info" in the upper list and fill in the three fields (Abstract, Summary, and Accepting Formats).
6. Then go to "Paper Meta Data" (this only works if the previous fields have been filled in correctly) and enter the remaining information.
7. Either click on "Save Draft" for intermediate saving or "Save & Submit" to finally submit your proposal.

Please note: For each submission, a presenting author is needed. If your proposal is accepted, the presenting author will need to register for the conference in order to schedule the proposal.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Important criteria for the review process will be:

For empirical contributions:

• Relevance for the domain of SIG 2 (text and graphics comprehension)

• Scientific quality of the research rationale and study design

• Clarity, coherence, and conciseness of the submission

• Significance for theory and practice

• Soundness of research methods and design

• Quality of (preliminary) analyses and conclusions

For theoretical contributions:

• Relevance for the domain of SIG 2 (text and graphics comprehension)

• Originality and quality of the research rationale

• Clarity, coherence, and conciseness of the submission

• Significance for theory (advancing the field) and practice

• Soundness of theoretical argumentation

• Quality of inferences

The reviewers will be asked to rate the respective criteria on a scale from 0–100%. However, if you are presenting work in progress, please clearly indicate the current state of the work and in which state you will be able to present the research to allow to consider this information in the review process.

Deadline for reviewers: The deadline for the reviews is 19th of March, 2024 at 23h59 (UTC +1). Reviewers can access to the submissions assigned through this link: https://www.earli-eapril.org/m...