Building and maintaining an online academic conference series

This paper explores the enablers and inhibitors of participation in an online academic conference series. Using CybErg as an example of an online academic conference, the lessons and experiences learnt at all three of the previous CybErg conferences and the organisation of the last two of these conferences are shared in this paper. The key challenges to online academic conferencing are identified as the digital divide, language proficiencies, "academic tourism" and the qualities of face-to-face versus computer-mediated communication (as encapsulated in the social presence theory and the media richness theory). The paper concludes with some challenges for future online conferences and remarks on the ongoing role and format of online academic conferences. Relevance to industry The lessons learnt in building and maintaining an online conference have a great deal of applicability to understanding how all online communities might be sustained. While some of the issues may appear "unique" to an academic environment (e.g. "academic tourism"), the lessons learnt from CybErg with regard to internationalisation of discussion and the technological challenges faced in different regions of the world has direct relevance to international industries and the efficacy of online conferencing facilities that they use. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.