General FAQ for Authors

How do you register for the preconference?

Like attendee registration, author registration is free with an ARSTM membership, which lasts through Aug. 31, 2022. Membership fees are tiered based on your professional position. Additionally, for the second year in a row, we are offering a no-questions-asked fee waiver in acknowledgement of the difficult circumstances many people find themselves in. 

Please update your ARSTM membership online at the ARSTM website by Nov. 16.

How should you prepare your synchronous paper/presentation?

Here’s what the synchronous presentation process will look like:

  1.  By Monday, Nov. 15th we request that authors submit links or files for their visual presentation and/or script to the dropbox link at the end of this webpage. Your presentation material will be posted to an ARSTM webpage for accessibility for members/conference registrants only during the preconference day. If you have concerns about making your materials asynchronously available to members, please reach out to Kenny (kenneth.walker@utsa.edu) as soon as possible, so we can figure out a solution.
  2. On Monday, Nov. 15th for 2 hours before the ARSTM Business Meeting we will hold a virtual open house for anyone who would like to conduct a technical test of their Zoom A/V using the ARSTM@NCA Event Room link. This process is highly recommended to test our ability to co-host, share A/V, etc., for your presentation. We will send the zoom link to all authors via email and you may show up anytime from 10:30am-12:30pm CST. (and of course we hope you join us for our ARSTM Business Meeting at 12:30pm). We’ll use the same Event Room Zoom link on Wednesday, 11/17.
  3. By Nov. 16: Update your ARSTM Membership.
    Like attendee registration, author registration is free with an ARSTM membership, which lasts through Aug. 31, 2022. Membership fees are tiered based on your professional position. For the second year in a row, we are offering a no-questions-asked fee waiver in acknowledgement of the difficult circumstances many people find themselves in.

    Update your ARSTM membership online at the ARSTM website.
  4. On Nov. 17: Attendees and authors join the live preconference for the ARSTM@NCA Preconference starting at 9am. Accepted authors will prepare a live paper with presentation materials (if needed) at their designated time. The session hosts will make you a co-host for your session so you can share your screen. 

Please see the ARSTM@NCA 2021 Preconference Schedule for details.

If you have restrictions that prevent you from presenting at your scheduled time on Wednesday, November 17th, please let me know and we will try to accommodate you.

How should you prepare your asynchronous paper/presentation? (Citation Politics Roundtable Only)

  1. By Nov. 9th-Nov 12th: Please upload a 30-45 minute video-recorded presentation and script to the secure Dropbox link below. Details about paper/presentation formatting and Dropbox access are provided in the sections below.
  2. ARSTM leadership will add your materials to a password-protected space on the ARSTM preconference website, where they will be made available to ARSTM members beginning Nov. 10th-12th. If you have concerns about making your materials asynchronously available to members, please reach out to Kenny (kenneth.walker@utsa.edu) as soon as possible, so we can figure out a solution.
  3. Nov. 12th. – Nov. 16: Attendees read/view papers/presentations in advance. Attendees will have a week to read and watch uploaded papers and presentations prior to the preconference. Papers and videos will remain accessible to ARSTM members for another 2 weeks after the preconference (until Dec. 1st) to encourage follow up exchanges among attendees and authors.
  1. On Monday, Nov. 15th for 2 hours before the ARSTM Business Meeting we will hold a virtual open house for anyone who would like to conduct a technical test of their Zoom A/V using the ARSTM@NCA Event Room link. This process is highly recommended to test our ability to co-host, share A/V, etc., for your presentation. We will send the zoom link to all authors via email and you may show up anytime from 10:30am-12:30pm CST. (and of course we hope you join us for our ARSTM Business Meeting at 12:30pm). We’ll use the same Event Room Zoom link on Wednesday, 11/17.
  2. By Nov. 16: Update your ARSTM Membership.
    Like attendee registration, author registration is free with an ARSTM membership, which lasts through Aug. 31, 2022. Membership fees are tiered based on your professional position. Additionally, for the second year in a row, we are offering a no-questions-asked fee waiver in acknowledgement of the difficult circumstances many people find themselves in.

    Update your ARSTM membership online at the ARSTM website.
  3. On Nov. 17: Attendees and authors join the live preconference for the ARSTM@NCA Preconference. The Citation Politics Roundtable will open their session at 4pm and provide a brief 5-10 introduction before the 30–40-minute Q&A. 

Please see the ARSTM@NCA 2021 Preconference Schedule for details.

If you have any time restrictions that will prevent you from engaging at your scheduled time on Wednesday, November 17th, 2021, please let me know right away and we will try to accommodate you.

Paper Guidelines: Standards & Accessibility

For more information about accessible composing, see the Composing Access website developed by the Committee on Disability Issues in College Composition and the Computers and Composition Digital Press.

For papers, please use the following standards:

  • Save and upload to Dropbox as a PDF.
  • Include references using any style guide of your choice
  • Meet word count of 1300-1500 words (excluding references)

To ensure that your paper is accessible for all readers, including screenreader users, please do the following:

  • Use the style function in your word processing software to indicate titles, headings, and subheadings.
  • Include textual descriptions for all visuals.
  • Design visuals that don’t rely on color contrasts that won’t be visible to colorblind readers. (Color Oracle) is a great free colorblindness simulator that can check color contrasts for you. Alternatively, use patterns instead of color to indicate meaning, such as on bar graphs.)

Composing An Accessible Video Presentation for Upload to Dropbox

For video presentations, please use the following standards:

  • Save and upload the video to Dropbox in a standard video file format (e.g., mp4, AVI).
  • Stay within 12-15 minute timeline (for panels)

To ensure that your video presentation is accessible for all viewers, please do the following:

  • Include captions.
  • Submit a transcript file along with the presentation.
  • Design visuals that don’t rely on color contrasts that won’t be visible to colorblind readers. (Color Oracle) is a great free colorblindness simulator that can check color contrasts for you. Alternatively, use patterns instead of color to indicate meaning, such as on bar graphs.)
  • Provide oral descriptions of all visual presentation content (e.g., photos or data visualizations on slides).

Uploading Your Asynchronous Content

Please upload your content to the “ARSTM@NCA 2021 Preconference: Asynchronous Upload” Dropbox. 

Access the Dropbox via this link, as well as using the invitation shared to your email.