2026 NMWP Annual Unconference

12-13 May 2026 – 100% Virtual (Zoom)

You are cordially invited to our third annual New Media Writing Prize Unconference. This two-day creative and critical participant-directed Unconference is hosted by Bournemouth University (UK) in partnership with the Electronic Literature Organization and the British Library. The Unconference culminates in the awards evening for the New Media Writing Prize on 13 May 2026 (registration link to follow—the awards evening is FREE and open to the public).

Unconference Theme: TBD

This year’s theme...?

Examples of activities include:

  • Live Co-Creation: Collaborative storytelling, netprovs, or group design challenges.
  • Hack-a-Thon / Write-a-Thon: Thematic challenges that result in co-created outputs.
  • Peer-Led Clinics: Hands-on sessions using accessible tools like Twine, GitHub, or creative software.
  • Creative Networking Sessions: Innovative ways to connect participants (e.g., collaboration speed-dating).
  • Dialogues in Digital Practice: Lightning talks based in a panel’s research or practice followed by facilitated discussion and creative responses.
  • Thematic Breakouts: Discussions or activities exploring subthemes like accessibility or sustainability.
  • Quickfire Interludes: Quick creative exercises (e.g., collaborative poems, brainstorming). Researchers could also use these for data collection — try things out on us!
  • Live performances of digital creativity

How It Works

The Unconference focuses not on standard conference presentations, but on an “unconferencing” approach in which all attendees/participants discuss and agree on the agenda leading up to the event. We have only one hard and fast rule based on preceding unconference experiences: no single-presenter presentations longer than 7 minutes (the length of a pecha kucha). This includes artists’ talks.

The Unconference has two types of participants:

  • Contributors who contribute work, workshops, activities, events, or other elements to the Unconference. Contributors are selected from submissions (more below), and will be named in the Unconference documentation. Think of Contributors as the equivalent of "presenting a paper" at a conference.
  • Participants who take part in the activities and events. There is no need to submit a proposal to be a Participant. Think of Participants as conference-goers who attend talks and panels, but do not give their own.

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A section of the NMWP website is devoted to the Unconference, where works and schedules can be accessed. Where possible and permissible, sessions are recorded, and the recordings made available on NMWP’s YouTube channel; this applies to elements like panel or roundtable discussions of good practice and presentations of works. Recordings follow all privacy and accessibility best management practices.

Participants are not merely attendees! The Unconference elements are intended to be workshops, roundtables, hack-a-thons, activist events, and other participatory sessions. We aim to have Participants create works and contribute to discussions; you just don’t have the responsibility of designing/hosting/managing elements. This is a great option for students new to digital literature, or folks who just want to play!

As this is not the main ELO conference, participants are not limited in the amount of activities they can participate or present in. Our aim is to have all Contributors and Participants participate in every session. If a particular session is larger in attendance than anticipated, we use breakout rooms to run activities in smaller groups in parallel.

Fees

We aim to keep costs low, since the event is fully digital and supported by institutions with relevant structures (e.g., Zoom). Fees contribute to maintenance of the NMWP website, hosting video archives of the event, creating a web gallery of works, as well as accessibility technology expenses (primarily live captioning and extended functionalities on Zoom). As an ELO-sponsored event, membership fees are also required for participants and attendees (good for the entire year!)

PLUS:

  • Contributor (named and listed in program): GBP£75 for salaried academics and professionals; GBP£50 for students/precariously employed professionals; OR
  • Participant: GBP£25

Any fees collected in excess of Unconference costs contribute to the New Media Writing Prize: Social Good category.

Unconference fee bursaries are available in exchange for assistance with unconference tasks.

Unconference Noncommittee

The following folks came up with these shenanigans, and are at least partially responsible for the chaos that ensues:

  • Symposium/Academic Chair: R. Lyle Skains
  • Artistic Chair and Accessibility Coordinator: Deena Larsen
  • Tech Chair: Ken Alba

The Unconference Noncommittee are committed to the ELO Code of Conduct, and conduct all activities in alignment with these values.