In April 2008, the first call to participate in Project Bamboo went out to a number of institutions. We expected a modest number of responses (about 50) and ended up with well over 120 institutions and organizations interested in participating in Workshop One -- far more than our workshop venues could accommodate. Given this, the program team has been committed to creating opportunities to participate in Project Bamboo even if one is not able to participate in a face-to-face workshop.

Contribute Online

The first step for all interested parties is to help us analyze the data we collect and refine the concepts and ideas that will eventually define the scope of Bamboo. These activities occur on the wiki between workshops and are open to all, whether or not they've participated in a workshop. Community input is crucial as it helps us build a roadmap of shared technology services, initiates the first round of Bamboo demonstrator projects, and outlines aspects of the organization that will underpin implementation.

To join the Bamboo community and contribute to the wiki, all you need to do is sign up. Visit the Planning Wiki and click on the "Sign Up" link in the upper right corner of the page.

Participate in Workshops

For face-to-face workshops, we are seeking institutions and organizations that have serious interest in building a consortium and are willing to contribute their time and expertise to shape the direction of the project based on the input provided by the community. By the end of the planning stage, we hope a subset of these institutions and organizations will form both the core of the implementation project and the Bamboo consortium that will lead, guide and help sustain the effort into the future.

Workshop Three will take place January 12-14, 2009 in Tucson, Arizona. With Workshop Two, held in October 2008 in San Francisco, we set the first stage of requirements to participate.

In order to participate in the next phase of the Bamboo planning process, institutions and organizations who have not previously attended a Project Bamboo workshop will need to:

1. contribute to the development of the Bamboo community by using the Bamboo wiki to interpret and organize data about scholarly practices, refine Bamboo future directions, and/or analyze possible consorital models;
   
2. create a local Bamboo team at your campus or organization made up, as possible, of humanities faculty, information technologists, librarians, and/or others who you believe can effect change in support of digital humanities at your institution/organization;
   
3. submit a letter from a senior campus or organizational leader that indicates and illustrates support for participating in the Bamboo Workshop Three; and
   
4. cover workshop travel and lodging costs for your your team.

Given the greater-than-expected interest in Bamboo, we will have to limit size of the teams that can attend the next workshop. For colleges and universities, the team must include at least one humanities faculty leader and one leader from IT and/or the library. A total of three people may attend. For organizations and industry, the limit will generally be one person per organization. We want to stress, however, that we strongly encourage institutions and organizations to create local Bamboo teams made up of larger numbers of representatives who can support the team attending the workshop and gather and share ideas and opportunities at your local institution.

To apply for participation in Workshop Three, to be held January 12-14, 2009, please choose from one of two forms we have available: one for Colleges and Universities, and another for Organizations and Industry.