Can you give me some topic ideas?
We sure can! Here are some broad ideas:
Development
- Have you built the same app for several years? What’s changed in that time? How has your approach to change been handled?
- Should we be using Objective-C any more? What about Swift and Objective-C for the same app, how did that go?
- How did you handle changes between versions of Swift, as Swift evolved rapidly?
- What’s it mean to re-build ‘the same’ app every 2 years?
- What have write-once run-anywhere technologies meant for you and your use of Apple developer platforms? Where does Xamarin, React Native, Flutter, and the like fit into your workflows? What amazing things have you done with them?
- How’s SwiftUI going for you? What’s harder, what’s easier? What have you built?
- UIKit or SwiftUI?
- Is the future of macOS apps Catalyst? What’s your experience with Catalyst apps so far?
- What’s your approach to building for new Apple platforms, particularly when they often only give a month or two of warning?
- How do you prepare for what’s coming when you don’t know what it is? Is it AR? Is it VR? Who knows!
Support
- What’s it like managing and administering macOS and iOS in support, lab, network, sysadmin and related roles in 2022?
- If everyone’s working from home, are you superfluous to needs? What’s the purpose of a finely tuned, beautifully appointed lab of macOS machines if everyone is hunched over a laptop on their couch at home? How do you support the laptop-hunchers?
- BYOD disrupted workflows, and now the devices aren’t even leaving the house. What processes, systems, tools, and techniques can make it easier to support and work with users who have more autonomy, control, and flexibility with their hardware than ever before? How does a managed environment fit in with this reality?
- iOS vs macOS? macOS vs iOS? As the platforms become more and more similar, how does your job change? What tools are the same, and what are different?
Creativity
- How can people be engaged for remote education using technology when everyone’s experience burnout on doing yet-another-Zoom-call?
- What kind of virtual or otherwise-interactive environments can be used for learning outside the orthodox? Ever hold a tutorial, a meeting, or a conference in Roblox, Minecraft, an MMORPG, or other game or game-like environment? How did that work out?
- Unreal, Unity, or Godot? Do you use one of them? Tell us how, what you’ve built, and how you built it.
- What’s the future of creativity if everyone is working from home? How does the ability to collaborate, or the new limitations on collaboration impact creativity and technology? Does it impact it at all if everyone works together over video conference? How can we adapt?
- Is it inevitable that we all move to virtual collaboration? How can we make that better?
- What’s next? AR? VR? Both? Apple Goggles? How are you preparing for the next big thing in creative technology?
How do I submit my idea?
Please visit the Submit a Proposal form to submit your content idea.
The AUC is very welcoming of first-time writers, speakers, and content creators, and anyone at any level of their career or speaking experience is welcome to participate in this process.
If you’d prefer to discuss a talk or workshop idea in person, please email publications@auc.edu.au or join the AUC Discord.
What technical details should I know about submissions?
Should your proposal be accepted, your final submission must be available in English, and be suitable for those under the age of 18 to read or watch, and must comply with all elements of the AUC Code of Conduct.
Text Submissions
Text submissions should be made in one of the following formats:
- an Apple Pages or Microsoft Word document, with embedded images, using 3 levels of heading at the most
- a Markdown file, with images separately provided, using 3 levels of heading at the most
Video Submissions
Video submissions should adhere to the following requirements:
- 1080p (1920×1080) or 720p (1280×720) resolution
- MP4 H.265/H.264 with AAC audio
- Video bitrate of at least 4 Mbit (for 1080p) or 2.5 Mbit (for 720p)
- Audio bitrate of at least 160 Kbit
- Framerate of 30 (but 29.97/30/25/24/50/60 is OK, as long as your lights don’t flicker)
We can supply additional information about authoring video content if your proposal is accepted.
Payment
We’re interested in community-focused contributions, but we feel that it’s important people are compensated for licensing their content to us. As such, you may be eligible for a licensing fee if your submission is accepted. This would be paid to you in line with AUC policy.
Your license to us will be non-exclusive (i.e. you can publish whatever we accept elsewhere, as well).
What happens after I submit?
Here’s a rough outline of our process:
- You submit an idea for content via our Submission Form.
- After the submission deadline for the next release has passed, the AUC team will get back to you within 2 weeks to let you know whether your submission was accepted.
- If you’re accepted, you’ll get a deadline to make your final submission by. This will likely be 4 to 6 weeks after the aforementioned submission deadline.
- At or before this deadline, you’ll send us your final article or video, and we’ll do a quick review.
- We might edit it slightly for tone, copyediting reasons, or to fit it better with the overall content drop. We’ll run the changes past you if possible, though.
- At the publication date, we’ll publish your content, and may pay you a licensing fee.
What dates should I keep in mind?
There are 4 scheduled publication events coming up:
- August 2022
- Submissions due by 5PM AEST on
15 July 20221 August, 2022
- Submissions due by 5PM AEST on
- November 2022
- Submissions due by 5PM AEDT on 14 October 2022
- February 2023
- Submissions due by 5PM AEDT on 13 January 2023
- May 2023
- Submissions due by 5PM AEST on 19 April 2023
Do I have to be an AUC member to submit?
No – but we’d love you to consider it. It will not impact your submission in any way if you’re not.
Anything else I should know?
The AUC reserves the right to take down any previously published content for any reason at any time. Your content must be your original creation, and you must have the necessary rights to license it to us for publication. We will attribute your work to you, in whatever form you request of us, provided the attribution meets our Code of Conduct standards.