[AISWorld] Please post

[Long, Shawn]

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Proposal Submission Deadline:  February 1, 2011

Virtual Work and Human Interaction Research: Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches

A book edited by Dr. Shawn D. Long, M.P.A., Ph.D.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 

Introduction

Virtual Work is an emerging feature of contemporary organizational life.
As organizations shift their work space from more traditional tethered
locations to geographically dispersed spaces, understanding how humans
communicate, behave and navigate in this new domain is of great
importance. To be clear, organizations are not decreasing their efforts
toward electronic work, but rather they are expanding their efforts to
increase virtual working as the costs of doing work physically (e.g.
increases in real estate, utility usage and travel costs) steadily
climbs. Additionally, organizations are experiencing higher levels of
worker productivity at the same time employees are opting to work from
home for a variety of reasons.  Understanding the virtual work
phenomenon through humanistic and social scientific inquiry is critical
as more humans traffic in this new domain.  

 

In my recent book, Communication, Relationships and Practices in Virtual
Work (2010), I advanced the term virtual work from a social scientific
perspective and defined it as a complex organizational phenomenon that
is not easily defined and not solely bounded to task-related
considerations.  There are inherent objective and subjective components
associated with virtual work.  Virtual work is a value-laden,
politically rich, nuanced form of organizational functioning that has
significant ecological considerations and implications.  Virtual work is
complicated by the constant attention given to tasks, social concerns,
informal and formal communication, labor (emotional, psychological and
physical), impression management, face-saving techniques, virtual
dramaturgy, motivating virtual workers, surveillance, mentoring,
rewarding and punishing virtual work behaviors, decision-making,
socializing virtual workers, organizational change, diversity issues
associated with virtual work, leading a virtual work team/group, etc.
In essence, virtual work is indeed work! Additionally, virtual work is
structurally complex due to the minimal physical contact cues (e.g.
nonverbal) that are heavily relied upon and taken for granted in
traditional face-to-face work arrangements.  

 

Objective of the Book

This book will serve as an authoritative scholarly publication on
qualitative and quantitative approaches in studying virtual work.  By
centralizing the study of human communication and behavior in virtual
work, this book narrows the research site to electronic-only habitants
and activities and offers new and fresh opportunities for researchers to
explore ways to better understanding the human work condition operating
virtually.  As more individuals traffic in online domains, it is
critical that social, humanist and behavioral scientists simultaneously
and systematically study this environment to better understand the
socio-technical conditions of working virtually. This book will offer
both qualitative and quantitative research approaches from an
interdisciplinary perspective for readers interested in studying virtual
work and the workers that populate this emerging domain.  More
importantly, this book seeks to offer best research practices for
understanding particular communication and behavioral phenomenon in the
virtual work sphere. This publication will focus on mainstream
methodologies, as well as unique approaches that are germane to the
virtual work environment.   

Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of researchers,
professionals and advanced students working in the fields of
communication, information and knowledge management, information
technology, computer science, management information science,
management, sociology, industrial/organizational psychology, and a host
of other related disciplines.  Moreover, the book will provide insights
and support researchers concerned with studying individuals and
organizations in the virtual work environment.  

 

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Quantitative Methods in Virtual Work

Experimental research in virtual work

Survey research in virtual work

Content Analysis in virtual work

Qualitative Research in Virtual Work

Ethnographic research in virtual work

Virtual Research Interviews

Virtual Focus Groups

Virtual work Phenomenology

Virtual Work Discourse Analysis

Narrative Research in Virtual Work

Virtual Work Auto-ethnographic research

Grounded Theory Research in Virtual Work

Dramaturgical Research in Virtual Work

Virtual Work Diary/Journal Research

Research Software in Virtual Work

 

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before
February 1, 2011, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the
mission and concerns of her/his proposed chapter.  Authors of accepted
proposals will be notified by February 15, 2011 about the status of
their proposals and sent chapter guidelines.  Full chapters are expected
to be submitted by April 11, 2011.  All submitted chapters will be
reviewed on a double-blind review basis.  

 

 

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published in 2012 by IGI Global, publisher
of the "Information Science Reference", "Medical Information Science
Reference, "Business Science Reference, "and "Engineering Science
Reference" imprints.  For additional information regarding the
publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com <http://www.igi-global.com> .


 

Important Dates

 

February 1, 2011       Proposal Submission Deadline

February 15, 2011     Notification of Acceptance

April 11, 2011            Full Chapter Submission

June 30, 2011             Review Results Returned

August 30, 2011         Final Chapter Submission

 

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word
document) or by mail to:

 

Dr. Shawn D. Long

Department of Communication Studies

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

9201 University City Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28223

Shawn.long at uncc.edu <mailto:Shawn.long at uncc.edu> 

Tel: 704-687-3900

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

Shawn D. Long, PhD | Chair, Department of Communication Studies

UNC Charlotte | Department of Communication Studies-Colvard 5008

9201 University City Blvd. | Charlotte, NC 28223

Phone: 704-687-3900 | Fax: 704-687-6900

sdlong at uncc.edu <mailto:sdlong at uncc.edu>  | http://www.uncc.edu
<http://www.gradcomm.uncc.edu/> 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

If you are not the intended recipient of this transmission or a person
responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, any disclosure,
copying, distribution, or other use of any of the information in this
transmission is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
transmission in error, please notify me immediately by reply e-mail or
by telephone at 704-687-3900. Thank you.

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aisnet.org/pipermail/aisworld_lists.aisnet.org/attachments/20101213/fe46c4ef/attachment.html>