<font face="sans-serif" size="2">Call for Papers - Minitrack Virtual
Communities & Virtual Worlds </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">=====================================================</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">16th Americas Conference on Information
Systems </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">August 12-15 2010, Lima, Peru </font>
<br><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.virtual-community.org</font></a><font face="sans-serif" size="2">.
</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">(Supported by Fachgruppe CSCW of Gesellschaft
fuer Informatik, </font><a href="http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/</font></a><font face="sans-serif" size="2">)</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">This Mini-Track builds on the success
of the preceding AMCIS mini-tracks on Virtual Communities and Social Networking.
During the last ten years we have been gathering a community of researchers
who are interested in the field of Virtual Communities and Social Networking
and related issues. Please visit the Mini-Track website at </font><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.virtual-community.org</font></a><font face="sans-serif" size="2">
</font>
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<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Virtual communities and social networking
based on message boards, chat rooms, user groups blogs and other web 2.0
technologies have emerged as high activity domains on the Internet and
more and more in the relam of mobile devices and mobile internet usage.
Virtual communities and social networks are designed for a variety of purposes,
ranging from Communities of Interest, Communities of Relationship (Facebook,
etc.), Gaming Communities (e.g. in Wolrd of Warcraft, Second Life, etc.),
and Communities of Transaction to Peer-to-Peer Communities or Mobile Communities.
Web 2.0 Mechanisms are also boosting the development of Virtual Communities
and the role of user-generated content within Virtual Communities. The
significance of these communities is evident by the impact they have on
information generation and transmission, and socialization. For example,
today, blogs are quickly becoming a primary source of information in a
variety of domains. The dynamic and interactive nature of these forums
makes them very attractive for users and operators. An additional value
offered by many of these communities is their ability to support socialization
and offer an identity for the participants. While most virtual communities
share these characteristics, it is also important to recognize that virtual
communities are not homogeneous; they differ significantly based on the
domain, purpose and benefits. Well-organized communities even expand their
power across various channels and into the Offline world. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Within the field of information systems
researchers are interested in studying interaction patterns, social structures
and interactions, transaction processes, management aspects, business models,
and design aspects of information systems and services for virtual communities.
Community members interact via digital media and contribute value in the
form of content, reviews, and recommendations. Related issues are trust,
network effects, transaction costs and the design of services as well as
the generation of innovations. "Wisdom of Crowds", "Collective
Intelligence" and "Crowdsourcing" are important new terms
describing mechanisms around user-generated content in Virtual Communities
and Social Networks. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">This mini-track welcomes empirical,
conceptual and theoretical work. Despite the increasing popularity of virtual
communities and social networking, several questions relating to virtual
communities and social networking remain largely unexplored. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">This minitracks welcomes empirical,
conceptual and theoretical work. We call for papers on all aspects of Virtual
Communities. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): </font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">We call for papers on all aspects of
Virtual Communities. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) </font>
<br>
<ul><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Social, political and economic impact
of Virtual Communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Community models, platforms, services,
and interactions, multi-channel communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Management and organizational behaviour
of communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Community-related business models </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Social Network Analysis in and around
Virtual Communities & Social Media</font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Innovation generation and Virtual Communities
(e.g. case studies on "wisdom of crowds", "collective intelligence",
etc.) </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">User-generated content and customer
collaboration in Virtual Communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Peer-to-Peer or mobile services for
Virtual Communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Case studies and empirical studies,
best practices and lessons learned </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Motivation of participants in virtual
communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Benefits of participation in and competition
among virtual communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Information dispersion in virtual communities
</font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Typologies and taxonomies of virtual
communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Evolution of and innovation in virtual
communities</font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Mobile Communities & Ubiquitous
Computing for Social Networks and Virtual Communities</font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Gaming Communities </font>
</li><li><font face="sans-serif" size="2">...</font></li></ul>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Please visit the Mini-Track website
at </font><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.virtual-community.org</font></a><font face="sans-serif" size="2">.
</font>
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<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Important Dates </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">==============</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">February 26, 2010: Deadline for paper
submissions. </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">April 12, 2010: Notification of acceptance
of papers. </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">April 26, 2010:For accepted papers,
camera ready copy due </font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Mini-track Chair Information </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">=======================</font>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Prof. Dr. <span class="il">Jan</span> <span class="il">Marco</span> Leimeister (Primary
Contact)</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Kassel University</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Wirtschaftsinformatik | Information
Systems </font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Forschungszentrum IT-Gestaltung (ITeG)
| Research Center for IS Design (ITeG)</font>
<br><a href="http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de</font></a><font face="sans-serif" size="2">
| </font><a href="http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de/" target="_blank"><font face="sans-serif" size="2">http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de</font></a>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Nora-Platiel-Straße 4 | 34127 Kassel
| Germany</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">tel: +49- 5 61-8 04 28 80 | fax: +49-5
61-8 04 37 08</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><a href="mailto:leimeister@uni-kassel.de" target="_blank">leimeister@uni-kassel.de</a></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Prof. Balaji Rajagopalan, PhD</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">School of Business Administration</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Oakland University</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Rochester, MI 48309, USA</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><a href="mailto:rajagopa@oakland.edu" target="_blank">rajagopa@oakland.edu</a></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Prof. Dr. Ulrike Lechner</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Universität der Bundeswehr München</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">D-85577 Neubiberg, Germany</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2"><a href="mailto:Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de" target="_blank">Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de</a></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Prof. Subhasish Dasgupta, Ph.D.</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">Information Systems and Technology Mangement</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">George Washington University</font>
<br><font face="sans-serif" size="2">2201 G Street, NW, Funger Hall 515,
Washington, DC 20052, USA</font>
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