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<font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Call for Papers - Minitrack Virtual Communities & Virtual Worlds <br>
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16th Americas Conference on Information Systems <br>
August 12-15 2010, Lima, Peru <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org" target="_blank">http://www.virtual-community.org</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank">www.virtual-community.org/</a></u></font>> . <br>
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(Supported by Fachgruppe CSCW of Gesellschaft fuer Informatik, <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/" target="_blank">http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/" target="_blank">www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/</a></u></font>> ) <br>
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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 color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org" target="_blank">http://www.virtual-community.org</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank">www.virtual-community.org/</a></u></font>> <br>
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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. <br>
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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. <br>
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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. <br>
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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): <br>
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We call for papers on all aspects of Virtual Communities. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) <br>
</span></font><ul><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Social, political and economic impact of Virtual Communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Community models, platforms, services, and interactions, multi-channel communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Management and organizational behaviour of communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Community-related business models
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Social Network Analysis in and around Virtual Communities & Social Media
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Innovation generation and Virtual Communities (e.g. case studies on "wisdom of crowds", "collective intelligence", etc.)
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">User-generated content and customer collaboration in Virtual Communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Peer-to-Peer or mobile services for Virtual Communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Case studies and empirical studies, best practices and lessons learned
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Motivation of participants in virtual communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Benefits of participation in and competition among virtual communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Information dispersion in virtual communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Typologies and taxonomies of virtual communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Evolution of and innovation in virtual communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Mobile Communities & Ubiquitous Computing for Social Networks and Virtual Communities
</span></font></li><li><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Gaming Communities <br>
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Special Issue:<br>
Best papers in this mini-track will be fast-tracked for a special issue of the International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking. This special issue will be guest edited by Professors Leimeister, Rajagopalan and Lechner. Journal details are available at:<br>
<font color="#3366bb"><a href="http://www.igi-global.com/journals/details.asp?ID=7954" target="_blank">http://www.igi-global.com/journals/details.asp?ID=7954</a><br>
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Please visit the Mini-Track website at <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org" target="_blank">http://www.virtual-community.org</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.virtual-community.org/" target="_blank">www.virtual-community.org/</a></u></font>> . <br>
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Important Dates <br>
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February 26, 2010: Deadline for paper submissions. <br>
April 12, 2010: Notification of acceptance of papers. <br>
April 26, 2010:For accepted papers, camera ready copy due <br>
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Mini-track Chair Information <br>
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Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister (Primary Contact) <br>
Kassel University <br>
Wirtschaftsinformatik | Information Systems <br>
Forschungszentrum IT-Gestaltung (ITeG) | Research Center for IS Design (ITeG) <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de" target="_blank">http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de/" target="_blank">www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de/</a></u></font>> | <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de" target="_blank">http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de</a></u></font> <<font color="#0000ff"><u><a>http://</a><a href="http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de/" target="_blank">www.iteg.uni-kassel.de/</a></u></font>> <br>
Nora-Platiel-Straße 4 | 34127 Kassel | Germany <br>
tel: +49- 5 61-8 04 28 80 | fax: +49-5 61-8 04 37 08 <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://leimeister@uni-kassel.de" target="_blank">leimeister@uni-kassel.de</a></u></font> <br>
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Prof. Balaji Rajagopalan, PhD <br>
School of Business Administration <br>
Oakland University <br>
Rochester, MI 48309, USA <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://rajagopa@oakland.edu" target="_blank">rajagopa@oakland.edu</a></u></font> <br>
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Prof. Dr. Ulrike Lechner <br>
Universität der Bundeswehr München <br>
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39 <br>
D-85577 Neubiberg, Germany <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de" target="_blank">Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de</a></u></font> <br>
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Prof. Subhasish Dasgupta, Ph.D. <br>
Information Systems and Technology Management <br>
George Washington University <br>
2201 G Street, NW, Funger Hall 515, Washington, DC 20052, USA <br>
<font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://dasgupta@gwu.edu" target="_blank">dasgupta@gwu.edu</a></u></font> <br>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>*****************************<br>Balaji Rajagopalan, Ph.D<br>Associate Dean <br>Stinson Leadership Fellow<br>School of Business Administration<br>Oakland University<br>Rochester, MI 48309<br>
Phone: 248-370-2707<br><a href="http://www.sba.oakland.edu/">http://www.sba.oakland.edu/</a><br><br>Integrative Thinking | Experiential Learning | Global Understanding<br>