<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b>Mini-track: Social
Issues in Virtual Communities and Social Networking</b></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b>Track:<span> </span>Social Issues and Social Inclusion</b></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b><br></b></p><p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b>Mini-track Chair:</b></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal">Subhasish Dasgupta, Chair, <span>ISTM Department</span><br>
George Washington University, 2201 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052<br>
<a href="mailto:dasgupta@gwu.edu" target="_blank">dasgupta@gwu.edu</a></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b><br></b></p><p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b>Description:</b></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><span>Virtual communities, social networking<span> </span>and social media based on message boards, chat rooms, user
groups content sharing and blogs have emerged as high activity domains on the
Internet. Social media is now being used more and more in mobile devices. Social media are designed for a variety of purposes, ranging from
Communities of Interest (e.g. YouTube), Communities of Relationship (e.g.
Facebook), Gaming Communities (e.g. World 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 social media and the
role of user-generated content within groups. The significance of these
communities is evident by the impact they have on information generation and
transmission, and socialization. For example, today, blogs, Twitter, and video
sharing sites such as YouTube 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 social media is their ability to support
socialization and offer an identity for the participants. While most
communities using social media share these characteristics, it is also
important to recognize that groups are not homogeneous; they differ
significantly based on the domain, purpose and benefits. Some well-organized
groups using social media expand their power across various channels and into
the offline world.</span><span></span></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><span><br></span></p><p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><span>Best papers in
this mini-track will be fast-tracked for a special issue of the International
Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking.<br>
</span><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><span></span></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b><br></b></p><p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b>Topics:</b></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><span>Topics that are
included in this mini-track are the following in the area of social media:
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Social
issues in social media</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Social
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Political
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Economic
impact</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Trust
in communities</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Cultural
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Individual
behavior and group dynamics</span></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Models<br>
</span><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Social
models</span><br><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Business
models</span><br><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Technology-based
models</span><br><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>E-learning
models</span><br><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Knowledge
management models</span></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Organization
and structure<br>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>virtual community leadership<br>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>roles, hierarchy and structure<br>
o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>rules and sanction<br>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>community identity and constitution<br>
o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>visibility and transparency<br>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>norms and group expectations</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"> </span></span><span>Technology
for social media</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Platforms</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Hardware
and software</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Peer-to-peer
networks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Web
services, SOA and Web 2.0</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Wiki’s
and blogs<br><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Human
Computer Interfaces</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Design
of virtual communities</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>User
friendly interfaces</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Design
for peer-to-peer networks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Mobile
technologies and HCI<br><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Cross-cultural
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Multi-cultural
environments</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Cross-cultural
studies</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Design
issues<br><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Privacy
and Security</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Copyright
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Privacy
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Business
implications</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Trust
issues<br><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span><span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"></span></span><span>Social
media for gaming</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Communities
for gaming</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Game
design</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Social
issues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><span>o<span style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
</span></span><span>Cultural
issues</span></p>
<p style="font-family:garamond,serif"><span></span></p><p style="line-height:normal;margin:0in 0in 10pt;background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;font-family:garamond,serif" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10pt">IMPORTANT DATES</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt">: <br>
January 3, 2012: Manuscript Central will start accepting paper submissions</span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span><span style="font-size:10pt"><br>March 1, 2012: (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): Deadline for paper submissions</span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span><span style="font-size:10pt"><br>
April 6, 20012: Authors will be notified of acceptances on or about this date</span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span><span style="font-size:10pt"><br>April 25, 2012: (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): For accepted papers, camera ready copy due</span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span>
</p><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><b>INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS:</b> <br>All conference submissions will be double-blind, peer reviewed, and must be submitted using the online submission system at <br>
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:garamond,serif"><a href="http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2012" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2012</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Times New Roman','serif'"><br>
</span>
<p style="margin-left:0in"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<br clear="all">Subhasish Dasgupta, Ph.D.<br>Chair, ISTM Department<br>Associate Professor of Information Systems<br>George Washington University<br>2201 G Street, NW, Funger Hall 515<br>Washington, DC 20052<br>Phone: <a href="tel:202.994.7408" value="+12029947408" target="_blank">202.994.7408</a><br>
Email: <a href="mailto:dasgupta@gwu.edu" target="_blank">dasgupta@gwu.edu</a><br><br>