We call for submissions of short papers due March 17, 2014  These will be reviewed by the workshop organisers with acceptances sent out by April 7, 2013 (in time for the ECIS2014 early-bird registration).  Accepted papers will be distributed to workshop participants with an opportunity for authors to exchange views online before the workshop. At the workshop, authors will give presentations leading to breakouts sessions for the development of themes on which authors will collaborate on papers for subsequent submission to the special issue (details TBA).

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together IS scholars who are conducting research into Social Information Systems (Social IS) which is an emerging topic within the field of IS whose meaning is still evolving. The workshop will provide a forum within which participating scholars can collaborate to determine the scope and thematic content of the area of Social IS.

We begin with the premise that Social IS is a field of study concerned with how IT/IS has become intertwined in our daily lives and the impacts that this has. A narrow perspective is that Social IS involves the study of social-technical systems which are based on social technologies and open collaboration.  From a broader perspective, Social IS is concerned with IS that have a societal purpose and the potential to make substantial beneficial contributions to society at large. This is distinct from organizational information systems which predominantly have a business or commercial purpose.

In this workshop we seek to consolidate and/or expand these views in order to determine the scope and meaning of the term Social IS and the related area of Social Informatics.  Our intention is to conduct the workshop as a paper development activity that culminates in a special issue of a quality journal. Participants will be asked to present their work and ideas in this area, identify common themes and work together on writing full papers for a special issue after the workshop.