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2nd CALL FOR PAPERS
Mini Track "Virtual Communities: Services, Business Models, Crowd
Creation"
18th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS)
August 9-12, 2012, Seattle, Washington, USA
http://amcis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/program/tracks-and-minitracks/133-vcavw-vcsbmcc
http://www.virtual-community.org
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=== SCOPE ===
This Mini-Track builds on the success of the preceding AMCIS
mini-tracks
on Virtual Communities and Social Networking. During the last
twelve years
we have been gathering a community of researchers who are
interested in
the field of Virtual Communities, Social Networking,
User-generated Content
and related issues. Please visit the Mini-Track website at http://www.virtual-community.org
Virtual communities and social networking based on social
networking sites,
message boards, chat rooms, user groups and blogs 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,
Peer-to-Peer Communities, Innovation Communities (Dell Idea Storm,
Starbucks
Community, etc.) 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. But also the
generation
of innovations or the sourcing of tasks is achieved through
communities
as the examples of oDesk or innocentive illustrate. The dynamic
and interactive
nature of these communities 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.
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.
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.
=== POSSIBLE TOPICS ===
We call for papers on all aspects of Virtual Communities. Possible
topics
include (but are not limited to):
* Social, political and economic impact of Virtual Communities
* Community models, platforms, services, and interactions,
multi-channel
communities
* Management and organizational behaviour of communities
* Community-related business models
* Innovation generation and Virtual Communities (e.g. case studies
on "wisdom
of crowds", "collective intelligence", etc.)
* User-generated content and customer collaboration in Virtual
Communities
* Peer-to-Peer or mobile services for Virtual Communities
* Crowdsourcing through communities
* Case studies and empirical studies, best practices and lessons
learned
* Motivation of participants in virtual communities
* Benefits of participation in and competition among virtual
communities
* Information dispersion in virtual communities
* Typologies and taxonomies of virtual communities
* Evolution of and innovation in virtual communities
* Gaming Communities
=== IMPORTANT DATES ===
* January 3, 2012: AIS Review System will begin accepting
submissions for
AMCIS 2012
* March 1, 2012 (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): Submission deadline
* April 6, 2012: Authors notified of paper acceptance decision
* April 25, 2012: Camera-Ready Papers due
=== SUBMISSION PROCESS AND INFORMATION ===
* Submit your manuscript using the AMCIS2012 Paper Template, which
can
be find at http://amcis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/program/call-for-papers#page
* Submit your paper after January 3, 2012 using the Manuscript
Central
Submission Site at : http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2012
* Log into to the Manuscript Central Submission Site after January
3, 2011
to see the list of Minitracks sessions that will be included in
the conference,
determine the Minitrack "Virtual Communities - Services, Business
Models, Crowd Creations" for your submission
* Papers will be peer-reviewed using a double-blind system
=== MINI-TRACK CHAIR INFORMATION ===
* Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister (leimeister@uni-kassel.de)
Information Systems, Kassel University/Germany
* Prof. Balaji Rajagopalan
Ph.D., School of Business Administration, Oakland University/USA
* Dr. Ulrich Bretschneider
Information Systems, Kassel University/Germany