-------- Original-Nachricht -------- Betreff: [AISWorld] TOC: International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC), Volume 7, Issue 1, January-March 2011 Datum: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 15:50:40 -0600 Von: Ned Kock nedkock@scriptwarp.com An: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org

The contents of the latest issue of:

International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC)

Official Publication of the Information Resources Management Association

Volume 7, Issue 1, January-March 2011

Published: Quarterly in Print and Electronically

ISSN: 1548-3673 EISSN: 1548-3681

Published by IGI Publishing, Hershey-New York, USA

www.igi-global.com/ijec

Editor-in-Chief: Ned Kock, Texas A&M International University, USA

PAPER ONE

A Semantic e-Collaboration Approach to Enable Awareness in Globally Distributed Organizations

Eldar Sultanow (University of Potsdam, Germany)

Edzard Weber (University of Potsdam, Germany)

Sean Cox (Mathematicians Anonymous, USA)

Collaboration in temporal and spatially distributed environments has consistently faced the challenge of intense awareness extensively more than locally concentrated team play. Awareness means being informed, in conjunction with an understanding of activities, states and relationships of each individual within a given group as a whole. In multifarious offices, where social interaction is necessary to share and locate essential information, awareness becomes a concurrent process that amplifies the exigency for easy routes where personnel can navigate and access pertinent information, deferred or decentralized, in a formalized and context-sensitive way. Even as awareness has become a more pressing topic, extensive disagreement still remains concerning how any type of transparency can be conceptually and technically implemented. This paper introduces an awareness model to visualize and navigate such information in multi-tiers using semantic networks, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and Web3D. Ultimately, the model presented is used for an evaluation from a business organization's perspective.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.

http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/Article.aspx?TitleId=49661

PAPER TWO

An Exploratory Study of How Technology Supports Communication in Multilingual Groups

Milam Aiken (University of Mississippi, USA)

Jianfeng Wang (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Linwu Gu (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Joseph Paolillo (University of Mississippi, USA)

In this paper, the authors study how new technology can support multilingual groups. Their results show that no significant difference was found between group members' comprehension of contributed comments and their stated minimum acceptable understanding. However, comprehension of relevant comments was higher than that for off-topic text, indicating that the sharing of important information was achieved. Further, reading comprehension tests of translations from Chinese, German, Hindi, Korean, Malay, and Spanish to English show that, except for Hindi, the automatic translations achieve accuracies that are acceptable for graduate studies at a university in the United States.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.

http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/Article.aspx?TitleId=49662

PAPER THREE

The Virtual Individual Education Plan (IEP) Team: Using Online Collaboration to Develop a Behavior Intervention Plan

Robyn Catagnus (Arcadia University, USA)

Donald Hantula (Temple University, USA)

A team of professional educators in a private school for children with disabilities (a Virtual IEP Team) used an online platform to collaborate and produce a behavior intervention plan for a student. The collaboration was effective and efficient; the plan was produced in 9 days, rather than the customary 3-6 weeks. Qualitative data yielded four major themes: beneficial augmentation, reflective practice, barriers to change, and improved interactions. Quantitative results showed that although end user satisfaction was moderate, they produced a successful behavior intervention plan that showed positive changes in both the teacher and student behavior. An increase of in-person staff discussion as a result of online dialogue was a unique finding in this study warranting further investigation. Now that federal (U.S.) education law has changed to allow technologically mediated IEP meetings, the Virtual IEP Team may serve as a model for more efficient use of education professionals' time.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.

http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/Article.aspx?TitleId=49663

PAPER FOUR

Measuring Collective Cognition in Online Collaboration Venues

Paul Dwyer (Willamette University, USA)

By monitoring online conversations, organizations can receive value from the intellectual activity of their most interested constituents as they engage in problem solving and ideation. However, since intergroup dynamics often hinders people from optimizing collaboration, it should be measured and monitored for quality. Current metrics assess collaborative value solely from the number of collaborators, assuming that differences between individuals can be ignored. This study found that assumption to be wrong by identifying three distinct collaborator segments that strongly differ in the timing of their participation and in the variety of ideas they introduce. Therefore, a new metric is proposed that takes into account the diverse value individuals add. This new measure is correlated with existing measures only in those infrequent situations when collaboration productivity is maximized.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.

http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/Article.aspx?TitleId=49664

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For full copies of the above articles, check for this issue of the International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC) in your institution's library. This journal is also included in the IGI Global aggregated "InfoSci-Journals" database: http://www.igi-global.com/EResources/InfoSciJournals.aspx

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Mission of IJeC:

The mission of the International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC) is to publish papers that address the design and implementation of e-collaboration technologies, assess the behavioral impacts of e-collaboration technologies on individuals and groups, and present theoretical considerations on links between the use of e-collaboration technologies and behavioral patterns. This journal emphasizes technologies that include Web-based chat tools, Web-based asynchronous conferencing tools, e-mail, listservs, collaborative writing tools, group decision support systems, teleconferencing suites, workflow automation systems, and document management technologies.

Coverage of IJeC:

Topics to be discussed in this journal include (but are not limited to) the following:

Analysis of different research methods and their impact on the study of e-collaboration technologies in organizations

Collaborative writing tools

Comprehensive reviews of previous studies on e-collaboration technologies in organizations

Design and evaluation of asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in organizational setting

Design and evaluation of intelligent e-collaboration technologies in organizational settings

Design, implementation, and assessment of e-business solutions that include e-collaboration features

E-collaboration technologies impact on individuals and society

E-collaboration technologies impact on knowledge management and organizational learning

E-collaboration technologies support for distributed process reengineering and process improvement

E-collaboration technologies support for quality certification programs

E-collaboration technologies support for the creation of virtual teams and virtual organizations

E-mail

Listservs

Organizational and national culture as moderating factors in the adoption and use of e-collaboration technologies in organizations

Web-based asynchronous conferencing tools

Web-based chat tools

Interested authors should consult the journal's manuscript submission guidelines at www.igi-global.com/ijec.

All inquiries and submissions should be sent to:

Editor-in-Chief: Ned Kock at nedkock@tamiu.edu