-------- Original-Nachricht -------- Betreff: [AISWorld] AMCIS 2010 -- Minitrack on Virtual Communities & Virtual Worlds Datum: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:24:23 -0500 Von: Balaji Rajagopalan rajagopa@oakland.edu An: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org

Call for Papers - Minitrack Virtual Communities & Virtual Worlds ===================================================== 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems August 12-15 2010, Lima, Peru http://www.virtual-community.org http://www.virtual-community.org/.

(Supported by Fachgruppe CSCW of Gesellschaft fuer Informatik, http://www.fgcscw.gi-ev.de/)

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 http://www.virtual-community.org http://www.virtual-community.org/

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.

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.

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):

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 * Social Network Analysis in and around Virtual Communities & Social Media * 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 * 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 * Mobile Communities & Ubiquitous Computing for Social Networks and Virtual Communities * Gaming Communities * ...

Please visit the Mini-Track website at http://www.virtual-community.org http://www.virtual-community.org/.

Important Dates ============== February 26, 2010: Deadline for paper submissions. April 12, 2010: Notification of acceptance of papers. April 26, 2010:For accepted papers, camera ready copy due

Mini-track Chair Information =======================

Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister (Primary Contact) Kassel University Wirtschaftsinformatik | Information Systems Forschungszentrum IT-Gestaltung (ITeG) | Research Center for IS Design (ITeG) http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de http://www.inf.wirtschaft.uni-kassel.de/ | http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de http://www.iteg.uni-kassel.de/ Nora-Platiel-Straße 4 | 34127 Kassel | Germany tel: +49- 5 61-8 04 28 80 | fax: +49-5 61-8 04 37 08 leimeister@uni-kassel.de mailto:leimeister@uni-kassel.de

Prof. Balaji Rajagopalan, PhD School of Business Administration Oakland University Rochester, MI 48309, USA rajagopa@oakland.edu mailto:rajagopa@oakland.edu

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Lechner Universität der Bundeswehr München Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39 D-85577 Neubiberg, Germany Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de mailto:Ulrike.lechner@unibw.de

Prof. Subhasish Dasgupta, Ph.D. Information Systems and Technology Mangement George Washington University 2201 G Street, NW, Funger Hall 515, Washington, DC 20052, USA