Final Call for Papers VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM Special Issue, Journal on Information Technology & Tourism (IT&T) http://itt.ec3.at/

Submission Deadline: 30 September 2007

Guest Editors: Prof. Dieter Merkl (dieter.merkl@ec.tuwien.ac.at), Institute of Software Technology and Interactive Systems, Vienna University of Technology; and Prof. Arno Scharl (scharl@ecoresearch.net), Department of New Media Technology, MODUL University Vienna.

We are currently witnessing a fundamental transition in the role of Internet users from mere consumers of information towards active providers of electronic content. The set of interactive Web technologies often referred to as the "Web 2.0" accelerates this transition by bringing together users of similar interests, browsing behavior, or geographic location.

User-generated content and social networks are of particular interest to the travel and tourism community. User-generated content engages tourists and enriches their online experience. For the analyst, it yields important information to support decision making, and helps improve the accuracy of targeted marketing campaigns. By effectively using social software, tourism organizations can attract a critical mass of participants to their virtual communities and ensure rich, self-sustaining community interaction.

Theoretical and applied papers are invited from academics and practitioners that investigate the role of virtual communities and user-generated content in the travel and tourism industry. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

* Classifications of user-generated content and low-overhead forms of individual publishing (tourism blogs, Wiki articles on destinations, etc.) * Credibility, relevance and trustworthiness of user-generated content * Impact of user-generated content on the decision making process * Recommendation systems based on user-generated content * User-generated travel and tourism taxonomies (folksonomies) * Travellers' willingness to share information * Virtual communities based on common interests * Destination marketing through virtual communities * Analyzing virtual communities by means of semantic technologies * Community-building through geospatial technology * Mobile and location-based services for travel and tourism communities * Three-dimensional Internet applications in travel and tourism * Related legal and privacy issues

Time Schedule

Submission: 30 September 2007 Notification: 30 November 2007 Publication: Summer 2008

Evaluation

IT&T is a refereed journal. All manuscripts are evaluated by at least three referees from different disciplines. The evaluation of the paper is a double-blind and anonymous process; neither referees nor the authors are aware of each other's identities.

Electronic Manuscript Submissions

Please follow the formatting and style guidelines at http://itt.ec3.at/subm.htm, e-mail the cover page with author details to both guest editors (dieter.merkl@ec.tuwien.ac.at, scharl@ecoresearch.net), and upload the ANONYMOUS manuscript in either MS Word or PDF format at:

http://www.know-center.at/chairhelper/jitt/submission

Best regards, Dieter Merkl and Arno Scharl (Guest Editors of Special Issue)

---------------------------------------------- Prof. Arno Scharl Department of New Media Technology MODUL University Vienna Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Vienna, Austria (e) scharl@ecoresearch.net (w) http://www.modul.ac.at/media (w) http://www.ecoresearch.net/ (w) http://www.geospatialweb.com/ ----------------------------------------------