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Upcoming Conference(s) Notice - 1st OR 3rd of February 2010: Young People in a Digital World 2010 - Preparing, Supporting and Inspiring
by Sangeet Bhullar 17 Dec '09

17 Dec '09

*With apologies for cross-posting* *Formal Registration Now Open* - see <http://www.wisekids.org.uk/conf2010> http://www.wisekids.org.uk/conf2010 Dear Colleagues, WISE KIDS is pleased to announce that we are organising two one-day Conferences in Wales together with the Wales Internet Safety Partnership (WISP) entitled Young People in a Digital World 2010 - Preparing, Supporting and Inspiring, on the 1st and 3rd of February at the Swansea DVLA Richard Ley Building and the Technium Cast Bangor respectively. These conferences are also held in part to support European Safer Internet Day which is on the 9th of February 2010. The conferences will have similar, though not identical programmes. Whilst covering some awareness issues, they will focus on implementation: what government, industry and professionals are doing to prepare, support and inspire young people as they live in an increasingly digitally connected world; to ensure that they are able to use these technologies effectively, innovatively and safely. In particular, we want to explore: * how the different sectors (industry, youth, LSCBs and education) can work together, and what support they need, to help young people in their use of Internet and Mobile technologies; * what the knowledge and skills gaps are for professionals who work with young people in this area; * what good practices and programmes already exist that can inspire others to ensure that young people get the most from these technologies, are digitally literate and able to manage their personal data, identities and online interactions. The conferences will also cover some of the safeguarding issues that schools, youth and other organisations need to address, to minimise risk caused by misuse of these media, and truly prepare and support young people. The key strands will be around innovative use of technology in the education and youth sector, children's experiences in virtual worlds and online games, digital literacy, e-safety and good practice guidelines. As with previous conferences, it is hoped these conferences will stimulate discussion, ideas and concrete action points that can help the sector move forward as a whole. Target Audience and Speakers These exciting, cross-sector conferences are aimed at training officers, policy makers, opinion formers, educators, researchers, ICT coordinators, local authorities, schools, colleges, LSCBs, libraries, youth organisations, community groups, media companies, and other public and private sector organisations interested in young people's use of Internet and mobile technologies in formal and non-formal settings. Speakers include Leighton Andrews AM, Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning, Professor Tanya Byron, author of Safer Children in a Digital World (the Byron Review), John Davitt, WISE KIDS, Rebecca Newton, BECTA, Ofcom, eModeration and more. Young people will also be involved in presentations, a panel session, and a drama performance. We wish to acknowledge and thank our key sponsors for these conferences: BT, Ofcom, the Nominet Trust and the Welsh Assembly Government. Register To find out more OR to register for this conference, please visit: <http://www.wisekids.org.uk/conf2010> http://www.wisekids.org.uk/conf2010. The conference registration fee is £87 per delegate. Also, please feel free to circulate this notice to any of your colleagues who may be interested to attend. Best wishes, Sangeet Bhullar Sangeet Bhullar, PhD. Executive Director WISE KIDS Company No. 4572181 WISE KIDS: Promoting Innovative, Positive and Safe Internet Use Tel: 44 (0)1633-673339/ 44 (0)7900911940 email: <mailto:sangeet@wisekids.org.uk> sangeet(a)wisekids.org.uk skype id: sangeetbhullar twitter: sangeet <http://www.wisekids.org.uk/> http://www.wisekids.org.uk This email and any file attachments sent with it may have confidential or privileged information. These are intended solely for the individual(s) to whom the email is addressed. If you have received this in error, you may not copy, forward, disclose or use any part of it. Instead, please delete it and all copies of it from your system and notify Sangeet Bhullar immediately by sending an email to sangeet(a)wisekids.org.uk or calling +44 (0)7900 911940. Thank you. This email has been scanned for viruses by Norton AntiVirus. Mae'n bosibl fod yn y neges e-bost hon ac unrhyw atodiadau ffeil a anfonir gyda hi wybodaeth gyfrinachol neu freintiedig. Ar gyfer yr unigolyn / unigolion y cyfeiriwyd yr e-bost ato / atynt yn unig y bwriadwyd hi. Os ydych wedi ei derbyn trwy amryfusedd, ni chewch gopïo, anfon ymlaen, datgelu na defnyddio unrhyw ran ohoni. Yn hytrach, a wnewch chi ei dileu hi a phob copi ohoni o'ch system a hysbysu Sangeet Bhullar ar unwaith trwy anfon e-bost at sangeet(a)wisekids.org.uk neu ffonio +44 (0)7900 911940. Diolch. Sganiwyd yr e-bost hwn am firysau gan Norton AntiVirus.

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PayPal.com and Ebay Inc. still denying access to PayPal services to 5111 Pakistanis!
by Fouad Bajwa 17 Dec '09

17 Dec '09

We have experienced that PayPal.com services can help Pakistani Youth and Women to engage in the global knowledge economy and advance a region like Pakistan both socially and economically! Source Link: http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/ PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now! Campaign 5111 Pakistanis have gotten together on in Facebook hosted cause at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266093 or simply at http://www.causes.com/paypal_authorize_pakistan_now_campaign pledging PayPal.com and Ebay Inc. to launch the PayPal.com payment services in Pakistan. Many likeminded Pakistani Knowledge Workers, Freelancers and Webmaster’s have joined the campaign extensively from all across the country and the world. This campaign was initiated when a considerable pressure built up online by Pakistanis for the need of PayPal.com E-Payment services in Pakistan, despite the Paypal.com/Ebay Inc. ignoring this region on purpose while giving service to India and China, we launched a cause page on Facebook titled the “PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now Campaign”. The fact remains that Pakistan contributes massively to the global Knowledge Economy through Information Technology as the region has millions of knowledge workers that require PayPal PayPal authorizes China and India; does it have a grudge against Pakistan? Why can’t Pakistan be authorized even though we have so many Foreign Banks? Companies and Businessmen do not outsource their work to Pakistani Knowledge Workers because we don’t have PayPal Accounts! Another interesting fact of this campaign is that it seeks an explanation to why PayPal.com's global expansion includes India, China and UAE but not the country Pakistan which is located at the heart of this region. During various communications by members of the campaign with PayPal.com, their reply usually is: PayPal.com's Email Reply: "We are having a high volume of emails right now. Writer, we sincerely appreciate your interest in becoming a PayPal member. Unfortunately, we are not yet providing services for Pakistan. Establishing our service in each new country or region involves complex changes due to different regulations. We are always looking to expand our availability; however, due to the complexities of global expansion, we cannot provide a specific time frame. We are working hard and look forward to expanding our services to additional countries and regions in the future." Despite this hypocritic statement, Ebay Inc/PayPal continues to offer PayPal.com services including payments of goods and services as well as funds transfer to India, China and UAE. We as Pakistani knowledge workers must continue our campaign to convince Ebay Inc and PayPal.com to lauch their services for Pakistani citizens that are today connected to an international banking network and have all the requirements for banking regulation and telecom/technology infrastructure to support PayPal.com services in Pakistan. Once again, I request all Pakistani knowledge workers to Write an email with the title: "PayPal.com Authorize Pakistan Now!" to the following email address of the Owner and CEO of Ebay.com and PayPal.com: jdonahoe(a)ebay.com john.donahoe(a)ebay.com sthompson(a)paypal.com Again, if over 5111 members blog about this - spread the word – on your blogs and websites – the more activists and lobbyist effort we can garner! This is about us, this is for Pakistan! Help Pakistan, Help Blog and Email out this message to PayPal.com!!!! Facebook PayPal Authorize Pakistan Now! Campaign link to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266093 or simply http://www.causes.com/paypal_authorize_pakistan_now_campaign! -- Regards. -------------------------- Fouad Bajwa Advisor & Researcher ICT4D & Internet Governance Member Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF) Member Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) My Blog: Internet's Governance http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/ Follow my Tweets: http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa MAG Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA

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you don't have to all buy me presents.
by Sal Humphreys 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Dear AoIRers So sorry that in replying to my niece about kris kringles I seem to have somehow included the AoIRS list. (Still can't figure out how that happened). Feel free but not obligated to send presents! My apologies Sal ************

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 65, Issue 16
by Sal Humphreys 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Hi Annie If you have ideas then that's fine - I totally trust your judgement! :-) I did want one thing, but Lyle has since got in and she's going to get it for me. (Gotta be quick!) My last day on Friday too/ Yay. One more big sleep to go. We are driving over to Melb on Monday. See you there! Love and hugs Sal -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org Sent: Thursday, 17 December 2009 9:30 AM To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Air-L Digest, Vol 65, Issue 16 Send Air-L mailing list submissions to air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org You can reach the person managing the list at air-l-owner(a)listserv.aoir.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Air-L digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Reminder: CfP - INC2010 International Network Conference 2010 (Steffen Schilke) 2. Final CFC - Business Organizations and Collaborative Web - Practices, Strategies and Patterns (Kamna Malik) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:11:31 +0100 From: Steffen Schilke <steffen.schilke(a)gmail.com> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Reminder: CfP - INC2010 International Network Conference 2010 Message-ID: <7543a3650912151511l29989713h631a9b369806992f(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 INC2010 - 8th International Network Conference 2010 6 July 2010 to 08 July 2010 Heidelberg, Germany This conference, the eighth in our series, will bring together leading figures from academia and industry to present and discuss the latest advances in networking technologies from research and commercial perspectives. Topics of the main workshops are (for more details please see the web site): * Security vs. Usability? * The Pedagogy of eLearning: Emerging Issues * Next Generation Networks - Next Revenues? Other topics covered by the conference are: * Internet technologies and applications: Internet architecture and protocols, Search technologies, Semantic web, Multicast/broadcast technologies, SOA/Web services, Content management, Unified communications * Network architectures and management: NGN, System management, Quality of service, Real time applications, Distributed systems and middleware, Multimedia communications * Security: Authentication and access control, Network security, Intrusion detection and response, Cryptography, Information security and privacy management, Usability of security applications. * Applications and impacts: eLearning, eCommerce, Virtual communities, Social legal and ethical issues, Human interaction issues, Pervasive networks, Social networks, Network-enabled devices * Mobile and wireless networking: 3G and 4G technologies, Mobile wireless Internet, Mobile commerce, Service discovery and management, Mobile device management, Wireless protocols, Wireless sensor or satellite networks, networks of actuators, broadband wireless access The deadline for submission of papers is the 31th January 2010. Please use the conference submission system at http://www.conference-papers.org/inc2010 Web address: http://www.inc2010.org Enquiries: info(a)inc2010.org Sponsored by: University of Plymouth, Hochschule Darmstadt Supported by: Gesellschaft f. Informatik, German Chapter of the ACM, ISSA Keynote Speakers: e.g., Prof. Dr. Dueck (IBM) ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:12:50 +0530 From: Kamna Malik <kamna.malik(a)gmail.com> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Final CFC - Business Organizations and Collaborative Web - Practices, Strategies and Patterns Message-ID: <bc7535c70912152142v2e4f7a0v191a409dde80463c(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Final Call for Chapter proposals for the upcoming book - *Business Organizations and Collaborative Web: Practices, Strategies and Patterns* To be edited by Kamna Malik and Praveen Choudhary To be published by IGI Global Publishing. *Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following: *- *Journey of the Web:* History and stages of growth of the web, emerging Web tools and their applications - *Individual aspects:* Knowledge entrepreneurs, competitive landscape of individuals - *Business aspects:* Global supply chains, co-creation of knowledge, products and services, changing forms of organization structure and dynamics, extent of technology friendliness, control versus trust, competitive landscape of business ? practices, strategies and patterns - *Social aspects:* Emergence of the virtual world, development of communities, freedom of voice, competitive landscape for nations - *Information System aspects:* IS organization structure, future forms of information infrastructure, information security, integrity and assurance, competitive landscape of information systems function - *Ethical and Legal aspects:* IP ownership, ethical blogging, information policies and practices *Proposal Submission by: January 5, 2010* *Proposal Decision by: January 20, 2010* *Full Chapter Submission by: March 5, 2010* *Final Decision by: May 15, 2010* Complete call for chapters is available at http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=728 For submissions and queries, please write to kamna.malik(a)u21global.edu.sg; kamna.malik(a)gmail.com ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ End of Air-L Digest, Vol 65, Issue 16 *************************************

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Final CFC - Business Organizations and Collaborative Web - Practices, Strategies and Patterns
by Kamna Malik 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Final Call for Chapter proposals for the upcoming book - *Business Organizations and Collaborative Web: Practices, Strategies and Patterns* To be edited by Kamna Malik and Praveen Choudhary To be published by IGI Global Publishing. *Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following: *- *Journey of the Web:* History and stages of growth of the web, emerging Web tools and their applications - *Individual aspects:* Knowledge entrepreneurs, competitive landscape of individuals - *Business aspects:* Global supply chains, co-creation of knowledge, products and services, changing forms of organization structure and dynamics, extent of technology friendliness, control versus trust, competitive landscape of business – practices, strategies and patterns - *Social aspects:* Emergence of the virtual world, development of communities, freedom of voice, competitive landscape for nations - *Information System aspects:* IS organization structure, future forms of information infrastructure, information security, integrity and assurance, competitive landscape of information systems function - *Ethical and Legal aspects:* IP ownership, ethical blogging, information policies and practices *Proposal Submission by: January 5, 2010* *Proposal Decision by: January 20, 2010* *Full Chapter Submission by: March 5, 2010* *Final Decision by: May 15, 2010* Complete call for chapters is available at http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=728 For submissions and queries, please write to kamna.malik(a)u21global.edu.sg; kamna.malik(a)gmail.com

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Reminder: CfP - INC2010 International Network Conference 2010
by Steffen Schilke 15 Dec '09

15 Dec '09

INC2010 - 8th International Network Conference 2010 6 July 2010 to 08 July 2010 Heidelberg, Germany This conference, the eighth in our series, will bring together leading figures from academia and industry to present and discuss the latest advances in networking technologies from research and commercial perspectives. Topics of the main workshops are (for more details please see the web site): * Security vs. Usability? * The Pedagogy of eLearning: Emerging Issues * Next Generation Networks - Next Revenues? Other topics covered by the conference are: * Internet technologies and applications: Internet architecture and protocols, Search technologies, Semantic web, Multicast/broadcast technologies, SOA/Web services, Content management, Unified communications * Network architectures and management: NGN, System management, Quality of service, Real time applications, Distributed systems and middleware, Multimedia communications * Security: Authentication and access control, Network security, Intrusion detection and response, Cryptography, Information security and privacy management, Usability of security applications. * Applications and impacts: eLearning, eCommerce, Virtual communities, Social legal and ethical issues, Human interaction issues, Pervasive networks, Social networks, Network-enabled devices * Mobile and wireless networking: 3G and 4G technologies, Mobile wireless Internet, Mobile commerce, Service discovery and management, Mobile device management, Wireless protocols, Wireless sensor or satellite networks, networks of actuators, broadband wireless access The deadline for submission of papers is the 31th January 2010. Please use the conference submission system at http://www.conference-papers.org/inc2010 Web address: http://www.inc2010.org Enquiries: info(a)inc2010.org Sponsored by: University of Plymouth, Hochschule Darmstadt Supported by: Gesellschaft f. Informatik, German Chapter of the ACM, ISSA Keynote Speakers: e.g., Prof. Dr. Dueck (IBM)

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Public Comment Analysis Toolkit - Free Online Training - Friday, December 18, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST
by Stuart Shulman 15 Dec '09

15 Dec '09

Please register for Public Comment Analysis Toolkit - Free Online Training - Friday, December 18, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST at: https://student.gototraining.com/6gy79/register/3581852730072417814 The Public Comment Analysis Toolkit (PCAT) is Web-based, university-hosted software engineered for the specific task of reviewing public comments submitted via the Federal Docket Management System. PCAT is actually version 2.0 of the Coding Analysis Toolkit (CAT), therefore it is also useful for sorting all kinds of CAT-style datasets. If you have lots of digitized text, you can form a team of peers, create a project, upload data, discover important themes and issues, and organize your analysis with PCAT. This system is the end product of ten years of NSF-funded public comment classification work by Dr. Stuart W. Shulman, who has published numerous peer-reviewed papers on the subject. * The system is fast, secure and scalable. * This is currently a free service in beta testing based on award-winning research software. * It extends principles of efficiency, accuracy, validity, usability, and transparency. * It leverages a novel new approach to integrating credentials and distributed work flow. * It is equally useful to public and private actors and accessible to all. * It allows you to show or share your work with anyone on the system. * It deals a blow to the tyranny of carpel tunnel causing mouse-clicks. * It is very easy to learn and you can't break it. For more information: http://pcat-help.qdap.net/doku.php?id=home_page or just visit: http://pcat.qdap.net

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Announcing ASIS&T Summit - Research Data Access and Preservation
by Richard Hill 15 Dec '09

15 Dec '09

[Apologies for multiple postings] Research Data Access and Preservation - ASIST Summit Phoenix, AZ | April 9-10, 2010 Preliminary program at http://www.asis.org/Conferences/IA10/ResearchDataAccessSummit2010.html Researchers in all fields generate and analyze enormous quantities of digital data. In fields ranging throughout the sciences and humanities, managing, preserving, and sharing these data require substantial capital and human resources and new kinds of information professionals who are able to integrate technology, content, and policy skills. This summit aims to bring together leaders in data centers, laboratories, and libraries in different organizational and disciplinary settings to share ideas and techniques for managing, preserving, and sharing large-scale research data repositories with an eye toward achieving infrastructure-independent access and stewardship. The summit will engage three kinds of leaders: those from projects with experience in integrating high-performance technologies; those from large scale collaboratories in science, social science, and the humanities; and those from institutions coping with the challenges of integrating different technologies and dat! a collections. The summit will address three main questions: 1. What data access and preservation capabilities are required within and across research groups? 2. What technical solutions exist to meet these needs and how do they scale across domains? 3. What are the social contexts under which research communities assemble to share data? Saturday will be a half day of sessions. The formal meeting ends at noon. Saturday afternoon tutorials will be given for those who wish to focus on particular concepts and systems. We expect to have a panel on each of the above questions led by leaders who have practical experience dealing with the associated challenges, and a few invited speakers. Participants will have ample opportunities to interact with speakers and each other and present techniques and concepts via posters and semi-structured discussions. Demonstrations of integrated systems that address data management challenges will be held, with opportunities to compare approaches and ask implementation details. Panel 1 - Data Life Cycle management Texas Digital Repository - M. McFarland Carolina Digital Repository - S. Michalak National Science Digital Library - M. Wright Michigan State University - C. Ghering Panel 2 - Promoting Re-use of Scientific Collections Max Planck Institute for PsychoLinguistics - P. Wittenburg iPlant Collaborative - S. Ram International Virtual Observatory Alliance - R. Williams Odum Social Science Institute - J. Crabtree Sustainable Heritage through Multivalent ArchiviNg - P. Watry (INVITED) Panel 3 - Large-scale Data Management Challenges Ocean Observatories Initiative - J. Orcutt National Climatic Data Center - E. Kearns Cinegrid - L. Herr Southern California Earthquake Center - P. Maechling Panel 4 - NSF DataNet Initiatives Data Conservancy - S. Choudhury DataOne - W. Michener DataNet Federation Consortium - R. Moore Demonstration session - Technology Systems Integrated Rule Oriented Data System - R. Moore L-Store - A. Tackett Fedora - D. Davis (INVITED) SHAMAN - P. Watry (INVITED) Panel 5 - Developing Assessment Criteria NARA - M. Conrad Data One - J. Greenberg Ocean Observatory Initiative - J. Graybeal Panel 6 - Legal and Social Implications of Shared Collections University of Michigan - A. Zimmerman NorthWestern University - N. Contractor Chaired by Reagan Moore and an advisory board that includes William Anderson, Christine Borgman, Hsinchun Chen, Sayeed Choudhury, Michael Lesk, Gary Marchionini, William Michener, Art Pasquinelli, Sudha Ram, and Stu Weibel. In cooperation with the Coalition for Networked Information _____ Richard B. Hill Executive Director American Society for Information Science and Technology 1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Fax: (301) 495-0810 Voice: (301) 495-0900 Dick Hill Richard Hill Executive Director American Society for Information Science and Technology 1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 510 Silver Spring, MD 20910 FAX: (301) 495-0810 (301) 495-0900

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CFP AMCIS 2010 Mini-track> Social Theory in Information Systems Research (STIR 2010)
by Howard Rosenbaum 15 Dec '09

15 Dec '09

Call For Papers: AMCIS Mini-track: Social Theory in Information Systems Research (STIR 2010) 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Lima Peru, August 12-15, 2010 Conference Website: http://www.amcis2010.org/home/ Description: This Mini Track solicits research papers, research-in-progress papers, and panel proposals on social theory in information systems research. This will be the 11th consecutive year for the Mini Track at AMCIS, and we hope to continue a tradition of high quality paper submissions, thought-provoking presentations and lively discussion for all IS researchers using, or considering the use of, social theory in their work. Within this Mini Track, we seek to attract research papers, research- in-progress papers, and panels from all IS researchers who are using the work of social theorists, organizational theorists, sociotechnical theorists, and cultural anthropologists in their research. Possible Topics: We want to highlight research that uses social theory, sociotechnical theory, and social informatics approaches to critically examine the constitution of information and communications technologies, and their roles in organizations and society. For example, the work of social theorists (e.g., Callon, Castells, Bourdieu, Giddens, Putnam), organizational theorists (e.g., Powell, DiMaggio, Scott), sociotechnical theorists (e.g., Bijker , Hughes, Kling), cultural anthropologists (e.g., D'Andrade, Holland, Suchman), symbolic interactionists (e.g., Strauss , Star), and many others are being used to address the most important questions about IS, organizations, and society. We invite IS research that applies, builds on, compares, or critiques these social theories. Submission Process: Full paper submissions must be made electronically through the AMCIS on-line submission system (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com:80/ amcis2010), by February 26, 2010. Papers should not exceed 5,000 words, including all attachments. Important dates: Papers Due: February 26, 2010 Notification of Acceptance: April 12, 2010 Final Copy Due: April 26, 2010 Minitrack chairs: Howard Rosenbaum, School of Library and Information Science Indiana University (hrosenba(a)indiana.edu ) Pnina Shachaf, School of Library and Information Science Indiana University (shachaf(a)indiana.edu)

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reminder - CfP: Online social networks, communication practice and public relations
by Erika Pearson 14 Dec '09

14 Dec '09

Just a reminder that the following CfP is still active. Please feel free to forward it to any colleagues who may be interested. Call for Papers: Online social networks, communication practice, and public relations The social networking emerging online is now seen as one of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0 and beyond. From virtual worlds to microblogging, individuals and groups are forming diverse and sometimes apparently novel ways of building and maintaining social bonds. These mediated exchanges between individuals and groups who may never physically meet challenge our current understandings of friendship, communication, and belonging. For communication and public relations scholars and practitioners, such interactions pose a number of significant questions. How do researchers explore the nebulous social connections people forge in online spaces? How do we re-evaluate what it means to be an individual and part of a group in this context? Do these new channels of communication change the way we present ourselves and our ideas? This special 2010 edition of PRism online public relations and communication journal (http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/prism_on-line_journ.html ) seeks papers which discuss and explore ways in which to approach, study, and account for the diversity of online social experience, particularly in regard to communication practice and issues of public relations. Possible topics include: * methodological frameworks for studying online social behaviours * theory building (normative or critical) regarding the social web as part of communications or public relations practice * ways of conceptualizing the online self and society, such as; performance, identity, network theory, and their implications for organisational communication and public relations * issues and ethics in online data collection on social networking sites * case studies exploring the impact of multimodal (online/ offline) social ties in research * opinion pieces on using social networks in public relations * critically informed speculation on the future of communication practice in social media (beyond ‘Web3’) * multimedia submissions on a related topic Papers are welcome from all disciplinary areas. Full papers will be due by Friday 5th of February, 2010 and will be peer reviewed. Academic papers should be 5,000 words and practitioner papers between 2,500-3,000 words maximum. Style should follow house guidelines:http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/fileadmin/Praxis/Files/Journal_Files/Prism_House_Style.pdf See also the PRism submission guidelines at:http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/sub_guide.html Enquiries are welcome and should be directed to Erika Pearson (erika.pearson(a)otago.ac.nz ).

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