Dear AoIR members, ECREA is now in the process of accepting proposals for temporary working groups that could become divisions of the organization in the future. My colleague, Dr. Payal Arora, and I have drafted such a proposal entitled "Information Technologies and Social Networks." We are currently seeking potential members that might be interested in joining this group. A working version of the mission statement for this proposed working group is pasted below. The Chair position has yet to be finalized but we have contacted a leading scholar in this area, and are very hopeful for a positive response. If you have interest in joining this potential group, please respond to this email before March 15. Inquiries can be sent to me or Payal. Thank you, Jacob Groshek and Payal Arora -- Dr. Jacob Groshek Research Chair, CTEC division / AEJMC Assistant Professor Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam Rotterdam, the Netherlands (+31)-010-408-8627 office (+31)-062-304-2346 mobile groshek@eshcc.eur.nl http://www.jgroshek.com MISSION STATEMENT ECREA Information Technologies and Social Networks Temporary Working Group CHAIR TBD VICE-CHAIR Payal Arora, Ph.D Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam Website: http://payalarora.com/ VICE-CHAIR Jacob Groshek, Ph.D Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam Website: http://www.jgroshek.com/ MISSION Contemporarily, social networks have become synonymous with online media spaces such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like. There is considerable emphasis on the technical novelty of these spaces, placing secondary the human nature of such virtual domains. Thereby, the Information Technologies and Social Networks temporary working group of the ECREA defines its objective as being a forum to share and shape research on technologies and networks through an interdisciplinary, historical and comparative perspective. This section brings together the relatively nascent fields of social informatics, new media studies, and human geographies with the classic disciplines of anthropology, sociology, economics, psychology and political science. The emphasis is on empirical to theoretical work on social collectivity, connectivity, and creativity through and with technologically-mediated spaces. This group will primarily promote the European perspective and research on these issues in response to the current dominance of North American scholarship in this vital area. The intersection of information technology and social networks has gained considerable attention from the recent political uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, highlighting the role of Twitter and Facebook in these struggles. Historically, patterns of innovations and application have emerged time and again, approached often through a utopian or dystopian lens. Now, euphoric visions of these online social networks have been argued as key tools in precipitating positive social effects of democratization and egalitarianism in society. Naysayers propagate an opposite perspective of these tools as having decimated age-old relationships and ties that are fundamental to stronger social ties. This section aims to move beyond these dichotomies and focuses on research within Europe that delves deeply into its complex socio-cultural and political dimensions and its rootedness historically and spatially. Special attention will be paid to the offline and online ties and the fluidities and constructions of relationships as they influence one another. Timely topics in Europe such as migration, citizenship, online activism, populism, virtualization of museums, distance education and more will be encouraged as they relate to social networks through a range of information technology tools and spaces. Specifically, we aim to do the following through this section: 1. To provide a forum for researchers to share and partner on research concerning information technologies and social networks 2. To develop a rich corpus of literature that is particularly European centric 3. To build an online and offline collaboration amongst practitioners and researchers through encouraging theory studies that can be significant for policy and practice 4. To eventually develop as an ECREA section of excellence and expertise within Europe on this subject 5. To liaise with other sections within the ECREA wherever possible. 7. To capitalize on online networks to gain visibility and participation across academic institutions as well as create a listserve to sustain these activities 8. To partner in constructing workshops that address specific strategies in understanding and using such networks to further practice in academic, governmental and corporate settings. 9. To develop and promote a high quality peer-reviewed journal to more formally contribute to the body of knowledge presented and discussed within the working group Overall, this section will serve as a critical starting ground for connecting with scholars within Europe on this topic of interest for joint conferences and publications of high quality.