Call for Papers CIRN 2005 24-26 August 2005, Cape Town South Africa The Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) 2005 Conference is open to receive research, policy and praxis based papers around the major theme of 'partnerships'. Conference website http://www.cirn2005.org Community Informatics is principally involved with the social appropriation of ICT for local benefit The practice of community informatics usually involves role players with diverse interests, and many of the benefits are found in the combination of different role players' interests and resources. The main role players in CI are found in civil society, government, business and individuals. CIRN 2005 will highlight the interactions between these sectors in delivering local benefit. Increasing availability of ICT highlights the need for new partnerships between and within civil society, the public sector and business. It moves the agenda beyond simple questions of access, to effective use. This challenges the current roles, responsibilities and activities in civil society, government and business. Experience is demonstrating that neither 'top down' nor 'bottom up' approaches are consistently delivering universal benefit; rather, partnerships are providing significant value propositions in the emerging information economy. Further, whilst the relationships between business and government are quite well understood, the relationships between civil society and business, government and individuals in the emerging information age are still in formative stages. The conference is designed for researchers, policymakers, community leaders, ICT project leaders, government officials and regional community development groups who have interests, skills and experience in the social appropriation of ICT Critical dates: Abstracts and panel proposals 1 February 2005. Notification of acceptance 15 February 2005 Full refereed papers due 15 March 2002, Notification of acceptance 15 May 2005 Final papers due 30 June 2005 Contributions are invited from both developed and developing countries, but within the intended theme of the conference: * Academic papers will be double-blind refereed and published in the conference proceedings. * Papers that are not intended for refereeing are welcome and will be published separately. * Case studies describing ICT related interventions and initiatives within communities are invited. * Posters describing planned work or work in progress are also invited. * Proposals for panels within areas closely related to community informatics are encouraged A PhD colloquium will be conducted and these presentations will be reviewed by a panel of leading CI researchers. Executive Committee * Prof Andy Bytheway (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa) * Dr Peter Day (Brighton University, United Kingdom) * Prof Geoff Erwin (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa) * Prof Mike Gurstein (New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA) * Prof Marlien Herselman, (Tshwane University of Technology, SA) * Prof Don Schauder (Monash University, Australia) * Prof Wal Taylor (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa) Kevin W. Tharp Communications Specialist Electronic Marketing Communications University of Missouri - Rolla kwtharp@umr.edu 573-341-6623