Hello everyone, The Social Networking and Communities minitrack at HICSS has been part of HICSS since 2003, and over the years has gained a lot of visibility and esteem from the academic and professional community. At HICSS 45 in January 2011, this minitrack was the biggest one of the conference, spanning a day and a half (6 total sessions), with a full audience throughout. We hope to maintain that momentum and make this another great year! Please consider submitting a paper to the minitrack. More Information and papers presented in previous years may be found at: http://ekarine.org/news/hicsscommunities/ Due date is June 15, 2011 (please note, this is a hard deadline set by HICSS, not the minitrack organizers). Karine Nahon and Caroline Haythorntwaite ----------- HICSS 44 HAWAII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SYSTEM SCIENCES, http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/, January 4-7, 2012 Minitrack: Social Networking and Community Papers due JUNE 15, 2011. Minitrack Organizers: . Karine Nahon, University of Washington, karineb@uw.edu  hrosenba@indiana.edu . Caroline Haythornthwaite,  University of British Columbia This minitrack focuses on social networks and their interrelations with communities in the context work, learning, social and/or personal life. At present, there is tremendous research interest in these topics, driven by the fact that these sociological phenomena are changing the way people work, play and socialize, and how they spend their time and money. Accordingly, billions of dollars are being spent by businesses and consumers on these technologies, and the rate of adoption has been phenomenal, while empirical and theoretical work on social and technical design, and economic and social outcomes lag behind. We would like to attract papers that address issues of online communities of practice, inquiry and interest created in the interest of political, educational, business, social and/or gaming pursuits, and with attention to how online community building and management contribute to success in the digital economy and society. While the focus is primarily online communities, papers are also welcomed that address the interplay between online and offline means of interaction. We call for empirical and theoretical papers that add to our understanding of the social, political, and economic landscape of communities and social networks at work, school, home, and play. Examples of the possible interdisciplinary topics of interest in these contexts include, but are not limited to the following: . Social, political and/or economic impact of social media . Communities as sociological phenomenon in the digital economy . Community development and community informatics . Design, development, and user studies of social media . Online communities of practice, inquiry or interest . Business models of Second Life . E-learning: structures, implementations, and practices . Serious leisure communities online . Organizational behavior of communities . Social network studies and analyses of online communities . Mobile applications, services and use for and by online communities . Case studies and topologies of online communities . Case studies and analyses of the rise and fall of social network sites and online communities . Theoretical models of virtual worlds . Advertising in online communities and social networks . Models for managing behavior in online communities . Behavior in online gaming communities . Models and cases of synergies and/or conflicts between real and virtual worlds . Diffusion and adoption of social networking applications and practices . Development of social networking applications and practices . Critical perspectives on social media and local and/or virtual community . Disruptive strategies of virtual worlds ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr.  Karine Nahon -  http://eKarine.org Associate Professor The Information School, The retroV (Virality of Information) Group - http://retroV.org University of Washington Twitter - http://twitter.com/karineb Office tel. - (206) 685-6668