Call for Papers
 

Conference background and goals

The mission of this conference is to publish and integrate scientific results and act catalytically to the fast
developing culture of web communities. The conference invites original papers, review papers, technical reports
and case studies on WWW in particular the emerging role of so-called WWW-Based Communities.
 

Domain: It is increasingly important for our culture to bring people together and to promote dynamics in
professional organizations, mutual understanding, learning and harmony. Creating "virtual communities" is one major
way to do this. The Web Based Communities 2010 conference aims at sharing and aggregating scientifically proven
methods on how to organize and moderate WWW-based communities. These communities do not limit participants
to particular locations - the international and multicultural dimension is a most challenging one. Good WWW
communities undergo a continuous evolution and adapt to the changing world. The nature of these communities can
be corporate, scientific, social or educational. Pragmatic questions which need to be addressed include: What software
tools are the most adequate and how to use them? How to promote your community so that new members can find it?
How to protect the members' privacy? How to moderate discussions and how to provide information that people can
use? How to create and maintain a sense of trust and commitment among the members? In addition, sociology,
education, communication and philosophy issues are addressed as the main disciplines reflected in building
WWW-based communities, although critical theories on societies and post-modernism are also relevant starting points.
New and imminent technologies will be discussed.
 

Objectives: The Web Based Communities 2010 Conference aims at bringing together new vital understanding of
WWW communities and what new initiatives mean. Each new perspective is potentially a catalyst for finding
new architectures. National and regional-oriented communities may soon be relegated to a subordinate position compared
to interest-oriented communities. Multiculturalism, critical thinking, expressing aesthetic aspects of our identity, and
finding sparring partners for sharpening our ideologies, are all processes that need the new communication infrastructures.
 

The targeted audience is scientists and members and moderators of WWW communities who feel responsible for optimizing
its quality and effect.
 

Format of the Conference
 

The conference will comprise invited talks and oral presentations. The proceedings of the conference will be published in
the form of a book and a CD-ROM with ISBN. The better papers will be candidate for the "International Journal of Web
Based Communities" (IJWBC);  ISSN: 1477 - 8394 [4 issues per year]

Topics of submission/Subject indications (but not limited to):

A. The history, architecture and future of virtual communities

1. From mobility to connectivity

2. Identity and augmented ideologies

3. Visionary web architectures, implanted computers

4. Network revolutions, post-colonial and post-modern societies

5. Escaping from reality, virtual reality and multi-user games

6. Towards alternative ways of presence

B. Group processes and self-organization

1. Tele-democracy, morality, netiquette 

2. Social networks, tribal- and open communities, peace education

3. Computer mediated-, hyper- and narrative communication, woven stories

4. MUDs, MOOs and avatars

5. Hosting web-based communities

6. Nationalities, ethnicities and gender effects

C. Cyborgs, teleworking, telemedicine, art games and learning communities

1. Fading hierarchies and epistemic dictatorship

2. Distributed cognition, the electronic cortex and constructivism

3. Community directories

4. Mechanic world, organic computer

5. Agents and the vectorized self

6. Beyond metaphors: imagining and representation

7. Communizing as a marketing approach

D. Expanding markets through virtual communities

1. The WWW as digital market place

2. The enterprise as a learning community

3. The learning as a road map for business

4. Universities as online communities

5. Business-to-business communication in profit- and non profit sectors

E. Virtual communities for people with special needs

1. Access to public spaces

2. Accessibility and long-term disabilities

3. Virtual communities in health care

Types of submissions

The Conference will be composed of several types of contributions:

• Full Papers – These include mainly accomplished research results and have 8 pages at the maximum (5,000 words).

• Short Papers – These are mostly composed of work in progress reports or fresh developments and have 4 pages
  at maximum (2,500 words).

• Reflection Papers – These might review recent research literature pertaining to a particular problem or
  approach, indicate what the findings suggest, and/or provide a suggestion - with rationale and justification -
  for a different approach or perspective on that problem. Reflection papers might also analyze general trends or
  discuss important issues in topics related to the conference. These have 4 pages at maximum (2,500 words).

• Posters / Demonstrations – These contain implementation information or work-in-progress and have two pages
  at maximum (1,250 words) besides the poster itself (or demonstration) that will be exposed at the conference.

• Tutorials – Tutorials can be proposed by scholars or company representatives. A proposal of maximum 250 words
  is expected.

• Invited Talks – These will be made of contributions from well-known scholars and company representatives.
  An abstract will be included in the conference proceedings.

• Panels – Discussions on selected topics will be held. A proposal of maximum 250 words is expected.

• Doctoral Consortium - A Doctoral Consortium will discuss in group, individual projects and on going work of
  PhD students. Prospective students should send a report of their PhD projects and work so far with a maximum
  of 4 pages (2,500 words).

• Corporate Showcases & Exhibitions – The former enables companies to present recent developments
  and applications, inform a large and qualified audience of your future directions and showcase company’s
  noteworthy products and services. There will be a time slot for companies to make their presentation in a room.
  The latter enables companies the opportunity to display its latest offerings of hardware, software, tools, services
  and books, through an exhibit booth. For further details please contact the publicity chair - secretariat@mccsis.org

This is a blind peer-reviewed conference.

Important Dates:

- Submission Deadline (2nd call): 31 May 2010
- Notification to Authors (2nd call): 21 June 2010

- Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration (1st call): Until 26 March 2010

- Late Registration (1st call): After 26 March 2010

- Conference: Freiburg, Germany, 29 to 31 July 2010

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