"SOCIAL SOFTWARE"

Part of the Collaboration Systems and Technology Track

of the Forty-Second Annual

Hawai'i International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS)

Waikoloa, HI – January 5 - 8 2009

Papers are invited for the mini track on "SOCIAL SOFTWARE" as part of the Collaboration Systems and Technology Track at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).

The growing phenomenon of Social Software gets a lot of attention from the public, but also from businesses, governmental organizations, schools and other institutions. The reason is that Social Software seems to represent the kind of tools that are simpler, smarter and more flexible to use and therefore better fit in the day to day practice of the average user and therefor offers a great promise for our society at large.

Social Software includes a variety of software tools, often called Web 2.0 software, that focuses on the support of collaborative activities. Tools like Blogs, Wiki’s, Chatrooms and Discussion Boards are examples of this rapid developing type of software and the new styles of communication and collaboration that emerge with it. It is hard though to keep track of the available technologies, the variety of actiivities that is supported and the appropriate use of these tools in the right context. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is to find ways of how to deal with these issues.

The “Social Software” mini track focuses on:

• The Social Software phenomenon.

• The design, application, and evaluation of social software technologies.

• The use of Social Software to improve information exchange and collaboration in different settings (private, public, organizational)

• The use of Social Software for Organizational Knowledge and Learning

• Theoretical foundations and practical approaches to model and design high quality collaborative work arrangements using Social Software.

Thus, papers are welcome that include experiences, findings, results, research issues and original ideas of systematic modeling, analysis, design and evaluation of Social Software systems and activities.

There are no preferred methodological stances for this mini track: this mini track is open to both qualitative and quantitative research, to research from a positivist, interpretive or critical perspective, to studies from the lab, from the field, or developmental in nature.

MINITRACK COORDINATOR:

Pieter de Vries

Delft University of Technology

Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

Centre for Education and Technology

Jaffalaan 5, 2628BX, Delft, the Netherlands

phone: +31 (0) 152785876 fax: +31 (0) 152787155

e-mail: pieter.devries@tudelft.nl

The purpose of HICSS is to provide a forum for the interchange of ideas, research results, development activities, and applications among academicians and practitioners in computer-based systems sciences. The conference consists of tutorials, advanced seminars, presentations of accepted papers, open forum, tasks forces, and plenary and distinguished guest lectures. There is a high degree of interaction and discussion among the conference participants because the conference is conducted in a workshop-like setting.

Instructions for submitting papers:

Submit an electronic copy of the full paper in HICSS format, consisting of a maximum of 10 pages double-spaced including title page, abstract, references and diagrams using the review system available at the HICSS site, make sure that the authors’ names and affiliation information has been removed to ensure an anonymous review.

Do not submit the paper to more than one mini track. The paper should contain original material and not be previously published or currently submitted for consideration elsewhere.

Provide the required information to the review system such as title, full name of all authors, and their complete addresses including affiliation(s), telephone number(s) and e-mail address(es).

The first page of the paper should include the title and a (max) 300-word abstract.

DEADLINES:

• Before June 1: (Optional) Prepare Abstracts. Then, contact MINITRACK CHAIRS for guidance and indication of appropriate content..

• June 15th: Full papers uploaded in the directory of the appropriate mini track, following the AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

• August 15th: Notification of accepted papers mailed to authors.

• September 15th: Accepted manuscripts, camera-ready, uploaded; author(s) must register by this time.

• October 2nd: Papers without at least one registered author will be pulled from the publication process; authors will be notified.

Send all correspondence related to this mini track to:

Pieter de Vries

Delft University of Technology

Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

Centre for Education and Technology

Jaffalaan 5, 2628BX, Delft, the Netherlands

phone: +31 (0) 152785876 fax: +31 (0) 152787155

e-mail: pieter.devries@tudelft.nl