Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping 2010

IFIP 9.5 WG are pleased to announce our next gathering as a part of the

World Computer Congress 2010
20-23 September 2010
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Brisbane, Australia

CALL FOR PAPERS

9th Human Choice and Computers (IFIP-TC9-HCC9) Track 2:

Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping

Chairs: David Kreps, Martin Warnke, Claus Pias

deadline postponed to February 15th!

Following on the recent (April 2009) International Working Conference of IFIP 9.5 Working Group on Virtuality and Society, “Images of Virtuality,” at Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece, this conference will be a Track of the IFIP Technical Committee 9th Human Choice and Computers (HCC9) stream of the IFIP World Computer Congress, in Brisbane, Australia, September 2010 http://www.wcc2010.org/ .

This Track will focus on the feedback loops between virtual technologies and the social groups who use them, how each shape the other and are in turn shaped by them.

Social shaping, the sociology of technology, science studies and other approaches of cultural studies to the phenomenon of the information society, driven by such classics as those of Bijker and Law and Mackenzie and Wajcman from the 1990s, are arguably now ready for a fresh look, in the context of virtual environments and global social networking and gaming communities. The intervening years have additionally seen an explosion of digital and media arts interpretations, and explorations of the impact of virtual technologies upon society, and the social use of such technologies upon their design, and the entrepreneurial trajectories of their appearance in the global market.

Virtual technologies, crucially, have moved very decisively from the workplace – whether corporate or home office – and into the domestic sphere, into our living rooms, playrooms, our kitchens, and our bedrooms. Here the relationship between virtual technologies and society, and the mutual shaping processes each undergo, are ripe for fresh study, insight, and exploration.

The Virtuality and Society Working Group sub-stream of the Human Choice and Computers stream of the World Computer Congress therefore invites research and work-in-progress papers that address the choices faced by an information society permeated by ubiquitous virtual technologies.

Relevant topics and themes include, but are not limited to:

• Discussing issues of responsive and iterative user-centred design, usability, accessibility, and the ‘permanent beta’ of virtual systems
• Discussing the impact of virtual technologies within the domestic sphere and the changes to such technologies developed out of use-cases
• Exploring new (e-, or v-) research methodologies and techniques on inquiring into social action in the context of virtuality
• Identifying challenging social, ethical, and political issues of socialization in virtuality
• Discussing the role of electronic and digital arts and media in the shaping of virtual technologies and their uses
• Discussing the role of digital gaming and massive multiplayer role-playing games in the shaping of virtual technologies and their uses
• Discussing virtual spaces and the role of place in virtual technologies, and how the domestic as well as the work and civic spaces of the information society are shaped by, and in turn shape such technologies
• Identifying opportunities and challenges for education, governance, and entrepreneurship in virtual worlds
• Discussing emerging issues of e-policy and e-quality of life specifically implicated by virtual technologies
• Exploring social histories and philosophies that deepen our understanding of term virtuality, and of the relationship between virtual technologies and society and the mutual shaping processes between them

Additional information on the work of IFIP 9.5 WG is available at http://www.ifip95wg.org

Program Committee

Programme Chair: David Kreps, Salford Business School, Salford University, UK.
Programme Co-chairs: Martin Warnke, Computer Science & Culture, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Deutschland, and Claus Pias, University of Vienna, Austria
Oliver Burmeister, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Simran Grewal, University of Bath, UK
Niki Panteli, School of Management, University of Bath, UK.
Erika Pearson, Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand
Angeliki Poulymenakou, Management Science & Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Steve Sawyer, College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University, USA
Lin Yan, Greenwich University, UK

Instructions for paper submission

Papers must not substantially overlap with papers that have been published or are simultaneously submitted to a journal or another conference with proceedings. Papers must be written in English; they should be at most 1O-12 pages in total, including bibliography and well-marked appendices. Papers should be intelligible without appendices, if any.
Accepted papers will be presented at the conference and published in the IFIP Series by Springer. Submitted and accepted papers must follow the publisher’s guidelines for the IFIP Series (www.springer.com/series/6102), Author templates, Manuscript preparation in Word). At least one author of each accepted paper must register to the conference and present the paper.

Important dates

Intention to submit: Immediately
Submission of papers: January 31, 2010
Notification to authors: April 20, 2010
Camera-ready copies: May 15, 2010

Intention to submit and submission must be sent to the two HCC9 IPC Chairs, and according to your track choice to the tracks chairs:
Jacques Berleur, Namur University, Belgium: jberleur@info.fundp.ac.be
Magda Hercheui, Westminster Business School and London School of Economics, United Kingdom
m.hercheui@googlemail.com

Track 2: Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping
David Kreps, Salford Business School, Salford University, UK, d.g.kreps@salford.ac.uk
Martin Warnke, Computer Science & Culture, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Deutschland, warnke@leuphana.de,
Claus Pias, University of Vienna, Austria, claus.pias@univie.ac.at

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