[Air-l] Call for Paper

[Dong H. Sin]

Dear
I am an editorial assistant of "The Information Society". We have
special issue on ¡°Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)
and
Community Networking¡±. Attached is Call for Paper for this issue.

I really appreciate if you post this call for paper to the discussio
list. Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Attached contains following message
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Call for Papers

Special Issue on ¡°Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)
and Community Networking¡±

The Information Society
http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS

Guest Editor: Murali Venkatesh
Community & Information Technology Institute
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
Syracuse New York 13244

mvenkate at syr.edu

Manuscripts due: January 15, 2002

Even as the term ¡°movement¡± is beginning to be applied to
ICT-supported community networking to characterize an emergent body of
concerns in the research and practitioner communities worldwide, the
terms ¡°community¡±, ¡°community network¡± and ¡°community networking¡±,

and their relationship, are in need of clarification and definition. As
a working definition, community networking refers to the process by
which a community-focused technological system (an ICT-supported
community network) develops and evolves in a geographically anchored,
physical community. This special issue is interested in several aspects
of this process, both as they relate to the development and evolution of

the community network and of the idea of community itself. Although we
are especially concerned in this special issue with the developmental
process, research reports on outcomes from use of such networks in
communities would be of interest as well.

There is a growing body of research on the consequences of  the
structuring and use of community networks on communication patterns,
social relations, and collective action. This research is valuable and
necessary. The process by which an ICT-supported community network is
planned, designed, and implemented in a community has attracted
relatively less critical attention. How and where does the idea of such
a network originate in a community? How do residents and institutions
mobilize around the idea, and why? Who participates and who does not in
different aspects of  its development, and why? ICT-supported community
networks can be powerful agents of community networking. As with
technologies in general, they are shaped by social, political and
economic choices. Such choices ¡°are part of the history of a¡¦system
and are embedded in the social structure which support its (the
technology¡¯s) development and use¡± (Iacono & Kling, 1988). The term
community networking highlights the process, and the play of social,
political and economic systems and interests therein, which shapes these

choices in a community. These choices, in turn, can have beneficial or
detrimental (intended and unintended) consequences for community
building and the idea of community.
This special issue invites papers that offer nuanced description and
analysis of ICT-supported community networking projects in communities
worldwide. Papers on all forms of technologically-mediated community
networking are welcome, ranging from development and use of telecenters
in the developing world to so-called next generation community
networking initiatives, featuring, among others, broadband
telecommunications technologies and/or localnets (Serra, 2000) ?
locally-focused segments of the Internet.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to

¡¤ Participation and representation in community network development

¡¤ Relationships between the community network and the physical host
community

¡¤ Community networking, community building and the communitarian ideal

¡¤ Political economy of community networking

¡¤ Community network governance

¡¤ Community networking and the Digital Divide

¡¤ Community networking as a tool for social and economic justice

Submissions may consider these and related issues from social science,
philosophical, public policy and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Submissions may be conceptual or empirical, and may employ quantitative,

qualitative or case study approaches. We invite contributions both from
researchers and practitioners. Submissions that relate findings and
arguments to existing theory, or that clearly delineate implications for

the development and refinement of theory, are strongly encouraged.

We encourage prospective authors to become familiar with TIS and to
discuss possible articles with the Special Issue editor. Authors may
email an abstract (1,500 words) to the Special Issue editor for
comments. Deadline for receiving abstracts is October 30, 2001.

Manuscript guidelines and a list of the titles and abstracts of articles

published in TIS can be found on the journal's web site. Papers will be
subject to the normal review process of The Information Society, and
should follow the standard guidelines for submission to the journal. See

information for authors at: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS

Please note in your submission letter that you want your manuscript to
be reviewed for the Special Issue on ¡°ICTs and Community Networking¡±.

If you have questions or suggestions regarding the special issue, please

correspond directly with the issue editor, Murali Venkatesh at
mvenkate at syr.edu.

References

Iacono, S., and Kling, R. (1988). Computer systems as institutions:
Social dimensions of computing in organizations. In J. I. DeGross & M.H.

Olson (Eds.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on
Information Systems (ICIS), Minneapolis, MN.

Serra, A.(2000). Next Generation Community Networking: Futures for
Digital Cities. In T. Ishida & K. Isbister (Eds.), Digital Cities:
Technologies, experiences, and future perspectives. Lecture Notes in
Computer Science, 1765, Springer-Verlag.

Special Issue Editorial Team

Murali Venkatesh, Special Issue Editor
Peter Day, University of Brighton, U.K.
Fiorella De Cindio, University of Milan, Italy
Ceasar McDowell, MIT
Randal Pinkett, Ph.D. student, MIT Media Lab
Doug Schuler, Evergreen State College

Editorial Assistance

Dong Hee Shin, Ph.D., student, IST
Richard Southwick, Ph.D., student, IST

The Information Society is edited by Dr. Rob Kling, Indiana University
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dong Hee Shin
Ph.D. candidate
Syracuse University
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