[Air-l] Call for papers, special issue Information, Communication and Society

[Gustavo S. Mesch]

CALL FOR PAPERS
e-Relationships: The Blurring and Reconfiguration of Offline and Online Social
Boundaries
Information, Communication & Society (iCS) invites papers for a Special Issue
exploring how the rapid expansion in the use of the Internet and other
information and communication technologies (ICTs) is influencing offline and
online social networks and relationships at different levels (friendship,
family, workplace and community).
Social science researchers have shown growing interest in understanding the
changes in social relationships tied to this widespread diffusion of ICTs.
Early empirical explorations of the effects of ICTs on social and personal
interactions directed attention to the technologies’ effects on existing
face-to-face relationships, such as a shift to more isolated activities focused
on computer interactions. More recent studies have shown how ICTs are becoming
part of everyday life, with increasingly blurred boundaries between offline and
online social relationships as they interact in ways that reconfigure an
individual’s or household’s social circle. For example, the Internet is often
used to maintain and support geographically-dispersed relationships with
friends and family. Online relationships also often translate into face-to-face
meetings over time.
iCS invites contributions from authors who are investigating the integration of
online and offline social relationships. These studies can adopt any
theoretical and methodological perspective and should address any of the
following issues:
•	To what extent are online social relationships being integrated into offline
activities and social networks?
•	In what ways do social ties created online differ from offline relationships?
•	To what degree do individuals make online connections with socially similar or
socially distinct others?
•	What are the differences in the quality of social relationships created
offline and online (e.g. in terms of the weakness or strength of ties and the
levels of emotional and material support, friendship and sense of belonging)?
•	What circumstances affect the migration of Internet-initiated relationships to
other settings?
The deadline for receipt of the abstracts is October 31 2005. Abstracts, not
exceeding 300 words, must be sent electronically to Gustavo Mesch, the Special
Issue’s Guest Editor (gustavo at soc.haifa.ac.il). The Deadline for receipt of
full papers (not exceeding 7,000 words and with an abstract of up to 300 words)
is March 31 2006. See www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1369118x.asp for author
guidelines and journal information.
iCS is a peer-reviewed international journal devoted to high quality empirical
research and theoretical works that include analysis of the emerging properties
of the Information Age in a multidisciplinary and transcultural perspective. It
is published by Taylor & Francis.

-- 
Gustavo S. Mesch, Academic Visitor
Oxford Internet Institute, U. of Oxford
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Senior Research Associate
Minerva Center for Youth Studies
The University of Haifa, Israel
email:gustavo at soc.haifa.ac.il
http://soc.haifa.ac.il/~gustavo
http://soc.haifa.ac.il/community





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