[Air-l] AoIR executive subcommittee report re publishing

[Caroline Haythornthwaite]

The following was submitted to the AoIR executive as a report from a 
subcommittee addressing publishing issues for AoIR. 

I draw your attention in particular to the new arrangement with the journal 
Information, Communication and Society (ICS) to publish a special issue of 
invited AoIR conference papers.

/Caroline


>AoIR Publishing Subcommittee Report
>
>Members
>
>Caroline Haythornthwaite (Chair) <haythorn at uiuc.edu>,
>Monica Murero <murero at eircom.net>,
>Axel Bruns <a.bruns at qut.edu.au>,
>Lori Kendall <loriken at uiuc.edu>, 
>Ted M Coopman <coopman at u.washington.edu>
>
>April 25, 2007
>
>The subcommittee met online to discuss AoIR and publishing. Discussion 
>centered on issues of supporting future scholars in their publishing activities; 
>publication possibilities for AoIR conference papers; and supporting Internet 
>Research in general. The subcommittee came to the following conclusions and 
>recommendations:  
>
>1. Discussion of an AoIR journal: To be revisited next year
>
>An AoIR journal is a good idea, but as a committee we felt there are currently 
>too many  practical limitations for implementation including management, 
>sponsorship and volunteers. We recommend reconsidering this next year.  
>
>2. Publishing from the AoIR conference: New ICS special issue arranged
>
>The AoIR annual has ceased publication. We have been able to arrange with 
the journal Information, Communication and Society (ICS) to publish a special 
issue of selected AoIR conference papers each year, to appear in January of the  
following year. Editorship for this year is Caroline Haythornthwaite (for AoIR)  
and Barry Wellman (N.American editor of ICS). Future editorship will be for a 3 
year, renewable post, to be decided and confirmed by ICS and the AoIR 
executive.  Papers are selected in the following way: the AoIR chair selects 
25-30 abstracts  for consideration. The special issue editors review these and 
choose a limited set (around 10) to be invited to write a full length paper, due 
approximately 6  weeks before the conference (Sept. 1st for 2007, dates will 
be adjusted according to the date of the conference each year). Editors will 
provide feedback  and select the final 7-8 papers for the special issue (exact 
number of papers on ICS editors and page limits for an ICS journal issue). Those 
authors will have until 2 weeks after the conference to submit revised versions. 
Papers that are acceptable but delayed and/or exceed the number ICS can 
publish will be accommodated in a later issue.  
>
>3. An annual AoIR conference workshop on writing and publication: 
Recommend for 2007 and each year after
>
>We recommend the establishment of a yearly workshop to be held at the AoIR 
>conference particularly focused on issues of writing and publication of the 
type 
>of work accepted for the AoIR conference. This responds to concerns for 
>support for students and new faculty about how to get their AoIR-related work 
>published. The workshop would be organized by one or two volunteers based 
>on a special call for proposals for the workshop, and/or by special 
>arrangements made by the AoIR executive committee as decided by the 
>executive. We recommend the first of these be held at the 2007 conference.

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Caroline Haythornthwaite
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820