[Air-L] CFP -- Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication on "Examining the Information Economy"

[Kirk St.Amant]

CALL FOR PROPOSALS/ABSTRACTS

Special issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication to focus on
"Examining the Information Economy: Perspectives for Professional
Communication Practices"

Guest Editors:
Kirk St.Amant, Texas Tech University
and
Jan M. Ulijn, Eindhoven University of Technology

Deadline for Proposals/Abstracts: April 10, 2008

OVERVIEW
The information economy is based on the collection and the exchange of
data and ideas.  We all either contribute to or use materials from the
information economy in most aspects of our everyday lives.  Thus, the
information economy exists as an environment in which we are all
contributors and consumers. Within this system, effective
communication is essential to success and means individuals can
contribute ideas and information effectively and can make efficient
use of the goods and services.  In this way, each individual can play
the dual role of content user (audience) and content creator
(professional communicator).  This ability to create new content also
allows individuals to become online innovators and cyberspace
entrepreneurs on a previously unprecedented level.

All of this content, however, requires continual evaluation and
updating in a way that emphasizes the importance of information
management and of hiring and employment practices that prioritize such
activities (e.g., strategic human resource management).  At the same
time, organizations and individuals alike need to consider how to
maintain open access to needed information without sacrificing
personal privacy or corporate security.  Few of us, however,
understand all of these nuances of the information economy or the
related communication factors that affect its operations. Yet such an
understanding is needed for individuals to better conceptualize their
professional roles in relation to this economy.  For this reason, an
examination of the information economy and its effects on professional
communication practices can greatly benefit individuals in the
professional and technical communication industries.

This special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication (IEEE-TPC) seeks to "examine" this economic model by
providing research articles, commentaries, and tutorials that explore
the connections between communication practices and the products,
practices, and services that constitute the information economy.  The
objective of the special issue is to help individuals involved in
professional communication practices better understand and participate
in the information economy as both contributors and consumers.

POSSIBLE TOPIC AREAS
Possible topic areas for this special issue include but are not
limited to the following:
• Establishing and assessing the value of knowledge work and knowledge products
• Innovation and entrepreneurship issues related to communication in
the information economy
• Information design, usability, and accessibility
• Virtual teams, online collaboration, and distributed models of work
• Strategic human resources management (SHRM) of globally dispersed
and mobile employees
• Cross-cultural communication, globalization, outsourcing,
translation, and localization
• Legal policies and social issues related to the information economy
• Media selection and multimodality
• The role of and perspectives on teaching and training within the
information economy
• Content management, open source software, single sourcing, and XML

SUBMISSIONS
Please email abstracts (250-500 words) to Kirk St.Amant at
kirk.stamant at gmail.com

Please include the following information in your abstract:
• Title of the proposed article
• Name, institutional affiliation, and contact information for author(s)
• Overview of proposed article topic
• Outline of the major ideas or concepts covered in the proposed article
• Discussion of the contribution this article will make to research,
teaching, or other professional practices in the field of technical
communication

TIMELINE
• Proposals/Abstracts due: April 10, 2008
• Invitation to submit full papers for peer review: April 15, 2008
• Full papers due: June 16, 2008
• Tentative publication date: September 2009

GUIDELINES
You can find guidelines for submitting manuscripts on the IEEE-TPC site:
http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pcs/?q=node/50

PLEASE NOTE
An invitation to submit a full paper for peer-review does not mean a
paper has been accepted for publication. Rather, all papers will
undergo a peer-review process, the results of which will be used to
determine whether the paper will be published in this special issue of
the IEEE-TPC.

QUESTIONS
The guest editors encourage you to contact them to discuss possible
topics for an article. You can email any questions about this special
issue to Kirk St. Amant at kirk.stamant at gmail.com.