CFP - ISR THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN DIGITAL AND SOCIAL NETWORKS,,Guest Editors

Hi All,

This may be of interest to some of our community members.


Call for Papers: ISR Special Issue
THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN DIGITAL AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Guest Editors
Ritu Agarwal, University of Maryland ([email protected])
Anil K. Gupta, University of Maryland ([email protected])
Robert Kraut, Carnegie Mellon University (robert.kraut-D+Gtc/[email protected])

Overview

In recent years, considerable research attention has been devoted to the
impact of digital networks on various types of economic activity e.g.,
impact of information technology on firm boundaries, dynamics of
electronic markets, etc.  Simultaneously, research in the field of
strategy and organization theory has increasingly focused on the social
embeddedness of economic activity e.g., over the last decade, we have 
come to know a lot more about the role that social ties play in the 
production of trust and in reducing both search and transfer costs in 
the diffusion
of knowledge across individuals and firms.  In other words, it is now
widely accepted that both digital and social networks play a crucial 
role in the structure and conduct of economic activity.

Yet, research on the interplay between digital and social networks 
remains in its infancy.  Digital networks are designed by and used by 
people, individually or collectively.  Thus, digital interaction among 
individuals and organizations is almost always embedded in, is 
influenced by, and in turn influences a social network.  The primary 
goal of the proposed special issue of Information Systems Research is to 
foster research on this interplay between digital and social networks.

Research Topics

We invite scholars from a broad range of disciplines to submit to this
Special Issue.  Papers may encompass any or all of the following:
theoretical analyses, modeling, simulation, or empirical studies. 
Authors may examine the interplay between digital and social networks in 
any of a variety of possible contexts.  Special topics of interest 
include, but are not limited to, the following:

-- The social structure (size, location and position of actors, etc.) of
digital networks and its relationship with knowledge flows and innovation;
-- Social governance in open source software development networks and its
contribution to value creation and appropriation;
-- The social embeddedness of electronic knowledge management systems;
-- The evolution and propagation of social influence through electronic
communications
-- Digital artifacts such as signatures and avatars and their role in
developing and sustaining identity in virtual communities;
-- The role of social ties in digital networks that encompass a firm and
its suppliers and customers;
-- Interplay between social ties and electronic trading through B2B
markets;
-- Anonymous digital auction marketplaces such as eBay and the role and
significance of social mechanisms such as reputation and trust
-- The ability of digital channels to transmit social and tacit
information and the impacts of information transmission on the
sustainability of social structures such as virtual teams and communities
-- Digitally mediated social capital =96 creation, maintenance, and impacts
-- Digital networks that span national boundaries and the role of social
factors such as culture and norms in their viability

Associate Editors

Ravi Bapna, University of Connecticut
Daniel Brass, University of Kentucky
Brian Butler, University of Pittsburgh
Kevin Crowston, Syracuse University
Jonathon Cummings, Duke University
Chrysanthos Dellarocas, University of Maryland
Samer Faraj, University of Maryland
Il-Horn Hann, University of Southern California
Shaila Miranda, University of Oklahoma
Younjin Yoo, Case Western Reserve University
Kevin Zhu, University of California =96 Irvine
Brad Kirkman, Texas A&M University
N. Venkataraman, Boston University

Deadlines and Submission Instructions

Submissions to the special issue are due on July 15, 2006.  All
submissions must adhere to the format guidelines for Information Systems
Research.  Authors should note that, in submitting a manuscript to be
reviewed for this special issue, they also incur an obligation to serve as
potential reviewers for other manuscripts.

The review process will proceed as follows:

-- The editors will perform an initial screening of all manuscripts
submitted.  Papers that do not fit the theme of the special issue or are
deemed to be at too preliminary a stage will be returned to authors within
two weeks of the submission deadline.
-- Papers that pass the initial screening will be subject to a formal
review process.  A maximum of three review cycles will be used; papers not
accepted by the third review will be rejected.  The third review cycle
will be initiated only if the editors believe that the requested revisions
can be accomplished in a relatively straight forward manner.
-- At the end of the first review cycle, authors whose papers are moving
forward will be invited to participate in a research workshop to be held
at the University of Maryland, College Park.  This workshop will provide a
forum for presentation and developmental discussion of papers.  The
workshop will likely be held in the third week of November, 2006.
-- Authors must adhere to a strict schedule for submission and revisions.
The first round of reviews will be provided within 3 months of submission
=96 revised manuscripts must be returned within 3 months of receipt of the
reviews.  The second and third review cycles will follow a 2 month
schedule for review and resubmission.
-- In special circumstances, rejected papers may be submitted as regular
submissions to ISR.  The editors will state this in their rejection
letter.

Authors wishing to determine the suitability of their work for the special
issue may submit a pre-proposal of no more than two pages to any of the
Co-Editors by March 31, 2006.

Ritu Agarwal

Professor and Dean's Chair of Information Systems
Director, Center for Health Information and Decision Systems
Robert H. Smith School of Business
4327 Van Munching Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-1815
301.405.3121 TEL
301.405.8655 FAX

-- 
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group
Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224
http://spoudaiospaizen.net
http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu
My *new* book: http://tinyurl.com/cjxj6