Call for Papers

Conference background and goals

The mission of this conference is to publish and integrate scientific results and act catalytically to the fast developing culture of web communities. The conference invites original papers, review papers, technical reports and case studies on WWW in particular the emerging role of so-called WWW-based Communities.

Domain: It is increasingly important for our culture to bring people together and to promote dynamics in professional organizations, mutual understanding, learning and harmony. Creating "virtual communities" is one major way to do this. The Web Based Communities 2004 conference aims at sharing and aggregating scientifically proven methods on how to organize and moderate WWW-based communities. These communities do not limit participants to particular locations - the international and multicultural dimension is a most challenging one. Good WWW communities undergo a continuous evolution and adapt to the changing world. The nature of these communities can be corporate, scientific, social or educational. Pragmatic questions which need to be addressed include: What software tools are the most adequate and how to use them? How to promote your community so that new members can find it? How to protect the members' privacy? How to moderate discussions and how to provide information that people can use? How to create and maintain a sense of trust and commitment among the members? In addition, sociology, education, communication and philosophy issues are addressed as the main disciplines reflected in building WWW-based communities, although critical theories on societies and post-modernism are also relevant starting points. New and imminent technologies will be discussed.

Objectives: The Web Based Communities 2004 Conference aims at bringing together new vital understanding of WWW communities and what new initiatives mean. Each new perspective is potentially a catalyst for finding new architectures. National and regional-oriented communities may soon be relegated to a subordinate position compared to interest-oriented communities. Multiculturalism, critical thinking, expressing aesthetic aspects of our identity, and finding sparring partners for sharpening our ideologies, are all processes that need the new communication infrastructures.

The targeted audience is scientists and members and moderators of WWW communities who feel responsible for optimizing its quality and effect.

Format of the Conference

The conference will comprise invited talks and oral presentations. The proceedings of the conference will be published in the form of a book. The better papers will be candidate for the recently-started "International Journal of Web Based Communities" (IJWBC); 

ISSN: 1477 - 8394 [4 issues per year]

Types of submissions

The Conference will be composed of several types of contributions:

• Full Papers – These include mainly accomplished research results and have 8 pages at the maximum (5,000 words).

• Short Papers – These are mostly composed of work in progress reports or fresh developments and have 4 pages at maximum (2,500 words).

• Posters / Demonstrations – These have one page at the maximum (625 words) besides the poster itself (or demonstration) that will be exposed at the conference.

• Tutorials – Tutorials can be proposed by scholars or company representatives. A proposal of maximum 250 words is expected.

• Panels – Discussions on selected topics will be held. A proposal of maximum 250 words is expected.

• Invited Talks – These will be made of contributions from well-known scholars and company representatives. An abstract will be included in the conference proceedings.

• Doctoral Consortium - A Doctoral Consortium will discuss in group, individual projects and on going work of PhD students. Prospective students should send a report of their PhD projects and work so far with a maximum of 4 pages (2,500 words).

• Corporate Showcases & Exhibitions – The former enables Companies to present recent developments and applications, inform a large and qualified audience of your future directions and showcase company’s noteworthy products and services. There will be a time slot for companies to make their presentation in a room. The latter enables companies the opportunity to display its latest offerings of hardware, software, tools, services and books, through an exhibit booth. For further details please contact the publicity chair - ac@iadis.org.

All submissions, except invited talks, are subject to a blind refereeing process.

Topics of submission/Subject indications (but not limited to):

A. The history, architecture and future of virtual communities

1. From mobility to connectivity

2. Identity and augmented ideologies

3. Visionary web architectures, implanted computers

4. Network revolutions, post-colonial and post-modern societies

5. Escaping from reality, virtual reality and multi-user games

6. Towards alternative ways of presence

B. Group processes and self-organization

1. Tele-democracy, morality, netiquette 

2. Social networks, tribal- and open communities, peace education

3. Computer mediated-, hyper- and narrative communication, woven stories

4. MUDs, MOOs and avatars

5. Hosting web-based communities

6. Nationalities, ethnicities and gender effects

C. Cyborgs, teleworking, telemedicine, art games and learning communities

1. Fading hierarchies and epistemic dictatorship

2. Distributed cognition, the electronic cortex and constructivism

3. Community directories

4. Mechanic world, organic computer

5. Agents and the vectorized self

6. Beyond metaphors: imagining and representation

7. Communizing as a marketing approach

D. Expanding markets through virtual communities

1. The WWW as digital market place

2. The enterprise as a learning community

3. The learning as a road map for business

4. Universities as online communities

5. Business-to-business communication in profit- and non profit sectors

E. Virtual communities for people with special needs

1. Access to public spaces

2. Accessibility and long-term disabilities

3. Virtual communities in health care

Important Dates:

- Submission Deadline (Second Call): 31 December 2003 
- Notification to Authors: 31 January 2004 
- Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration: Until 6 February 2004 
- Late Registration: After 6 February 2004 
- Conference: Lisbon, 24 to 26 March 2004