Internet Research 9.0: Rethinking Community, Rethinking Place - International and Interdisciplinary Conference Association of Internet Researchers (A.o.I.R) :: Copenhagen, Denmark :: Workshops / Doctoral Colloquium: October 15, 2008 :: A.o.I. R conference: October 16–18, 2008 :: Deadline: February 8, 2008.

In the past few years, new forms of net-based communities are emerging, distributed on various websites and services, and making use of several media platforms and genres to stay connected. Now, as mobile and location-based technologies are reintroducing “place” as an important aspect in the formation of communal and social activities, it is time to consider and rethink the concept of online or virtual communities. Not forgetting the lessons we have learned from studying the early virtual communities, how do we describe, analyse, theorise and design the communities and social formations of the early 21st century? How do we address the blurring of boundaries between places and communities on- and offline.

We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any discipline, methodology, and community, and from conjunctions of multiple disciplines, methodologies and academic communities that address the conference themes.

Sessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference themes, and we welcome innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on those themes. We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or aesthetic aspects of the Internet beyond the conference themes. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members.

Submissions: We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. We welcome proposals for traditional academic conference papers, but we also encourage proposals for creative or aesthetic presentations that are distinct from a traditional written ‘paper.’ We also welcome proposals for ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS that will focus on discussion and interaction among conference delegates, as well as organized PANEL PROPOSALS that present a coherent group of papers on a single theme.

Submission requirements: All papers and presentations in this session will be reviewed in the normal manner. Further information will be available via the conference submission website, accessible from January 2008 through the website.

Format:

- Papers (individual or multi-author): submit abstract of 600-800 words
- Creative or aesthetic presentations: submit abstract of 500-750 words
- Papel proposal: submit a 600-800 word description of the panel theme, plus 250-500 word abstract for each paper or presentation
- Round-table proposal: submit a statement indicating the nature of the roundtable discussion and interaction

Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and overseen by the Program Chair. Each individual is invited to submit a proposal for 1 paper or 1 presentation. A person may also propose a panel session, which may include a second paper that they are presenting. An individual may also submit a roundtable proposal. You may be listed as co-author on additional papers as long as you are not presenting them.

Publication of papers - Several publishing opportunities are expected to be available through journals, including a special issue of Information, Communication & Society, based on peer-review of full papers. The final version of the website, available in early 2008, will contain more details.

Graduate students - Graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Any student paper is eligible for consideration for the AoIR graduate student award. Students wishing to be a candidate for the Student Award must send a final paper by June 30, 2008.

Ph.D. students will also want to consider participating in the Doctoral Colloquium. Following the very successful examples of previous Doctoral Colloquia, we will again aim to offer an all-day Doctoral Colloquium on October 15th 2008 (Wednesday) for Ph.D. students who wish to present their current work for critical evaluation by their peers and senior scholars. Submission and registration details will be available on the conference website as soon as possible.

Deadlines:

Submission site available: January 10th, 2008
Paper Proposal submission deadline: February 8th, 2008
Presenter notification: March 31, 2008
Workshop submission: March 31, 2008
Submission for student award competition: June 30, 2008
Submission for conference archive: July 31, 2008
Submission of full papers - Full papers and a conference registration by at least one of the paper authors must be in place by July 31, 2008 for papers to be presented.

Formatting: Please submit papers in PDF with simple formatting, using sans serif font and in-text referencing. If you can’t submit in PDF, use DOC or RTF format. Further details regarding submission of full papers will be sent to the authors upon acceptance