Following on last year's International Working Conference of IFIP 9.5 Working Group on Virtuality and Society: "Massive Virtual Communities" at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, this workshop will focus on conceptualizations and applications of virtuality in everyday life, including socialization, governance, education, entrepreneurship and entertainment.

The main objective of this workshop is to encourage the continuation and enrichment of the discussion on virtuality and society, by focusing more on the technologies, arts, and practices of virtuality as they emerge in spaces and contexts of everyday life. The workshop constitutes an opportunity to bring together theoretical conceptualizations and practical applications of Images of Virtuality manifest in human interaction with information, social, professional and technological systems, art, culture, and nature.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Issues to explore, include among others the following: Where and how can we experience Images of Virtuality in our everyday life? Who do such such Images implicate social interaction, information technologies, architectural artifacts, artworks, imagination, or combinations of such elements? What is the meaning of such Images for our everyday life? How does the experience of such Images transform our everyday practices and shape our own individual of collective Image?

Current applications of virtuality make use of various technologies such as WEB2.0 & 3.0, ubiquitous computing with RFID, GIS and GPS, mobile networks, intelligent agents and context-aware systems, to construct a Cyberspace of Virtual Worlds and social networks. Trends in virtuality point towards an integration of such elements at the point where the virtual and non-virtual unite into a new digital space augmenting everyday life interactions. The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in presenting and discussing conceptualizations of virtuality and current applications of Information Systems that underly virtual spaces of interaction.

Relevant topics and themes include, but are not limited to:

* Discussing problems of design, construction, adoption, and use of Information Systems in the context of virtuality
* Exploring new (e-,or v-) research methodologies and techniques on inquiring into social action in the context of virtuality
* Identifying challenging social, ethical, and political issues of socialization in virtuality
* Discussing the role of digital representation in multi-actor remote collaboration contexts, both professional and social
* Identifying opportunities and challenges for education, governance, and entrepreneurship in virtual worlds
* Discussing emerging issues of e-policy and e-quality of life specifically implicated by the Virtual

REVIEWING PROCESS AND WORKSHOP TIMEFRAME

Full and short (in-progress) research papers are solicited for this event. Both types of contributions will be submitted to a double blind-folded peer review process. Details on review schedule are provided later in this Call.

The workshop will be a full day event and will be open to a maximum of 50-60 participants. It will comprise presentations of full research papers (15-20 mins) followed by a 10 min discussion coordinated by a discussant allocated to each paper presentation.

On April 23rd, a pre-workshop day is scheduled with two special sessions: First, a morning session with presentations of in-progress research work in a looser format compared to typical conference-like paper presentations. Second, an afternoon doctoral research meeting, offering PhD students the opportunity to present and discuss their work in an informal, ‘loose’ format (posters, case studies and demos are strongly encouraged). Both of these two sessions are subject to an adequate participation. In case of limited offers to contribute to these pre-workshop events, the two sessions will merge in one half-day session.

PROCEEDINGS

Both full and in-progress research contributions will be included in a CD-ROM published with an ISBN. Workshop contributions will also be considered for publication in a Special Issue of a related International Journal.

IMPORTANT DATES

* Paper submissions due: January 31, 2009
* Notification to authors: February 28, 2009
* Final papers submissions due: March 27, 2009
* Workshop: April 24, 2009

ORGANIZAERS

* Angeliki Poulymenakou (IFIP WG 9.5 founding member, Associate Professor in Information Systems, and leader of ISTLab/OIS research group, Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, akp[at]aueb.gr)
* Anthony Papargyris (IFIP WG 9.5 founding member, Doctoral researcher in Information Systems, and ISTLab/OIS research associate, Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, apaparg[at]aueb.gr)