-- CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline for submissions (new date): 31 March 2008 --

IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE WEB BASED COMMUNITIES 2008
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24 to 26 July 2008
(http://www.webcommunities-conf.org/)
part of the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems
(MCCSIS 2008)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 22 to 27 July 2008
(http://www.mccsis.org)

* Keynote Speakers
Jalal Kawash, University of Calgary, Canada
Professor Jan van Dijk, University of Twente, Dep. of Media, Communication and Organization, The Netherlands

* 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.

* Format of the Conference
The conference will comprise of invited talks and oral presentations. The
proceedings of the conference will be published in the form of a book and CD-ROM
with ISBN, and will be available also in the IADIS Digital Library (accessible
on-line). The best paper authors will be invited to publish extended versions of
their papers in the "International Journal of Web Based Communities" (IJWBC); ISSN: 1477 - 8394 [4 issues per year].

* Types of submissions
Full and Short Papers, Reflection Papers, Posters/Demonstrations, Tutorials, Panels
and Doctoral Consortium. All submissions are subject to a blind refereeing process.

* Topics related to Web Based Communities are of interest. These include, but are not limited
to the following areas and topics:

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

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

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

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

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 (new date): 31 March 2008
- Notification to Authors: 18 April 2008
- Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration: Until 9 May 2008
- Late Registration: After 9 May 2008
- Conference: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24 to 26 July 2008

* Conference Location
The conference will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

* Secretariat
IADIS Secretariat - IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Web Based Communities 2008
Rua Sao Sebastiao da Pedreira, 100, 3
1050-209 Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: secretariat@webcommunities-conf.org
Web site: http://www.webcommunities-conf.org/

* Program Committee
Web Based Communities 2008 Conference Program Chair:
Piet Kommers, University of Twente, The Netherlands

General MCCSIS Conference Co-Chairs:
Piet Kommers, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Pedro Isaías, Universidade Aberta (Portuguese Open University), Portugal
Nian-Shing Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

Committee Members: *
* for committee list please refer to http://www.webcommunities-conf.org/committees.asp