January 4-7, 2012 - Maui

Papers due June 15, 2011

Additional information about the minitrack and papers presented in previous years may be found at the website of the  social and digital inclusions in networks  minitrack. General information about the conference may be found at the HICSS primary website.

Mini-Track Chairs:

David Yates, Bentley University, dyates@bentley.edu [Primary Contact]
Karine Nahon, University of Washington, karineb@uw.edu

This mini-track calls for papers that study social and digital inclusion in networks at different levels. In the forthcoming conference, we would like to emphasize four areas: (i) connections between off-line divides and on-line divides; (ii) inequalities within and among communities; (iii) information and communication technologies for development; and (iv) inequalities between users with respect to social and digital divides. Possible levels at which to examine such areas include international, national, local, sector, communal, and individual. Both empirical and theoretical papers are invited. Building on the success of this mini-track from the past nine HICSS conferences, we invite submissions to the 2012 mini-track on social networking and communities.

Contributions may explore the following topics, but, by no means are limited to those on this list:

• Conceptualization and theory of inequalities with respect to networks, digital divides, digital spectrum and e-inclusion;
• Indigenous communities and technologies;
• ICT and development;
• Social and political inclusion, including topics related to participation;
• Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, education, income, ethnic diversity, racial diversity, language diversity, religiosity;
• Social and governmental support – for example, the use of supportive initiatives, policy and applications to bridge gaps, or how society and community impact e-inclusion;
• Access (public, private, etc.), infrastructure factors;
• Use – skills, frequency and time, locus, autonomy of use;
• Affordability of ICTs and services; and
• What do users do online and for what purposes?
• Accessibility focusing on populations with special needs;
• Measurements indices;
• Comparative analysis of policy;
• Comparative cross-country or cross-region research; and
• Country or region specific case studies.

Important Deadlines

Abstracts: Authors may contact Minitrack Chairs for guidance and indication of appropriate content at anytime.

June 15, 2011: Authors submit Full Papers to the Peer Review System, following the Author Instructions found on the HICSS web site. All papers will be submitted in double column publication format and limited to 10 pages including diagrams and references that conform to HICSS standards. Papers undergo a double-blind review.

August 15, 2011: Acceptance/Rejection notices are sent to Authors via the Peer Review System.

September 15, 2011: Authors submit the Final Version of papers following submission instructions on the Peer Review System website