distribute as appropriate: Information Systems Journal (ISJ) Virtual Worlds as Information Systems A Special Issue of ISJ on Virtual World Technology and Information Systems Special Issue Guest Editors: Ross Brown, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Andrew Hardin, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA David Kreps, University of Salford, UK Jan Recker, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Virtual worlds have garnered unprecedented profile in both the media and academic research. Many IS Managers in their thirties have gained experience with 3D environments via gaming, and the appearance of game ready commodity hardware means that virtual worlds are now feasible as an Enterprise-wide Information System rollout. 3D virtual world interfaces are now increasingly used across a company as complementary information spaces, to web-based and other system services. This strong momentum in IS practice, however, has not yet been matched by an intense academic focus. In particular, what is lacking is an in depth analysis of these worlds as potential business information systems interfaces, and their relevant design and use consequences. The aim of this special issue is to provide a forum to present and discuss the emerging role of virtual world technology in the information systems community. The special issue explicitly advocates multi-disciplinary approaches that expand and integrate the current isolated research efforts in this exciting new area of IS research. The special issue specifically aims at reporting on and discussing empirical and theoretical research in the use of Virtual World technology in Information Systems. In particular, we hope to provide a picture of the present state of international research with regards to how virtual worlds can shape the design, analysis, use, or management of information systems in organizations. We encourage submissions that report on the use of research methods including experiments, surveys, case studies, focus groups and/or other empirical methods for the discovery of insights in the deployment, uptake, use, success or failure of Virtual World technologies in enterprises. Research contributed may range through various aspects of virtual world information systems, from development and integration, to impact studies on users. We especially would like to encourage submissions on atypical usage of such worlds for Information System domains, in order that new and novel research may be brought to the attention of the international IS research community. In addition, we welcome papers that present, introduce or discuss novel approaches to emerging virtual world research, as this new domain will inspire different investigative approaches. Contributed papers may deal with, but are not limited to: - Social networking and communication in virtual worlds - Virtual teams, collective cognition, and group performance, in virtual worlds - Entrepreneurship in virtual worlds - Virtual World technology and Interactive Systems Design - System demonstrations and simulations - In-world Information System modeling - Human Computer Interaction - Interfacing and integration of virtual world technology with other Information Systems - Representations of Information Systems as virtual services - Virtual world technology in IS education and training - Adoption of Virtual World technologies and systems in corporate practice - Diffusion of Virtual World technologies in social networking systems - Virtual World technologies and co-creation of IT value Submission Guidelines Manuscripts should not normally exceed 7000 words and should be submitted online athttp://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isj. Authors will have to select Special Issue Submission as the manuscript type. Author guidelines are available at ‘author guidelines’ at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/isj/. All submissions will be peer-reviewed following the double-blind review process of ISJ. The objective is to apply very high standards of acceptance while ensuring fair, timely and efficient review cycles. Timeline Full initial paper submission deadline: 30 August 2010 First Review deadline: 30 November 2010 Revised paper submission deadline: (if required) 30 January 2011 Second Review deadline: 15 March 2011 Camera-ready paper submission deadline: 30 April 2011 Publication of special issue: mid-2011 Guest Editors: Dr Ross Brown Information Systems Discipline Queensland University of Technology Office 508 / 126 Margaret Street Tel: +61 7 3138 9481 Fax: +61 7 3138 9390 Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia Email r.brown@qut.edu.au Webpage http://www.bpmve.org Dr Andrew Hardin College of Business Department of Management Information Systems 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 456034 Tel: (702) 895-0447 Fax: (702) 895-0802 Las Vegas, NV 89154-6034 Email andrew.hardin@unlv.edu <mailto:andrew.hardin@unlv.edu> Webpage http://faculty.unlv.edu/ahardin/ <http://faculty.unlv.edu/ahardin/> Dr David Kreps Salford Business School University of Salford 43 The Crescent Tel: +44 (0) 161 295 5884 Fax: +44 (0) 161 295 5999 Manchester, M5 4WT, United Kingdom Email D.G.Kreps@salford.ac.uk Webpage http://www.business.salford.ac.uk/staff/davidkreps Dr Jan Recker Information Systems Discipline Queensland University of Technology Office 510 / 126 Margaret Street Tel: +61 7 3138 9479 Fax: +61 7 3138 9390 Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia Email j.recker@qut.edu.au <mailto:j.recker@qut.edu.au> Webpage http://sky.scitech.qut.edu.au/~recker/ Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. --Byron