Technology has become a ubiquitous part of daily life ever since the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). With the advent of social software heralded from the web2.0 era organizations have been using technologies such as blogs, wiki, collaboration websites and social networking tools to fulfil the personal and organizational, societal and humanitarian goals. This trend is creating a new set of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises supported by ICT. The growth of open source technology and public domain material such as MIT open courseware and creative commons digital resources is allowing people from a variety of backgrounds and demographics to access educational resources, knowledge and expertise that would not be available to them without ICT.
The aim of this mini-track will be to offer a global perspective of how ICTs are being diffused, used and adopted within to support organizations, governments, NGOs, households and communities leading to social inclusion. By undertaking this research academics, industry and government agencies will learn what groups in society are being affected by social inclusion and what measures are being undertaken to have households and the various social communities adopt and use the ICTs. Further benefits include, a novel focus to the social inclusion area that will be presented offering innovative ideas of how people are becoming active participants in society by adopting ICTs
Topics of interest to this track include:
� How is the adoption and usage of broadband networks, mobile phones and other new communication technologies leading to social inclusion
� The impact of trends such as web2.0, open mobile internet, social networking on digital inclusion
� The impacts of social /digital inclusion upon various social communities (eg. Residential neighbourhoods, genders, age groups)
� Evaluation of the technological and non-technological aspects of the digital/social inclusion of ICTs
� Evaluating the tangible and intangible benefits of social/digital inclusion occurring due to ICTs
� The diffusion, adoption and usage of ICTs causing social/digital inclusion in developing countries
� Evaluation and discussion papers investigating whether there are any or no differences between social and/or digital inclusion.
� The diffusion, adoption and usage of ICTs causing social/digital inclusion within various social communities
� Stakeholder theory and the social/digital inclusion issue occurring due to ICTs
� How are e- government initiatives leading to social/digital inclusion due to ICTs
� Human Computer Interaction issues leading to social/digital inclusion issues but in the context of ICTs.
� Digital/Social Inclusion in an Organisational Context
Track chair: Dr. Jyoti Choudrie, Reader of information Systems, Business School, University of Hertfordshire, DeHavilland Campus, Hatfield, AL10 9AB.UK.
e-mail:j.choudrie@herts.ac.uk;Jyoti.choudrie@btopenworld.com
Co-Chair: Professor Phillip Olla, Management Information Systems Dept, School of Business, Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan, USA. 48150 e-mail: polla@madonna.edu
Co-Chair: Ms. Shauneen Furlong, School of Computing and Mathematical Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK e-mail: SFurlong@territorialcommunications.com
Important Dates
January 2, 2009: Manuscript Central will start accepting paper submissions
February 20, 2009 (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): Deadline for paper
submissions
April 2, 2009: Authors will be notified of acceptances on or about this
date
April 20, 2009 (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): For accepted papers,
camera ready copy due
Further information about the conference and minitrack proposals is
available in AMCIS2009 Web site at: http://www.amcis2009.org