Web 2.0 is – as O’Reilly (2005) said – a “second generation of Internet-based services”. The common idea is to enable people to collaborate and share information online in new ways, such as in wikis, communication tools, social networking applications, and social tagging. Figure 1 confronts the two concepts and lists examples from Web 2.0 usage in academia: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=972 Web 2.0 and Social Software focus on new or existing software systems which are influenced by human communication and collaboration, or, to put it another way, Web 2.0 is heavily reliant on social interaction, and so social web-based applications generate and require a human-centred design approach.

The number of users of Web 2.0 applications in private settings (e.g., leisure) is very high. However, in organisations and institutions, Web 2.0 concepts or such combined applications are still at an early stage. The same is true for universities. There are some Web 2.0 tools in universities, in particular Wikis and Blogs, but the usage of these tools for supporting teaching, learning or research is not yet fully developed. How can Web 2.0 support community-based learning or research processes in academia?

The aim is to collect proposals for academic practice with Web 2.0, to specify research questions dealing with Web 2.0 in academia or to discuss new research methods and their challenges in this topic (e.g., e-ethnography). The special issue wants to share practical experience or research results about using Web 2.0 in teaching and research, for example, e-learning goes Web 2.0, scientific communities go Web 2.0 or research publications go Web 2.0. How can we introduce such socio-technical communities in universities? Therefore, we strongly encourage researchers and practitioners who have ideas or experience of using Web 2.0 applications in academia to submit a paper.

Deadline for paper submission: 18 July, 2008.

Please find further information e.g., author guidelines online: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=972

Best regards,
Isa Jahnke

******Contact ******

Prof. Dr. Isa Jahnke – Assistant Professor for Institutional Research and Sociotechnical Communities -

Dortmund University of Technology
Center for Research on Higher Education and Faculty Development
Room 104
Vogelpothsweg 78
44227 Dortmund

Phone: +49.(0)231.755.7843

http://www.hdz.uni-dortmund.de/index.php?id=276

Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang, dass gerade jetzt fast zeitgleich verschiedene Plattform live gehen, die sich als Social Networking Services für Wissenschaftler verstehen:

• http://www.researchgate.net/
• http://scholarz.net/
• http://www.scilink.com/

Siehe auch bei wissenswerkstatt.net.

Natürlich haben auch wir dazu ein paar Ideen … zwar etwas “kleinere Brötchen” aber … Mehr Details dazu demnächst.