This mini track CFP solicits papers and proposals for panel or paper sessions on Socio-Technical Networks. The mini-track will focus on an increasingly significant aspect of Social Informatics and Information Systems research. We expect to receive a number of interesting submissions which will extend our sessions and follow-on discussions about socio-technical networks that were so well-attended in the AIS '98 and AMCIS '99 Social Informatics mini-tracks.

Possible Topics will include a focus in the following areas:

Socio-technical networks refer to the interactions between people, organizations, institutions and technologies in rather intricate heterogeneous arrangements in which what is "social" and what is "technical" cannot be readily isolated in practice. Socio-technical network theories have been applied to diverse topics, including scientific work and engineering projects. However, they seem particularly apt for understanding the development and use of digital communication applications, such as email, the Internet, intranets, electronic journals, and other collaborative arrangements. Social Informatics researchers' revived interest in socio-technical theorizing has been accompanied by critical examination of existing networking theories. Motivated, in part, by empirical study, they have begun to put forward new and additional interpretations of socio-technical interaction.

Social Informatics is the interdisciplinary study of the design and uses of information and communication technologies that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. SI researchers examine various social aspects of computerization -- including the roles of information technology in social and organizational change, the uses of information technologies in social contexts, and the ways that the social organization of information technologies is influenced by social forces and social practices. A growing body of SI research critically examines socio-technical networking thought. For additional information about Social Informatics, see the Social Informatics Home Page at: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/SI

With this mini-track CFP, we seek to attract papers and panel discussion proposals that critically examine variations in networking theories. We particularly welcome those that put forward some addition or new interpretation about socio-technical interaction, or empirical studies that examine the social aspects of Internetworking. Examples of this work would include studies of the Internet (Montiero & Hanseth), intranets (Lamb), e-journals (Kling & Covi), digital libraries and digital documents collections (Kling, McKim, Fortuna and King), and professional networks (Sawyer, Crowston, Wigand.)

Specific topics of interest for this mini-track include, but are not limited to the following:

• interpretations of the use of information and communication technologies in groups, organizations, and larger scale social settings
• analysis of social interactions among people developing and/or using information technologies in vivo
• empirical examination of changes in professional networks
• comparison of variant interpretations of socio-technical networking theories (e.g. Latour’s Actor Network Theory)
• studies of the social shaping of networking technologies through systems development and use
• the explanatory value of socio-technical theoretical perspectives on production, distribution and consumption of electronic texts
• the applicability of socio-technical models (e.g. Bijker’s Social Construction Of Technology model) to studies of the roles of information technologies in changing or reinforcing patterns of work-life, community life, and the character of institutions

Roberta Lamb (*)
Decision Sciences College of Business Administration
University of Hawaii, Manoa
2404 Maile Way, E601-C
Honolulu, HI 96822-2223
Tel: 1(808)956-7368
Fax: 1(808)956-9889
http://lamb.cba.hawaii.edu
Email: lamb@cba.hawaii.edu