Journal of Database Management (JDM)

Special Issue on Virtual Worlds and 3-D Web

Deadline: 19 January 2009

Special Issue Editors

• Blake Ives, University of Houston
• Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University
• Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
• Shu Schiller, Wright State University
• Keng Siau, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVE), Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), and other 3-D virtual environments have begun to attract the attention of scholars, practitioners, and the public at large.  Although many of these environments originated as games or social networks, numerous scholars have recognized that virtual worlds and 3-D web have the potential to revolutionize how individuals work, play, and use the web, how groups and teams interact, collaborate, socialize, and conduct their work, how businesses market and sell products, goods, and services, and how societal and governmental boundaries and institutions are stretched and redefined.  The popularity of games such as World of Warcraft, social networks such as Second Life, and children’s games such as Webkinz has demonstrated that these environments have appeal, and experience thus far has shown that these environments present both opportunities and challenges for individuals, businesses, governments, and societies.

This special issue has the goal of fostering research to examine this important phenomenon by offering scholars the opportunity to publish and disseminate empirical, theoretical, or conceptual papers addressing the importance and impact of virtual worlds and 3-D web. We are open to the use of a variety of research methodologies to understand phenomena
relating to Virtual Worlds and the 3-D web.

Topics relevant to this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Studies and models of individual perceptions? acceptance, and use of virtual worlds and the 3-D web
• Studies and models of group, team, and social interaction in virtual environments
• Studies and models of organizational applications for virtual worlds and the 3-D web
• Studies and models of inter-organizational uses of virtual worlds
• The application of business models, strategic frameworks, and/or competitive models to understand economic and business development in virtual worlds
• Studies and models examining the adoption, development, and evolution of virtual worlds and the 3-D web
• Examinations of the educational, business, legal, economic, societal, and jurisdictional impact of virtual worlds

Important Dates:

• Submission Deadline: 19 January 2009
• Initial screening by Guest Editors: 31 January 2009
• First round of review: 6 April 2009
• Second round of review: 6 July 2009
• Final Decision: 10 August 2009

Submission Procedure:
All manuscripts will be subject to high standards of peer review at JDM. Manuscripts should follow the JDM guidelines for submission. Details regarding the submission format are available at http://www.igi-pub.com/jdm

Please email your submission as an attachment to Dr. Brian Mennecke at mennecke@iastate.edu

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is a online, open access academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world. The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is a transdisciplinary journal that enagages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds research.

For more information please visit: http://jvwr.org

Deadline: 1st of December 

Millions of users from around the globe participate in massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG), such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, 3D worlds that are often considered the next generation Web. With their user base growing at an exponential rate we are already experiencing the development of a phenomenon that may be as significant as the Web itself. The rapid development of MMORPGs and metaverses is likely to bring about significant business as well as social, legal, policy, methodological and technological opportunities and challenges. This special issue aims to explore these and contribute to this rapidly expanding field by focusing on issues relevant to electronic business and management.

For more information please click here.

IFIP WG 9.5 International Working Conference on Virtuality and Society: Massive Virtual Communities

Scope & Theme
Prominently within the gaming community, but also within other communities on the internet, very huge virtual communities begin to evolve. In games, an average number of people that is comparable to a smaller city is online at the same time, thus forming a proper society. People share their pictures and videos, they meet and date in virtual communities. In Second Life, even big companies start virtual branches to enhance customer relations. It is likely that this phenomenon will become even more significant in the near future for gaming, for business and private purposes, maybe even for administrative and political functions.

It is already obvious that those massive virtual communities will have a substantial impact on society, economics, art, and -last but not least -technology. The workshop will bring together experts of that field to collect insights on a emerging major subject.

July 1st and 2nd, 2008, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Germany

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The 27th annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference will be held May 1-2, 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (more…)