HICSS-39
COLLABORATION SYSTEMS
AND TECHNOLOGY TRACK

Co-chair:  Robert Briggs
Group Systems.Com
Tucson, Arizona  85719
Phone:  (520) 322-7179 
Fax: (520) 325-8319
bob@GroupSystems.com

Co-chair:  Jay F. Nunamaker, Jr.
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona  85721
Phone:  (520) 621-4475
Fax:  (520) 621-3918
nunamaker@cmi.arizona.edu

Minitracks

Advances in Teaching and Learning Technologies (Eric Santanen and David Spencer)
Collaboration Support for Integrated Modeling and Simulation (Marielle den Hengst, Vlatka Hlupic, Jaco Appelman, and Alan Serrano)
Cross-cultural Issues In Collaboration Technology (Donsong Zhang, Doug Vogel and Paul Benjamin Lowry)
Designing Collaboration Processes and Systems (Gert-Jan de Vreede, Robert Briggs and Gwendolyn Kolfschoten)
Collaboration Issues in Cross-Organizational and Cross-Border IS/IT (Narcyz Roztocki, Nicholas Romano, James Pick)
Measuring the Effectiveness of Collaboration Technologies (Don Amoroso and Bruce Reinig)
Mobile Technologies and Collaboration (Clay Looney and Joseph Valacich)
Negotiation Support Systems (Tung Bui and Melvin Shakun)
Virtual Work, Teams, and Organizations (Mary Beth Watson-Manheim, Manju Ahuja, France Belanger and Robert Davison)
  

Advances in Teaching and Learning Technologies
This minitrack encourages research contributions that deal with learning theories, cognition, tools and their development, enabling platforms, communication media, distance learning, supporting infrastructures, user experiences, research methods, social impacts, or measurable outcomes as they relate to improving teaching and learning.  Appropriate usage environments range from same-time, same-place to anytime, anywhere that increase interactions among the learners and the teacher/facilitator. 

Eric Santanen (Primary contact )
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA 17837
Phone:  570-577-3652
Fax: 570-577-1338
  esantane@bucknell.edu
  http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/esantane/ 

David H. Spencer
NJIT / Rutgers University
Newark, NJ  07102
Phone:  908-213-8908
  dspencer@pegasus.rutgers.edu
  http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~dspencer 

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Collaboration Support for Integrated Modeling and Simulation
This minitrack aims to discuss facilitation techniques, process designs, and tool support for the collaborative design and integration of models at different organizational levels (strategy, operational, functional). At a more scientific level we invite papers that focus on the collaborative development of models and/or the integration of different modeling views or approaches (business modeling, process modeling, IS modeling, infrastructure modeling, simulation, VSM, SSM) that contribute to enhanced systems design.  

Some questions that address topics of interest include:

• What is it that individuals and groups do when they try to jointly build models?
• What are the steps does a group have to go through when they built a model?
• What elements of facilitation are important in integrated modeling with groups?
• What would be the value or benefits of integration and integrated modeling?
• How can we know what good collaborators are and what does this mean for the facilitation of integrated modeling exercises and selection of stakeholders?
• How can we ascertain that implementation will happen once a group of stakeholders agree to a model and its outcomes?
• How does a group converge to one best model or a port-folio of models?
• How can we support the integration of different models and modeling approaches?

Mariëlle den Hengst (Primary contact )
Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
P.O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-15-2788542
Fax: +31-15-2783429
   m.den.hengst@tbm.tudelft.nl

Vlatka Hlupic
Westminster Business School
Westminster University
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS
Phone: 0207 911 5000 Ext 3112
Fax: 0207 911 5839
   hlupicv@wmin.ac.uk

Jaco Appelman
Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
P.O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-15-2783709
Fax: +31-15-2783429
   j.appelman@tbm.tudelft.nl 

Alan Serrano
Brunel University
Department of Information Systems and Computing
Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH
United Kingdom
Phone: +44-1895-273622
Fax: +44-1895-251686
   Alan.Edwin.Serrano-Rico@brunel.ac.uk

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Cross-cultural Issues In Collaboration Technology
This minitrack will mainly focus on the impact of cultural heterogeneity on the design, development, use, and adoption of GSS.  We will attempt to share knowledge of cultural effects on team collaboration and GSS from theoretical, technical, empirical, and practitioner perspectives, and promote further research in this important area.  

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

• Development of new cultural theories for GSS and collaboration technology
• Cross-cultural effect on group decision making
• Cultural issues in virtual teams and online communities
• The adoption of GSS and collaboration technology in non-Western cultures
• Cross-cultural issues associated with the management of distributed groups and/or projects
• Cultural effects on e-Collaboration
• Cultural competency integrated in computer-assisted collaborative learning
• International collaboration
• The effect of off-shoring on distributed group work
• Participating in off-shoring projects with GSS and collaborative technology
• Issues in homogeneous, heterogeneous, and diverse teams

Dongsong Zhang (Primary contact)
Department of Information Systems
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21228
Phone: 410-455-2851
Fax: 410-455-1073
 zhangd@umbc.edu  

Doug Vogel
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Information Systems
83 Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon
Hong Kong
   isdoug@is.cityu.edu.hk

Paul Benjamin Lowry
Kevin Rollins Center for e-Business
Marriott School
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
   Paul.Lowry@BYU.edu

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Designing Collaboration Processes and Systems

This minitrack focuses on:

1. Methods & techniques to improve collaboration between (a)synchronous co-located and distributed people.

2. Design, application, and evaluation of collaboration technologies.

3. Codification and reuse of collaboration practices

4.  Creation of self-sustaining communities of practice for collaborative work practices

5.  The theoretical foundations and practical approaches to model and design collaborative work arrangements. 

Specifically we are seeking papers that will show research in the following areas:

Collaboration techniques and processes.

• Techniques for patterns of collaboration: generation (brainstorming), reduction, clarification, organization, evaluation, and consensus building

• ThinkLets – development, field experiences, laboratory evaluation of codified facilitation interventions for predictable pattern of collaboration
• Designs for recurring processes, e.g. collaborative requirements negotiation, collaborative risk management

Facilitation of group work

• Facilitation intervention effects
• Embedding facilitation support in groupware technology
• Facilitation of distributed groups
• Facilitation training approaches

Collaboration Technology

• Robustness, flexibility, and/or longevity of collaboration systems
• Collaboration technology design principles
• Examples of breakthrough collaboration technologies

 Collaboration Technology Transition

• Theories for technology acceptance, use, and diffusion
• Change management in collaborative contexts

 Design approaches for collaboration processes & technologies

• Theories and guidelines for designing collaboration processes
• Modeling techniques for collaboration processes
• Theories on constructs relevant to collaboration, e.g. productivity, creativity, or satisfaction

Gert-Jan de Vreede (Primary contact)
University of Nebraska at Omaha & Delft University of Technology
Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Analysis

College of Information Science and Technology
The Peter Kiewit Institute
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE 68182-0392
Phone:  402-554-2026 
Fax:  402-554-3400
gdevreede@mail.unomaha.edu

Robert O. Briggs
University of Arizona & Delft University of Technology
Center for the Management of Information
Eller College of Management 
The University of Arizona
1130 E. Helen Street
 P.O. Box 210108
Tucson, AZ 85721-0108 
bbriggs@bpa.arizona.edu 

Gwendolyn Kolfschoten
Delft University of Technology
PO Box 5015
2600 GA Delft, THE NETHERLANDS
g.l.kolfschoten@tbm.tudelft.nl

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Collaboration Issues in Cross-Organizational and Cross-Border IS/IT
Investments in IS/IT represent a substantial portion of corporate capital spending. With the progressing globalization, many of these investments are conducted across nations and throughout regions. Cross-system integration and collaboration technologies play crucial roles and often decide about investment success or failure. Academic literature has extensively focused on different aspects of IS/IT productivity, but not many researchers specifically have examined the possible link between the international collaboration process and the payoffs from investments in IS/IT. Therefore, our intention is to specifically address this issue.

Possible contributions regarding the collaboration in global economy may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Processes of international/global IS/IT collaboration
• Effects of collaboration on IS/IT productivity
• Success factors of collaboration technologies
• Inter-organizational collaboration and IS/IT productivity
• Conceptual frameworks of IS/IT collaboration in the global economy
• IS/IT investment evaluation
• IS/IT productivity studies at the country, industry, firm, or project level
• Comparative cross-country research
• Country-specific case studies
• IS/IT off-shoring /outsourcing into emerging economies
• International IS/IT project management
• Multinational teams and IS/IT productivity
• IS/IT productivity instrument development and validation

For more information about the minitrack and special issue see:  http://www.osu-tulsa.okstate.edu/nromano/HICSS2006-CFP-RomanoPickRoztocki-with-JITTA-Special-Issue.htm

"IMPORTANT NOTE: Best papers will be invited to submit revised versions for review and possible fast-track publication in a special issue of the Journal Information Technology Thoery & Application (JITTA) - http://www.jitta.org/) to be co-guest edited by the minitrack co-chair."

Narcyz Roztocki (Primary contact)
School of Business
State University of New York at New Paltz
75 South Manheim Boulevard
New Paltz, NY 12561
Phone: 845-257-2930
Fax:  845-257-2947
   roztockn@newpaltz.edu

Nicholas C. Romano, Jr.
Spears School of Business
Oklahoma State University
344 North Hall
700 N. Greenwood Ave.
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74106-0700
Phone: 918-594-8506
Fax:  918-594-8281
   nicholas.romano@okstate.edu

James B. Pick
School of Business
University of Redlands
1200 East Colton Avenue
Redlands, CA 92373-0999
Phone:  909-748-6261
Fax:  909-335-5125
  james_pick@redlands.edu

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Measuring the Effectiveness of Collaboration Technologies
Collaboration technologies are seeing widespread adoption and implementation at all levels of organizations, from temporary or long-term project teams to large-scale inter-organizational systems such as extranets and wide area networks.  However, it is often difficult to quantify the effectiveness of such systems.   

We invite papers taking a variety of approaches to answering such research questions as presented above.  Such approaches might be described as experiments or quasi-experiments, case studies, surveys, action research, psychometrics, and ethnography.  For example, a researcher may wish to conduct an experiment to test the effectiveness of various interface designs or, alternatively, a researcher may conduct a case study or research initiative that examines the use of collaborative technology in an actual organization.  We also welcome studies that are grounded in theory and which utilize second-generation multivariate statistical techniques. 

Areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• Identifying important dependent variables to examine when measuring the effectiveness of collaboration technologies
• Validating instruments to measure such constructs
• Identifying and measuring experimental manipulations that impact the effectiveness of collaboration technologies
• Studying the effectiveness of collaboration technology in the field. 

Donald L. Amoroso (Primary contact)
Appalachian State University
Computer Information Systems
Boone, North Carolina, US 28607
Phone:  828-262-2411
amoroso@appstate.edu

Bruce A. Reinig
Department of Information and Decision Systems
College of Business Administration
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA  92182, USA
Phone: 619-594-3032
breinig@mail.sdsu.edu

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Mobile Technologies and Collaboration
The MTCminitrack will focus on the rapidly changing and evolving use of mobile computing technologies for human-to-human and human-to-machine interaction, mobile commerce (m-commerce) and collaboration.  A broad range of topics and research approaches will be examined within the MTC minitrack. We are particularly interested in those topics that are likely to promote discussion within the sessions.

These topics include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual/theory development papers that are well focused, logically argued, and have the potential to define the scope of MTC research and practice;
• Experimental papers that are theoretically motivated, yet whose findings have the potential to interest practitioners;
• Field studies that develop new insight that has the potential to change current practice or lead to new theories;
• System design and development papers that move beyond the description of systems and their use by building new concepts for the design and use of future systems in a variety of settings;
• User adoption, acceptance, and diffusion for specific technologies, environments and / or applications; and
• User experiences that describe the deployment and management of MTC environments in education (e.g., wireless campus), organizations (e.g., mobile wireless workforce), and society (e.g., wireless shopping malls).

Clay Looney (Primary contact )
McIntire School of Commerce
University of Virginia
P. O. Box 400173
Charlottesville VA 22904-4173
Phone:  434-243-8672
Fax:  434-924-7074
  cal4n@virginia.edu

Joe Valacich
College of Business and Economics
Washington State University
PO Box 644729
Pullman WA 99164-4729
Phone: 509-335-1112
Fax: 509-335-4275
jsv@wsu.edu

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Negotiation Support Systems
This minitrack explores research issues related to the design, implementation, use,  and evaluation of negotiation support systems in business.

Topics of special interest include, but are not limited to:

• Negotiation support in electronic markets (auctions)
• Negotiation support system and software agents
• Massively distributed negotiation
• Human and artificial negotiation agents environmental negotiation
• Systems to support intercultural negotiation and emotions

Tung Bui (Primary contact)
APEC Study Center
College of Business
2404 Maile Way, E303
Honolulu HI 96822 USA
Tel.  808-956-5565
Fax.  808-956-9889
  tung.bui@hawaii.edu
  http://ec.cba.hawaii.edu

Melvin F. Shakun
Stern School of Business
New York University
  mshakun@stern.nyu.edu

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Virtual Work, Teams, and Organizations
This minitrack focuses on challenges presented by geographical, temporal, and cultural distribution among individuals working in teams, organizations, and communities. We seek papers addressing these issues from an organizational, managerial, team, community, or individual perspective. We are also interested in enabling technologies and their use in this environment. In addition, we are interested in papers addressing the methodological difficulties of doing research in this area.

We want to bring together a wide range of topics in this area, including but not limited to the following:

• Research on the effects of virtual environments on individuals, teams, organizations, and communities
• Development of organizational relationships (e.g., employee-employer and coworker relationships)
• Effective leadership models in virtual work environments and communities
• Career development and mentoring in virtual work environments
• Use of information and communication technologies in virtual environments
• Role of national, organizational and/or professional culture and norms in virtual work environments
• Social environment, sense of community, and identity in virtual environments
• Characteristics, effectiveness, leadership of virtual teams
• Effect of telecommuting on individuals, managers, and organizations
• Frameworks, theories and constructs related to virtual environments
• Use of incentives and reward systems
• Studies of communication in virtual environments
• Managing distributed knowledge

(Related topics not listed are especially welcome.) 

Mary Beth Watson-Manheim (Primary contact)
Information & Decisions Department
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 S. Morgan Street, UH 2426
Chicago, IL   60607
Phone:  312-996-2370
Fax:  312-413-0385
  mbwm@uic.edu

Manju Ahuja
Kelley School of Business
Information Systems Department
Indiana University
1309 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone:  812-855-2655
Fax:  812-855-4985
  mahuja@indiana.edu

France Belanger
Pamplin College of Business
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
3007 Pamplin Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0101
Phone:  540-231-6720
Fax: 540-231-2511 
 belanger@vt.edu

Robert Davison
Information Systems Department
City University of Hong Kong
Tat Chee Avenue
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone : 852-2788-7534
Fax:  852-2788-8694
  isrobert@cityu.edu.hk

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Send questions or comments to: hicss@hawaii.edu