Electronic Commerce CFP for Special Issue in _The Information Society_

[rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)]

--- begin forwarded text

<many sniped mail headers later...>

Dear Colleague:

You may be interested in submitting a manuscript for review for the
following special issue on Electronic Commerce.

Rolf Wigand

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                        CALL FOR PAPERS

          For a Special Issue on 'Electronic Commerce'

       The Information Society (An International Journal)
       --------------------------------------------------

_The Information Society (TIS)_ journal is inviting authors to submit
papers for review on the topic of 'Electronic Commmerce' for a special
issue to be edited by Rolf Wigand, Syracuse University. The paper
submission deadline is January 15, 1996.

Electronic transactions are now common place in the business and
government environment in the industrialized world.  In the United States
alone, over 50 % of all companies are exchanging data electronically while
engaging in accounting, controlling, production management, funds
transfer, record-keeping, purchasing and selling activities.  Consumers
too use various information technologies daily to buy products via their
credit cards, to transfer funds, to buy stocks, and to browse through
electronic catalogues. We are entering a new era in electronic commerce
characterized by firms and customers conducting business on the Internet
spontaneously, on a 24-hour basis and worldwide.  With the phenomenal
growth of the Internet a unique and new electronic market place is
evolving. Various estimates (ranging from 10 million to over one billion)
have been advanced in terms of the total number of people who will be
connected to computer networks as they expand to include telephones,
televisions, computers, as well as a range of intelligent devices such as
the 'market choice box'.

Electronic commerce is expected to grow in various forms such as
electronic data interchange and various multimedia services such as
interactive television and home shopping, multimedia kiosks and
cable-based video-on-demand services. Off-shoots may be desk-top
video-conferencing and computer networks affecting the way we communicate
and the overall need to travel.

When overlaying and projecting many of these and future electronic
commerce activities on the envisioned National and Global Information
Highway, it is indeed astonishing to fathom the future potential for
commerce and economic performance.  At the same time, however, we can
recognize potential social, organizational and societal limits and
dysfunctions. How is the availability and use of the Internet changing
commerce as we know it? Given many uncertainties, how can we reliably and
empirically estimate the number of potential electronic commerce users on
the Internet (in an effort to separate grounded analysis and projections from
hype)? Will electronic markets provide new areas of opportunity for
retailers, producers and consumers?  How will future traffic on the
Information Highway affect each segment of an industry value chain?  How
will such forseeable developments impact the consumer and society in
general? If electronic markets lower transaction costs for producers and
retailers, will consumers gain by accessing manufacturers directly via
market makers? What do electronic commerce developments mean from a
marketing perspective and for customer relationships? What are the impacts
of the emergence of widespread information technology use and worldwide
electronic networks (e. g., the World Wide Web) on electronic commerce and
markets in general?  Can we envision electronic forms for payment such as
digital cash on the Internet?  What may be the potential impact of
electronic cash on the economy, banks, and nations' equivalent of federal
reserve systems? What is the role of government in electronic commerce
developments and what policy directions ought to be addressed?

This special issue intends to embrace a wide and rich array of electronic
commerce issues.  We would like to focus on "commerce," not just
transactions, implying that commerce denotes a larger process including
aspects of information seeking and distribution, negotiation, trust,
risk-taking, customer relationships, buyers finding sellers, sellers finding
customers, after-sale service and support. Although we are interested in
transaction processing concerns within and between firms and within
markets, we would also like to address important and essential social and
behavioral issues in this setting, without which no effective commerce is
possible. Moreover, we are interested in work and organizational issues
embedded in electronic commerce and what they mean and imply inside the
organization.  In addition, we would like to explore how these electronic
commerce issues relate to the marketing perspective, such as in
relationships between firms and customers/clients.

_The Information Society_ journal, published since 1981, is a key forum
for thoughtful analysis of the impacts, policies, system concepts,
methodologies and cultural change related to trends that may be described
as the "information technology revolution."  It is a refereed journal
publishing scholarly articles, position papers, short communications and
book reviews.

_The Information Society_ is a multidisciplinary journal whose audiences
include policy- and decision-makers and scientists in government,
industry and education; managers concerned with the effects of the
information revolution on individuals, organizations and society; and
shcolars with an interest in the relationship between information
technologies, social/organizational life, and social change. A general
description of the journal can be found at the following URL:
        http://www.ics.uci.edu/~kling/tis.html

For this special issue on "Electronic Commerce" and, in general, _The
Information Society_ is interested in provocative analytical articles or
empirical studies that are written to advance our understanding of the
relationships among information technology, related social practices and
policies, and social change. _TIS_ articles are typically 4,000 to 6,000
words long, and are written vividly with coherent analyses and minimal
jargon.

For manuscript format details, look at the following URL:
        http://www.ics.uci.edu/~kling/tisinst.html
You may also contact the editor or see the inside back cover of an issue
of the journal. Authors of manuscripts for this issue on "Electronic
Commerce" should send
four copies to the guest editor no later than January 15, 1996:

        Rolf T. Wigand, Ph. D.
        Guest Editor, _TIS_
        School of Information Studies
        4-293 Center for Science and Technology
        Syracuse University
        Syracuse, NY 13244-4100, USA
        Telephone: +315-443-5608;  Fax: +315-443-5806
        E-Mail: rwigand@syr.edu

--- end forwarded text


-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com)
e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA (617) 958-3971
"Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell
The e$ Home Page: http://www.webstuff.apple.com/~vinnie/Rah
>>>>Phree Phil: Email: zldf@clark.net  http://www.netresponse.com/zldf <<<<<