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CFP Workshop
at European Conference on CSCW in Limerick, Irland (24-28.9.2007)

Why CSCW research?
Web 2.0 and Social Software solve our problems anyhow!

The aim of this workshop is to discuss the applications, services and
trends that are currently summarized by the terms "Web 2.0" and
"Social Software" from a CSCW perspective. Participants shall present
their experiences or own developments in the Web 2.0 vicinity with
the following focus: Which CSCW aspects are addressed by current Web
2.0 / Social Software developments and vice versa? What are or could
be the contributions of CSCW to the Web 2.0 phenomenon? The expected
result of the workshop is a consolidated collection of the
relationships between Web 2.0 and CSCW.

Motivation

The media has found a new hot subject with the Web 2.0 topic. No
large newspaper or magazine that has not yet reported about Web 2.0
or Social Software in general or specific application classes (e.g.
Wikis and Blogs) or applications and platforms such as Wikipedia,
Delicious, Google Calendar, YouTube, or SecondLife. From a CSCW point
of view it is interesting to note that most Web 2.0 or Social
Software applications are cooperation support applications. Thus Web
2.0 should actually be an original CSCW topic.

Most of what currently is advertised as a revolution on the Web has
been there as CSCW applications years (or even decades) ago -
however, not as nice and not as usable as today in the Web 2.0. So,
something seems to have changed. Is it just the connectivity of the
users? Or is it a more fundamental characteristic that we have missed
in CSCW? (e.g. networks instead of communities?)

In our opinion the Web 2.0 and Social Software fields could benefit a
lot from applying CSCW research results to their work and vice versa
the CSCW field could benefit from taking a closer look into what is
happening in the Web 2.0 and Social Software fields. This is
especially true since the Social Software field is currently
extending its application area to supporting teams in companies
("Enterprise 2.0"). However, it appears that the interaction between
both communities is minimal.

The objective of the workshop is therefore a discussion of the
following topics:

• Which CSCW aspects are addressed by the current Web 2.0 developments? What can we learn from these? What could be the (new) characteristics of CSCW 2.0 and Groupware 2.0? ;-)
• What is the past and future impact of CSCW on Web 2.0?

Examples for possible aspects are: Social Computing, Networks vs.
Communities, Individual Contributions and Linking (Blogs) vs.
Community-based Knowledge Management, Tagging, Ajax and Mash-Ups (Web-
based applications), Access Control vs. Social Control …

The expected result of the workshop is a consolidated collection of
the Web 2.0 and CSCW relationships as well as list of future research
topics.

Procedure

Workshop participants are requested to a submit position paper that
addresses one of the above questions. Using practical examples the
participants should demonstrate how the concepts and developments
behind the Web 2.0 and Social Software movement has influenced or
could influence CSCW and vice versa, e.g. what Web 2.0
characteristics could make a good basis for future CSCW research and
development.

Position papers will be presented and discussed during the workshop.
At the end of each discussion a relationship between CSCW and Web 2.0
as well as a new research question shall be identified.

The workshop will take place as a full day session with a maximum of
12 to 14 participants selected on the basis of the submitted position
papers.

Submissions should be sent to michael.koch AT unibw.de by July 2nd,
2007. Position papers will be reviewed by the workshop organizers and
notification of acceptance will be given by the second week of July
(before the early registration deadline).

Organisers

The workshop will be organized by the Special Interest Group on CSCW
of the German Computer Society (GI) (Prof. Dr. Michael Koch and Prof.
Wolfgang Prinz, PhD).

Please direct any requests to

Prof. Dr. Michael Koch
Universitaet der Bundeswehr WOW5.3
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39
85577 Neubiberg
michael.koch AT unibw.de