Proposal Submission Deadline: March 31, 2008
Web-Based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice:
Developing Virtual Environments for Social and Pedagogical Advancement
A book edited by Nikos Karacapilidis
University of Patras, Greece

Introduction

Technology-Enhanced Learning is a term referring to any learning
situation
involving the use of technology. In the context of the contemporary
knowledge society, research in this area focuses on technologies and
their
applications for the meaningful elaboration of diverse knowledge,
collaboration and learning issues. The proposed publication will
report on
recent advances of the above research in the context of Communities of
Practice (CoPs), where various technological, social and pedagogical
issues
have to be considered in a holistic way. For more than ten years,
CoPs have
been recognized as effective environments to support learning among
professionals, organizations and educational institutions. Collaborative
learning is inherent in such communities, in that their members learn
from
each other by making their knowledge and practices explicit, sharing
them
with their peers, and reflecting on them. Web-based technologies could
support the development of virtual CoPs. Consequently, more and more
CoPs
use virtual environments to support their activities. However,
despite the
rapidly increasing potential offered by technologies (including web-
based
platforms, wireless communications, mobile devices and extensive use of
multimedia contents), recent research underlines the lack of adequate
scaffolding in the form of both technical supports and usage of the
technology to address the diversity of CoPs' requirements.

Objectives, Contribution and Potential Impact of the Book

The overall objective of this book is to report on recent approaches
that
aim at aiding CoPs members to express, represent and share practices,
debate
and reflect about the practices and about the life of the CoP, develop,
reify and exploit knowledge inside and outside of the CoP, and
facilitate
engagement, participation and learning. Such approaches elaborate and
build
on various concepts that are related to the information, knowledge
management and collaboration services required. Particular emphasis
will be
given to the design, implementation and evaluation of the related
solutions.
The value and main contribution of the book lies in the joint
exploration of
diverse technological, social and pedagogical issues towards designing,
implementing and testing e-Learning solutions for CoPs, while paying
equal
attention to the issues of individual and organizational learning.
Advances
to be reported in the book are expected to augment current learning-
related
practices in diverse contexts, such as organizations, academia and
web-based
communities. The book is also expected to advance research being
conducted
in the field of technology-enhanced learning by assigning equal
importance
to its underlying technological, social and pedagogical dimensions.

Target Audience

This book will be valuable to people from academia as well as industry
(teachers, researchers, professionals or practitioners in the field of
e-learning). It will cover a large number of topics concerning the
appropriate information, knowledge management and collaboration
services to
be offered in order to facilitate collaboration and augment learning in
diverse communities' contexts. By also placing concentration on the
social
dimension of technology-enhanced learning, the book will be of
particular
importance to researchers and supporters of the so-called social
software.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Communities of Practice: Technological, Social and Pedagogical issues
Technology-Enhanced Learning Solutions for CoPs
Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
e-Learning solutions for CoPs
Groupware and CoPs
Social Software
Web 2.0 applications
Semantic Web and CoPs
Knowledge Management in CoPs

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before
March 31,
2008, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and
concerns of their proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals
will be
notified by April 28, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent
chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by
June 30,
2008. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review
basis. The book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly
Idea
Group Inc.), www.igi-global.com, publisher of the IGI Publishing
(formerly
Idea Group Publishing), Information Science Publishing, IRM Press,
CyberTech
Publishing, Information Science Reference (formerly Idea Group
Reference),
and Medical Information Science Reference imprints.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word
document) or
by mail to:

Prof. Nikos Karacapilidis
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics
University of Patras, GR 26500 Rion-Patras, Greece
Tel: (+30)-2610-997906, Fax: (+30)-2610-997260
nikos@mech.upatras.gr - http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~nikos/

# posted by Björn : 9:38 fm

We are happy to announce and invite you to submit a paper to the:

A3H: Sixth International Workshop on Authoring of Adaptive and
Adaptable Hypermedia
At the 5th International Conference on Adaptive Hypermedia and
Adaptive Web-Based Systems (AH'2008, http://www.ah2008.org/)
28 of July 2008, Hannover, Germany

(Submission deadline: 14 April, 2008)

WORKSHOP SITES:
==============
* at the AH site: http://www.ah2008.org/index.php?section=40
* independent site: http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/A3H/

Suggested themes that the papers should be addressing include, but
are not limited to:

THEMES:
============
* Authoring for adaptivity based on Semantic Web standards or other
standards
* Authoring for adaptivity based on Web 2.0 ideas, methodology,
technology, applications
* Folksonomies and Ontologies in Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia
* Automatization in Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia
* Design patterns for adaptive hypermedia
* Authoring group user models for adaptive/adaptable hypermedia
* Authoring in groups
* Role-based authoring
* Automatic, adaptive authoring
* Authoring pedagogic models for adaptive/adaptable educational
hypermedia
* Generic authoring for adaptive/adaptable hypermedia
* Generic authoring tools in adaptive/adaptable hypermedia
* Reusable user models, group user models, and pedagogic models
* Evaluation of authoring tools for adaptive hypermedia
* Evaluation of adaptive hypermedia design patterns
* Evaluation of adaptive hypermedia authoring patterns
* Evaluation of adaptive hypermedia as feedback for the authoring
process

MOTIVATION OF THE WORKSHOP:
==========================
This workshop follows a successful series of workshops on the same
topic: A3H at UM'07, in Corfu, AH'06, in Dublin, at AIED'05, in
Amsterdam, at AH'04, in Eindhoven, and at WBE'04 in Innsbruck.

The current workshop focuses on the issues of design, implementation
and evaluation of general Adaptive and Adaptable (Educational)
Hypermedia, with special emphasis on three major trends in web
authoring and the design and creation of web material:
• the introduction and use of standards, especially Semantic Web
related standards for authoring;
• automation processes in authoring;
• use of Web 2.0 concepts and methodology in authoring.

Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia has been long considered as
secondary to adaptive hypermedia delivery. However, authoring is not
trivial at all. There exist some approaches to help authors to build
adaptive-hypermedia-based systems, yet there is a strong need for
high-level approaches, formalisms and tools that support and
facilitate the description of reusable adaptive websites. Only
recently have we noticed a shift in interest (fuelled in part by this
workshop series), as it became clearer that the implementation-
oriented approach would forever keep adaptive hypermedia away from
the 'layman' author. The creator of adaptive hypermedia cannot be
expected to know all facets of this process, but can be reasonably
trusted to be an expert in one of them. It is therefore necessary to
research and establish the components of an adaptive hypermedia
system from an authoring perspective, catering for the different
author personas that are required. This type of research has proven
to lead to a modular view on the adaptive hypermedia.

Therefore, important issues to discuss are, among others:
* Can adaptive hypermedia be authored based on standards only, or to
what extent is this possible?
* How and to what extent can Semantic Web standards be applied in the
authoring process?
* How can the authoring steps be done automatically? Which steps can
be done in automatic way, and which steps need to remain manually
authored?
* How can Web 2.0 concepts and methodology be used in authoring? How
can semantics and ontologies be extracted from folksonomies in a
useful manner?
* How can we support adaptive (or, in the educational field,
pedagogic) scenarios? How can applying Semantic Web ideas,
technologies and techniques support the adaptation scenarios? How can
adaptivity be applied if authoring is done via Web 2.0 methods?
* How can the adaptive knowledge be formulated in a reusable manner?
Are there any recurring patterns that can be detected in the
authoring process generally speaking?
* How does grouping of authors or assignment of authoring roles
influence the authoring process, and are there ways to optimize this?

TARGET AUDIENCE:
================
The workshop is targeted at all people working towards or just
interested in state-of-the art on the discovery and use of patterns,
formalisms, mechanisms and implementations that can help them to
develop and author adaptive hypermedia, in educational domain and
beyond. The richer the adaptation of a hypermedia-based system is,
the more complex its specification needs to be. Therefore, there is a
clear need of using standards, automatization, discovering patterns
and developing formalisms, mechanisms or tools to facilitate and
support the task of authoring adaptive hypermedia, by performing it,
in some cases, (semi-)automatically. The necessity of these patterns
can be as a result of authoring push or AH system interfacing or
ultimately open (adaptive) hypermedia or pull. This means that
patterns can emerge from repetitive structures used by AH authors;
alternatively, patterns can emerge from interface programs or
interface languages between different adaptive hypermedia systems, or
from trying to interface to the open adaptive hypermedia. As the
technology advances, and as the web standards are becoming more
competitive, communities from different corners, such as Adaptive
Hypermedia and Semantic Web need to be put together, to solve old
problems, such as the one of Authoring of Adaptive Hypermedia.
Moreover, this workshop is also targeted at people interested in the
new Web 2.0 methods technologies, and in how these can be applied to
push forward the authoring process, by using the force of the masses,
instead of the expertise of the few (as is the case in the Semantic
Web).
Thus, the target audience includes researchers and practitioners that
are active in all these fields, as well as representatives of larger
projects or networks dealing with these issues. We encourage this
audience to submit papers to the workshop on their latest results and
ideas.
Moreover, the workshop is also targeted at people who are interested
to hear and discuss the state of the art and the future of this
important domain of adaptive hypermedia and adaptive web authoring.
We encourage them to participate actively in the discussions for
which time will be especially allocated, as well as in the other
interactive sections, such as questionnaires and (if possible) demos.

The workshop's main aim is to bring together researchers working or
interested in the emerging fields of semantic web, Web 2.0 and
adaptive hypermedia authoring. We expect to extract and discuss these
merge of research and application directions, as well as see their
implementations and evaluations, encouraging the transition towards
standard extensions and improvements in the field.
Participants are expected to leave with a better knowledge of the
state of the art of the field, as well as to have a fruitful brain-
storming session generating new ideas and opening new paths.
Results of the discussions and questionnaire processing will be
posted after the workshop on-line on the workshop site, as is the
case with the previous editions of this workshop.

ORGANIZATION OF THE WORKSHOP:
=============================
This is a one-day workshop. There will be paper presentation (full;
short; posters) and discussions+panel.These discussions will be open
to all; not only those who have papers accepted at the workshop but
also any other interested parties are welcome.
After the paper presentations, the discussion based on these
questions will begin. Both the presenters and the audience will be
asked to contribute to the answering of these questions. We intend to
continue the tradition started in the past workshop series, where
this discussion was organized in the form of a panel of well-known
invited speakers, which triggered and broadened the discussion with
the rest of the audience.

EXPECTED RESULTS:
================
The workshop will also lead to a better understanding and cross-
dissemination of how Semantic Web technology, standards and methods,
as well as Web 2.0 methods can be applied in the field of Authoring
of Adaptive and Adaptable Hypermedia and Web Personalization.
Moreover, this workshop will lead to a better understanding of how
manual and automatic authoring can be combined to achieve best
results, especially based on patterns extracted from existing design
and authoring processes in AH.
The workshop aims to attract the interest of the related research and
practitioner communities to the important issues of design and
authoring, with special focus on Semantic Web and Web 2.0 applied in
adaptive hypermedia; to discuss the current state of the art in this
field; and to identify new challenges in the field.
Moreover, the workshop can be seen as a platform that enables the
cooperation and exchange of information between European and non-
European projects.

PAPERS AT THE WORKSHOP:
======================
We welcome discussion proposals as well as research papers. Papers
accepted for the workshop will be published in the workshop
proceedings of the AH'2008 conference (online, as well as on paper).
Selected papers will also be invited for a Special Issue in a
selected journal.

IMPORTANT DATES:
================
Submission deadline: April 14, 2008
Notification of acceptance or rejection: May 14, 2008
Final versions due: June 1, 2008
Workshop: July 28? (TBC), 2008
Main conference: July 28- August 1, 2008

Earlier submission is encouraged. Please send an intention e-mail
with a title and a short intentional abstract as soon as you decide
to submit. Submit to contacts as below by email
(acristea@dcs.warwick.ac.uk,Rosa.Carro@uam.es). Online submission may
be available later - check site for more information.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES:
=====================
Full papers: 8 pages
original mature research results
Short papers: 4 pages
original ongoing research
Posters: 2 pages
original ongoing research or research ideas of visual nature

All submissions must be formatted according to Springer LNCS
guidelines and submitted as informed by the AH2008 website.
All submissions will undergo a thorough reviewing and refereeing
process in order to decide on acceptance.

The submissions should be in the format of Springer Lecture Notes in
Computer Science (LNCS).
Please check http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html for
instructions on how to prepare submissions.

IMPORTANT: Selected papers will also be invited for a Special Issue
in a selected journal!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WORKSHOP CO-CHAIRS:
===================
Alexandra I. Cristea, University of Warwick (UK)
Rosa M. Carro, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)

WORKSHOP PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEMBERS (TBC):
===================================
Helen Ashman, University of Nottingham (UK) http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/

~hla/
Susan Bull, University of Birmingham (UK) http://www.eee.bham.ac.uk/

bull/
Paul De Bra, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Netherlands) http://
wwwis.win.tue.nl/~debra/
Tim Brailsford, University of Nottingham (UK) www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~tjb/
Licia Calvi, University of Pavia (Italy) http://soc.kuleuven.be/com/

mediac/cuo/?p=member&id=4
Cristina Conati, University of British Colombia (Canada) http://

www.cs.ubc.ca/~conati/
Declan Dagger, Trinity College Dublin (Irland) https://www.cs.tcd.ie/

Declan.Dagger/
Hugh Davis, Southampton University (UK) http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~hcd/
Serge Garlatti, GET-ENST Bretagne (France) http://perso.enst-

bretagne.fr/~garlatti/HomePage/
Franca Garzotto, Milano Politecnic (Italy) http://www.iei.pi.cnr.it/

SIMOS/People/garzotto.htm
Nicola Henze, University of Hannover (Germany) http://www.kbs.uni-

hannover.de/~henze/
Judy Kay, University of Sydney (Australia) http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/

~judy/
Kinshuk, Athabascau University (Canada) http://scis.athabascau.ca/

scis/staff/index.jsp?ct=kinshuk&sn=null
Toshio Okamoto, University of Electro-Communications (Japan) http://

www.ai.is.uec.ac.jp/
Alvaro Ortigosa, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain), http://

www.ii.uam.es/~ortigosa/index-e.htm
Helen Pain, University of Edinburgh (UK) http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/

homes/helen/
Simos Retalis, University of Piraeus (Greece) http://

www.softlab.ntua.gr/~retal/
Pilar Rodríguez, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain) http://

www.ii.uam.es/~pilar/
Marcus Specht, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information
Technology (Germany) http://www.marcuspecht.de/home.html
Daniel Schwabe, PUC - Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) http://www-di.inf.puc-

rio.br/schwabe//
Carlo Strapparava, IRST (Italy) http://tcc.itc.it/people/

strapparava.html
Craig Stewart, Queen Mary, University of London (UK) http://

www.elec.qmul.ac.uk/department/staff/research/craigs.htm
Lorna Uden, Staffordshire University (UK) http://www.soc.staffs.ac.uk/

lu1/
Vincent Wade, Trinity College (Ireland) https://www.cs.tcd.ie/

Vincent.Wade/
Gerhard Weber, Freiburg University of Education (Germany) http://
art.ph-freiburg.de/psy/people/GWeber.html

CONTACT:
========
Dr. Alexandra Cristea, Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science, Room 321
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
tel.: /direct/:(+44) 24 765 73774; /secretary/: (+44) 24 7652 3668
fax: +44 24 7657 3024
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/
Email: a.i.cristea@warwick.ac.uk, acristea@dcs.warwick.ac.uk

Dr. Rosa M. Carro - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
Universidad Autónonoma de Madrid
Escuela Politécnica Superior
Office B-318
Phone: + 34 91 497 22 76
Fax :+ 34 91 497 22 35
http://www.ii.uam.es/~rcarro/r_home_e.html
E-mail: Rosa.Carro@uam.es

# posted by Björn : 11:33 fm