Final Reminder: Call for Papers and Book Reviews - Deadline: March 15, 2011

Methodological approaches to the study of virtual environments and online
social networks

The Graduate Journal of Social Science (GJSS) announces a Call for Papers
and Book Reviews for a special issue dealing with methodological
approaches to the study of virtual environments and online social
networks. The journal encourages the submission of work by MSc/ MA/MS,
MPhil, PhD students and junior academics from all geographic regions. All
papers are submitted to a blind peer review process. The special issue is
scheduled for December 2011.

Papers:
The proliferation of virtual worlds such as The Sims, Second Life, World
of Warcraft and of online social networks such as blogs or social
networking applications (Facebook, LinkedIn, Hi5) has been met with an
enthusiastic interest from researchers across disciplines. Scholars in
anthropology, communication and cultural studies, economics, education,
psychology and sociology have become increasingly involved in the study of
such environments, bringing along not only discipline-specific questions
and theories, but also various methodological approaches.

This special issue aims at mapping some of the methodological approaches
to the study of virtual environments, and welcomes both theoretical and
empirical analyses that address them. The interest here is in what methods
graduate researchers choose to use, the problems they face in trying to
use them and the ways in which these methods are being adapted in relation
to these virtual sites of study. Graduate students doing empirical work on
virtual worlds and online social networks from all disciplines are
strongly encouraged to submit papers dealing with the processes of
choosing, applying and critically evaluating their methods.

While we expect contributions to vary according to the particular focus of
investigation, questions such as the following may be relevant: What are
the advantages and disadvantages of these methods? Are such methods
developed specifically for the study of virtual worlds and/or online
social networks, or are they adaptations of traditional research methods
in social sciences? Are there specific disciplines, theories, or academic
frameworks that offer more suitable insights regarding such methods- or
can using them suggest limiting the scope of this ‘new’ research
environment?

Authors are encouraged to submit papers addressing questions such as:
- How to choose a suitable method for the study of virtual worlds and/ or
online social networks?
- Methods for exploring the social and cultural aspects of virtual worlds
and/ or online social networks.
- Methods for exploring the technical aspects of virtual worlds and/ or
online social networks.
- Criteria for evaluating research on virtual worlds and/ or online social
networks.
- Simulations as research methods: problems, recommendations, evaluation.
- Methods for collaborative research in virtual environments and/ or
online social networks.
- Ethical issues.
- Immersion: do we need to be users of virtual worlds/ online social
networks to study them?

All papers must be submitted electronically by March 15, 2011 to
<[log in to unmask]>. Articles should be between 5,000 - 8,000 words  in
length (including footnotes but excluding references). Short essays (2,000
- 3,000 words) and book reviews on this topic are also welcome. All
submissions must be anonymized and accompanied by the GJSS article
submission form (which can be downloaded from the GJSS website). Please
include an abstract, a short author bio and 3-5 keywords. For more
information on the stylistic guidelines, please check the GJSS website at
http://gjss.org.

For any further inquiries and to submit an article, please contact Delia
Dumitrica, special issue editor at <[log in to unmask]>.

Book Reviews:
We are also looking for reviews of books published between 2008-2010
dealing with methodological approaches to virtual worlds and online social
networks. Ideally, reviewers have their own copy of the book. Book reviews
should be between 1,000 - 1,5000 words and should not only describe the
book, but also critically engage with the points raised. If you would like
to propose a book review for this special issue, please contact Delia
Dumitrica, special issue editor at <[log in to unmask]>.


Delia Dumitrica
PhD Student & Sessional Instructor
Department of Communication and Culture
University of Calgary