CfP: Focus Theme Section on 'Inclusive ICT Business' (18-4)

Guest Editors of the focus theme section:

• Paul Timmers (European Commission)
• Patrizia Fariselli (Catholic Univ. Milan)
• Clayton Lewis (Univ Colorado, Boulder)

People at risk of social and economic exclusion are also often at risk of being excluded from the digital economy / information society. People can be disadvantaged on the basis of age (elderly people), location (living in a remote area), abilities (disability, lack of digital literacy), income, etc.
However, increasingly they are becoming an interesting market, for ICT companies in general and for many companies that offer ICT-enabled products and services. Conversely, many of these persons can benefit from ICT as a means to reduce their social or economic disadvantages. As both demand and supply develop, inclusive ICT business is starting to become “good business”. ICT offers new opportunities to unlock markets and create personal and societal value. Examples in the public discussions include the “long tail” concept, inclusive design or design-for-all, ICT for independent living / ambient assisted living, multi-platform service delivery, personalised integrated services, accessibility ICT and e-accessibility legislation, citizen e-cards, ICT and social capital, and more generally e inclusion policy.
The ways companies tackle the challenges of inclusive ICT and ICT for inclusion, in R&D and design, marketing, and delivery have so far not extensively been researched, but they are of increasing interest for the academic, user, business and policy-maker communities.
This issue will present a number of position papers in inclusive ICT business, and a number of research papers. The intention is to provide a reference set of papers for this emerging and exciting field.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Inclusive ICT design
• ICT marketing to marginalized groups
• the long tail
• user-driven and open innovation
• ICT for inter-regional solidarity in business cooperation
• ICT in complex value chains for independent living (ageing population)
• ICT and incomplete or quasi-markets (semi-public services)
• ICT-enabled inclusive communities and creativity

Additional topic suggestions are welcome. All papers will be peer reviewed and should conform to Electronic Markets publication standards.

Methodological and theoretical pluralism (empirical or theoretical work, qualitative research, design science, prototypes …) is welcomed by the journal.

Abstracts must be sent to Electronic Markets prior to the submission deadline, preferably until January 2008. Full papers are invited to be submitted by 07. March 2008. All papers should be original, not published elsewhere.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the focus theme section, please contact the Editor for the focus theme section.

Contact address: Paul.Timmers@ec.europa.eu

Abstracts and final papers must be submitted to the Editorial Team: editors@electronicmarkets.org

Important deadlines:

• Submission deadline: 7. March 2008
• Acceptance decision: 2. May 2008
• Issue: Vol. 18, No. 4, November 2008

For further author instructions please go to the Authors section.