The Learning Organization

Special Issue: Web 2.0 practical implications: searching, analyzing and using social web.
Guest Editor: Ricardo Colomo-Palacios, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, SPAIN

The dramatic spread of the Internet in society has substantially changed the forms of communication, entertainment, knowledge acquisition and consumption. A shift in the Web content consumer-producer paradigm is making the Web a means of conversation, cooperation and mass empowerment. Emerging killer applications combine sharing information, social dimension, undermining the very principles where content have relied for decades, namely information asymmetry and top-down content delivery. In this changing scenario, companies are also changing the way in which they communicate with their environment, including customers and employees.
Social interactions have recently found an exceptional vehicle in the recent breed of user generated content aware technologies encompassed by the "Web 2.0" buzzword (O'Reilly, 2005). These technologies have forced for some organizations and initiatives an adoption that enabled meeting their business challenges and deriving competitive advantage. But mostly, they have provided a platform to foster social critical mass, particularly, due to the amount of metadata they have generated to provide tags, picture sharing environments, social bookmarks and blogs. According to O'Reilly (2005), a fundamental principle of Web 2.0 is that users add value by generating content through these applications, resulting in network effects among the community of users. This new content provided directly by users can be used to either put or receive information.
Organizations must face this new challenge by combining, in one hand, new management practices, and in the other, new technological tools. Thus, the aim of this special issue of the The Learning Organization Journal is twofold. The first is to present new and challenging issues in the contribution of Web 2.0 for the learning organization, and in particular, its practical applications. The second is to present new research and technological developments that use social web content in organizations to support their business processes, and, more in depth, learning and development issues.
Possible topics for papers include but are not limited to:
• CRM 2.0
• Project Management 2.0
• Social content as a source of data for human resource management
• Web 2.0 in the cocreation process
• Web 2.0 and knowledge management
• Web 2.0 in virtual environments
• Mining web 2.0 data
• Web 2.0 and enterprise platform integration
• Real-world cases studies of institutional initiatives which have benefited from the use of Web 2.0 technology in their knowledge processes

Guidelines:
Articles should submitted and adhere to the usual presentation format (see http://www.emeraldinsight.com). Articles received will be submitted to a 2-person double blind review.

About the Journal
For more information please see the journal website at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/tlo/tlo.jsp

Submissions to:
Ricardo Colomo-Palacios : ricardo.colomo [at] uc3m.es

Important Dates
15th November 2009 Full paper submission
15th December 2009 Notification to authors
20th January 2010 Final version of papers due
May 2010 Special Interest Edition published

If you would like to discuss your ideas before submission, please contact Ricardo Colomo-Palacios (ricardo.colomo [at] uc3m.es) who would be happy to provide comments on your suggestions.