Track: Internet and the Digital Economy
Minitrack: Standards and Standardization

Since  2001, this minitrack has focused on the issues related to information technology standards and standardization.

The study of IT standards spans multiple disciplines, including technical, economic, sociological and behavioral sciences. We thus welcome research from any of these disciplines, as well as cross-disciplinary work that spans multiple disciplines.

We are also flexible on levels of analysis and methodology. While IT infrastructure standardization is typically inter-industry in nature, studies have also examined intra-industry vertical standards, firm-specific standards or standardization, or the role of individuals in standards creation or adoption. Similar, empirical studies can include surveys, archival data, case studies or first-person observation, while conceptual studies may be based on formal modelling or a synthesis of prior empirical research.

Finally, our definition of information technologies subsumes all forms of computing or communication goods and services, as well as related industries which demonstrate similar processes or phenomena. Thus, relevant technologies would include hardware, software and services, including personal computers, web servers, microprocessors, networking equipment, protocol stacks, application service providers, service-oriented architectures, mobile phones, videogames or prerecorded audiovisual entertainment.

The common element across all papers is that they are expected to make an original contribution to the theory or practice of creating, adopting or using IT standards. This may come from examining new phenomena, applying a new theoretical perspective, or by gathering new data. Authors should focus on articulating their unique contribution, linking it both to the body of their study and contrasting it to the characterization from prior research.

Please visit http://www.joelwest.org/HICSS for more information.

Topics and research areas include, but are not limited to:
* Creation, development, diffusion and adoption of standards
* Impact of social networks upon standards creation, implementation and adoption
* Control of systems architecture, platforms, data models and APIs
* Creating, combining or layering upon architectural stacks
* Creation of standardized internal platforms and architectures
* Orchestrating and managing ecosystems for production of complementary goods
* Differences between standardizing infrastructure and business processes
* Industry- or domain-specific standardization
* Standardization of services (e.g. financial service models), processes (e.g. CMM), and governance (e.g. ITIL), either at organizational and industry levels
* Variation of standardization within or between organizations
* Measuring the benefits of standards creation and adoption
* The relevance of standards research to the practice of standardization

Co-chairs:
Joel West (Primary Contact)
College of Business
San José State University
1 Washington Square, San Jose CA 95192-0070 USA
Direct Phone: +1-408-335-0115
Fax: +1-408-924-3555
Email: jwest2@mail.sjsu.edu
URL: http://www.joelwest.org/

Kalle Lyytinen
Weatherhead School of Management
Case Western Reserve University
Email: kalle@po.cwru.edu
URL: http://home.cwru.edu/~kjl13/

Tim Weitzel
Information Systems and Services
University of Bamberg
Phone: +49-69-798-23318
Email: standards@is-bamberg.de
URL: http://www.is-bamberg.de/