Papers may be narrow focused or broad, and may include quantitative or qualitative analysis of empirical data in support of the arguments. In addition to class discussions, other elements frequently incorporated are use of the World Wide Web and of web-based tutorials or simulations. Qualitative case studies or quantitative evaluations, which measure and summarize how ALN courses differ from traditional Face to Face, or Computer-Assisted Instruction, or other modes of course delivery. This includes negative as well as positive impacts on processes and outcomes, for teaching staff as well as students. This area focuses on the processes and dynamics relating to the organizational adoption of collaborative systems and technology, and the subsequent diffusion of such systems and technology within adopting organizations.
Adoption is the process through which an organization decides to acquire the systems or technology.
Diffusion is the process through which the acquired systems and technology become assimilated into an organization. In particular, this area addresses research questions and topics relating to how and why organizations decide to adopt collaborative systems and technology, the structure and relationships of factors affecting adoption decisions, the ways in which such systems and technology become assimilated into adopting organizations, the dynamics of the assimilation processes and the factors impacting them, and the organizational impacts resulting from successful adoption and diffusion. The purpose of this minitrack is to provide a forum for interchange of ideas, research results, development activities, and applications among academicians and practitioners in the NSS field. In particular, this year minitrack is particularly interested in the use of software agents to support distributed negotiation, the design and use of NSS in electronic commerce and the relevancy of NSS in an intercultural context.