The “Communities in New Media” Conference Series. Over 20 years of Research about Knowledge Communities in Science, Business, Education, Public Administration and beyond

Abstract

In Autumn 2017 the 20th annual “Communities in New Media” Conference (labelled with the German abbreviation “GeNeMe” – Gemeinschaften in Neuen Medien) presented innovative online technologies and processes for the organization, cooperation, and communication in virtual communities. GeNeMe is a forum for professional exchange especially in the fields of knowledge management and online learning with a strong link to IT support (e.g. Social Software Applications). The conference series focuses not only on technological and organizational aspects of the use of new media, but also takes a closer look at sociological, psychological, economical, didactical, and legal facets as well. GeNeMe is geared towards experts from research and industry. lt is designed to promote practical and scholarly insights among participants from various disciplines, organizations, and institutions from academia, business and administration. With that domain history the conference has an even longer tradition than the European conference series Web Based Communities which may be seen as international benchmark on the field of community research conferences. [From the introduction.]