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NSF Solicitation on Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems

  • 1.  NSF Solicitation on Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems

    Posted 11-10-2011 17:50
    Dear Colleagues:
    NSF has issued a revised solicitation on Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems. Proposals are due 9 January.

    A synopsis is provided below. Further information and a link to the solicitation itself can be found at:
    http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503256
    This is a wonderful opportunity for US-based social scientists working on topics pertinent to virtual organizations, broadly construed. A synopsis and list of some potential topics is provided below. This should not be construed as a complete list. Additional pertinent research topics are welcome, so long as the work would yield sound, generalizable advances in knowledge.

    We look forward to receiving your strong proposals.

    Feel free to distribute this notice widely.

    Best regards,
    Jack Meszaros & Susan Winter
    Program Directors
    National Science Foundation
    4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 995
    Arlington, Virginia 22230

    Jacqueline R. Meszaros, Ph.D.
    Innovation and Organizational Sciences
    Decision, Risk and Management Sciences

    Susan J. Winter, Ph.D.
    Virtual Organizations as Socio-technical Systems
    Research Coordination Networks


    SYNOPSIS

    A virtual organization is a group of individuals whose members and resources may be dispersed geographically, but who function as a coherent unit through the use of cyberinfrastructure. Virtual organizations are increasingly central to the science and engineering projects funded by the National Science Foundation. Focused investments in sociotechnical analyses of virtual organizations are necessary to harness their full potential and the promise they offer for discovery and learning.

    The Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems (VOSS) program supports fundamental scientific research, particularly advances in social, organizational and design science understanding, directed at advancing the understanding of how to develop virtual organizations and under what conditions virtual organizations can enable and enhance scientific, engineering, and education production and innovation. Levels of analysis may include (but are not limited to) individuals, groups, organizations, and institutional arrangements. Disciplinary perspectives may include (but are not limited to) anthropology, complexity sciences, computer and information sciences, decision and management sciences, economics, engineering, organization theory, organizational behavior, social and industrial psychology, public administration, political science and sociology. Research methods may span a broad variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including (but not limited to): ethnographies, surveys, simulation studies, experiments, comparative case studies, and network analyses.

    VOSS funded research must be grounded in theory and rooted in empirical methods. It must produce broadly applicable and transferable results that augment knowledge and practice of virtual organizations as a modality. VOSS does not support proposals that aim to implement or evaluate individual virtual organizations.