The International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) has announced the papers to be given at the 2008 International Conference to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 12-13, 2008. This year’s papers include an eye-tracking study involving online journalism, issues of the media and ethics when high profile child deaths and disappearances go online, how social media and broadcast meet in radio 2.0, CEO blogging and ghost writers, student-produced online news media, and a look at the impact the virtual office has on commitment the organization.

Presenters this year are from the University of Trier (Trier, Germany), Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, North Carolina), the University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida), Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (Pomona, New Jersey), Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant, Michigan) and Rowan University (Glassboro, New Jersey).

There is still time to register for this year’s IAOC Conference, June 12-13, 2008 at the Hotel Holt in Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland is an ideal meeting ground for those from Europe and North America. Flights are five hours or less from much of North America and about three hours from Europe.

For those from the US, it’s an opportunity to visit a European capital where the dollar still enjoys a favorable exchange rate. For Europeans, the exchange rate is even better. IAOC has a block of rooms reserved at the Hotel Holt, www.holt.is, or contact our travel service at Lina@LTTravel.com. Be sure to ask for the IAOC rate. Registration is $199 for members, $299 for non-members. For more information and online registration visit http://iaoc2008.eventbrite.com.

The following papers will be presented at the Iceland Conference:

• Preparing Online Communicators for the Future of Information Systems, by Bill Wolff and Diane Penrod
• Using Google Applications for Online Teaching:  Competition for Proprietary Educational Software in an Age of Fiscal Constraint by Kevin Lee
• Loud Voices, Silenced Voices; The Ethics of Online Content in Media Coverage of High-Profile Child Death and Child Disappearance cases by Kathryn Quigley
• User Interaction with Time-dependent Presentation in Online Journalism, Results of an Eye-tracking Study by Peter Schumacher
• The CEO as Celebrity and Blogger: Is there a Ghostwriter in the Machine? by Sam Terilli
• Issues of Organizational Commitment in the Era of the Virtual Office, by Diane Holtzman and Evonne Kruger
• Broadcast Media Meets Social Media; Radio 2.0 and the Future of Broadcasting, by Keith Brand
• Online Newsroom by Joseph Basso and Randy Hines
• Student-produced news media, how complex have their online efforts become? by Rick Sykes
• Old Needs, New Demands:  How Online Communication has Re-shaped the Practice of School PR, by Edward H. Moore
• Research Methodology for Web 2.0, by Chandrasekhar Vallath
• Effective Tactics During a Product Recall: A Case Study of the Menu Foods Pet Food Recall by Melissa Bass
• Online Libel and the Court’s attempt to apply First Amendment protection to an emerging medium, by Joseph Basso

This week Dee Rambeau will be hosting a blog week on Iceland, the location of this year's IAOC Conference. Situated on the continental divide between Europe and America, Iceland is the ideal location for our first American and European Summit Meeting of Online Communicators. Flights to Iceland are five hours or less from North America and about three hours from Europe.

The conference will be held in Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost capital city, June 12-13. The conference starts mid-day Thursday, June 12 at Hotel Holt. IAOC members will present two roundtable paper sessions concerning online communication. Topics include:

• "Radio 2.0 and research methodologies for web 2.0"
• "The CEO as Celebrity and Blogger:  Is there a Ghostwriter in the Machine?"
• "Loud Voices, Silenced Voices; The Ethics of Online Content in Media Coverage of High- Profile Child Death and Child Disappearance cases"
• "Let's Get Together:  Options for Integrating Web 2.0 Collaborative Tools into the Workplace"
• "Issues of Organizational Commitment in the Era of the Virtual Office"

Blackline Social Media Consulting will host a complimentary reception following the round-table sessions.

On Friday an additional round table paper presentation will be followed by a European/American panel discussion on International Online Communications using RSS and other social media tools. The panel is chaired by Philippe Borremans, a leading online media consultant located in Brussels, Belgium, and Dee Rambeau, the managing partner of The Fuel Team, an online communications consultancy located in Denver, Colorado. The discussion will include:

• How to manage online collaboration on a global scale.
• Examples of organizations that are bridging oceans with social media.
• Effective multi-language website tactics
• Low-cost opt-in content delivery across time zones using RSS
• Low-cost content distribution using RSS
• Internal crisis communications across times zones

The conference concludes with a keynote luncheon presentation by Peter A. Gloor focusing on swarm creativity, collaborative innovation networks, and coolhunting. Gloor is a Research Scientist at the Center for Collective Intelligence, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. He was Mercator Visiting Professor at the University of Cologne, and is a lecturer at Helsinki University of Technology.

The registration fee is $199 for members and $299 for non-members. For more information about the conference visit http://iaoc2008.eventbrite.com/.

Join Dee all week for his personal tour of what you can expect to see on your visit to Iceland. You may be surprised at what you learn. Warmed by Gulf Stream currents, Iceland’s temperature is milder than its name suggests. Those attending the IAOC conference in June will have an opportunity to experience long daylight hours of late spring as the island heads toward its endless days of summer and the Midnight Sun.