CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Full Chapter Submission Deadline: June 30, 2020

Autopoiesis and Self-Sustaining Processes for Organizational Success

A book edited by Malgorzata Pankowska
University of Economics, Katowice-Poland

www.igi-global.com

Autopoiesis and Self-Sustaining Processes for Organizational Success Book Proposal
Proposal submission deadline: April 20, 2020
Full chapter due day: July 3, 2020

Introduction

In 1972, Maturana coined the term "Autopoiesis" combining "auto" (Greek self-) and "poiesis " (Greek: creation, production) to name the phenomenon of inner self-reproduction. Autopoiesis - is the ability of a system to generate its specific constitution - its components (structure) and their interplay (organization) - on its own. Autopoiesis can only be achieved by the unity of the components and their specific organization. Autopoietic systems show a remarkable property in the way they interact with their environment: on the one hand building blocks and energy (including information) are exchanged with the environment, which characterizes them as open systems; on the other hand any functional mechanisms, the way the system processes, incorporates building blocks and responds to information are totally self-determined and cannot be controlled by interventions from the environment.

The concept of system autopoiesis can help managers to understand the operations of their organizations better. Information systems in an organization seem to accept the autopoietic system way of development. Wikipedia is a unique example of knowledge system which ensures users content self-production and auto-references in an organized way. Simultaneously, many similar autopoietic systems can be identified in open source software development areas. Software applications developed there are recognized as autopoietic systems as well as Web 2.0 information systems belonging to the second generation of virtual communities. Taking into account the characteristics of an autopoietic system specified above, they are considered as developed to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among users. They do not refer to the updating Web technologies, but rather to changes in the usage of Web platform. Their infoproducts are applied for the creation of subsequent infoproducts in an ordered way.

Objective of the Book

The book would cover the whole range of theoretical and practical aspects, technologies and systems, and it's aim is to bring together specialists to exchange ideas and promote fruitful discussions on autopoiesis and autopoietic systems.

The idea of autopoietic systems is assumed to be the theory of social systems understood as systems of communication that reproduce all their necessary, specific structures within their own self-referential closed processes. For example, systems of research and educational communications can be theorized as autopoietic systems in the sense that they generate their own components and structures within the ongoing flows of communication.

Knowledge is a component of autopoietic (self-productive) processes. It is history dependent, context sensitive and embodied in the individuals. The social organization of knowledge is self-referential, i.e. it includes potential future knowledge as well as the past knowledge.
At the core of systems thinking is a concept of a whole entity which can adapt and survive, within limits in a changing environments. The entity consists of interrelated components existing for joint purposes. The synergy effect ensures that whole entity means more than the sum of its parts.

The main goal of the book is to explain meaning of autopoietic organizations for social and information science, although different interpretations from other sciences are also included.

Therefore, the characteristics of autopoiesis could be discussed i.e., openness, peering, sharing and acting globally. The book is to present that autopoietic organizations are information self-producing and self-controlled. In the book, the Internet virtual organizations can be presented as examples of autopoietic organizations e.g. Wikipedia. However, generally, social systems such as families, clubs, email discussion groups, informal subcultures within organizations, communities of practices are systems that are autopoietic in the sense that they produce and reproduce information and knowledge, and they interact in such a way that the interactions become bound up with the continued autopoiesis of the components. Societies are seen as complex adaptive systems that used internal feedback processes to change their structures to better survive in a turbulent and changing environment.

The concept of autopoietic systems, known from domains such as physics, chemistry and biology, has recently gained interest to be applied to technical (i.e., computerized) systems. In the book, autopoietic organization can be defined as the emergence of coherent, global behavior out of the local interactions between components. This emergent organization is characterized by intrinsic autonomy, adaptability to environmental changes, and local awareness of the most important global variables. The book should focus on analyses of autopoiesis features i.e., self-managing, self-referring, self-influencing, self-regulating, self-sustaining, self-producing, self-sustaining, self- recognizing, self-consciousness. Self-monitoring is vital for self-organized systems, because it allows the system to have a view on its current use and state. The mentioned above characteristics receive a new interpretation in IT environment, therefore the book should include analyses of IT solutions enabling the characteristics development. Particularly, the multi-agent technology will be the subject of discussions. Eventually, authors will be asked to present the architecture framework development for autopoietic organizations.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Cognitive Science:
• social cognition
• cognitivism
• cognitive decision support systems
• cognitive artificial intelligence systems
• organizational homeostasis

Self-adaptive and self-organizing Information Systems:
• auto-configuration
• viable systems
• adaptability, learning and self-production of information systems
• QoS (Quality of Service) for self-producting systems
• self-organizing geographic connectivity maps
• self-organizing artificial intelligence
• self-organization in peer-to-peer networks
• self-organization in blockchain
• self-tuning databases

Self-adaptive and self-organizing Communication Systems:
• evolutionary networks
• interacting autonomous systems
• self-maintained networks
• self-organizing data visualization
• policy-based self-management

Self-adaptive and self-organizing Social Systems:
• virtual organizations
• socio-economic cybernetics
• self-organizing social networks

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before April 20, 2020, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by May 15, 2020 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters (5,000 - 7,000 words) are expected to be submitted by July 3, 2020, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Autopoiesis and Self-Sustaining Processes for Organizational Success. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial DiscoveryRTM online submission manager.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.
This publication is anticipated to be released in 2021.

Important Dates

April 20, 2020:	Proposal Submission Deadline
May 15, 2020:	Notification of Acceptance
July 3, 2020:	Full Chapter Submission
August 31, 2020:	Review Results Returned
September 15, 2020:	Final Acceptance Notification
September 30, 2020:	Final Chapter Submission