Perspectives on the Future of the IS Discipline
Track Chair/s
| Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic | University of New South Wales | Australia |
| Robert Johnston | University of Melbourne & University College Dublin |
Australia Ireland |
| Seamus Kelly | University College Dublin | Ireland |
Track Description
The vast possibilities of our great future will become realities only if we make ourselves responsible for that future.
Gifford Pinchot
This track aims to engage in a debate about the future of the Information Systems (IS) discipline. Following IFIP 8.2 Working Conference on Researching the Future of IS (Chiasson et al., 2011) this track will continue to explore and anticipate the possibilities of our great future and the perspectives on understanding and influencing it. This requires concerted efforts by both IS scholars and practitioners in envisaging the future IS and IS-enabled work places, organizations and corporate life, communities, political and governance processes and societies.
IS thought leaders from all walks of life are invited to contribute their research and position papers, to propose discussion panels and to engage in a dialogue about the possible futures of IS as a field of practice and an academic discipline. The papers and panel discussions should stimulate spirited debates about studying possible IS futures, and also and more importantly about our roles and responsibilities in creating desirable and socially equitable IS futures.
Research papers, position papers and proposals for panel discussions are invited to contribute to the track's theme and objective and address the following or similar topics:
- How can we envisage and study the future of IS as a field of practice and the IS discipline?
- What are the appropriate approaches and methodologies for studying and anticipating the future of IS and whether and how the studying and anticipating might influence the IS future?
- What are the intellectual structures that sustained the IS discipline in the past and how do they need to be re-invented to sustain it in the future?
- What are the trends and future developments of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that promise new types of IS and IS-enabled practices? How can (should) IS researchers and practitioners influence the development of ICT as a foundation for IS?
- To what extent do we actually understand (and care about) the long-term implications of IS - not only in terms of serving functional and economic objectives but also serving humanity, societal needs and objectives?
Chiasson, M., Henfridson, O. Karsten, H. and DeGross, J.I. (2011) Researching the Future in Information Systems, IFIP WG 8.2 Working Conference, Turku, Finland, June 6-8, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Springer, Volume 356, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-21364-9