The ECIS 2008 panels were:
1. Practising IS Research in Medical Practice: Opportunities and Dilemmas for Rigour and Relevance in Health IT Research - Matthew Guah, Erasmus University, Netherlands - Elizabeth Davidson, University of Hawaii, USA - Michael Barrett, Judge School of Business, Cambridge University UK
- Elizabeth Davidson, Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii, USA
- William Donahue, J.D., Hawaii Independent Physicians Association, Hawaii, USA
- Eivor Oborn, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, UK This panel addressed a variety of related topics related to conducting health IT research, including but not limited to:
• Negotiating access to appropriate medical practice settings to conduct interesting and relevant HIT research;
• Aligning goals and expectations between medical practitioners and IS researchers about the product and process of research;
• Designing research projects that contribute both to healthcare practice and IS research knowledge;
• Understanding the HIT research experience as a social process within a unique context. Through these presentations and ensuing open-ended discussions on the use of information technology in health care practice, the panel contributed to the conference theme of IS research in an innovation-based knowledge society. The panelists addressed issues of relevance to the innovation, adoption and diffusion track of the conference and to the ethics in IS track, as they considered potential areas of conflict and collaboration between medical practitioners and IS researchers. 2. Developing a Sustainable Academic Career in IS - Nancy Pouloudi, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece - Antonio Cordella, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom - Jan Damsgaard, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark - Elaine Ferneley, University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom - Hans van der Heijden, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - Eric van Heck, RSM Erasmus University RSM , Rotterdam, Netherlands What does it take to become a successful Professor in Information Systems? Hard work and a good sense of humor, obviously. But, is it enough? Unsurprisingly, the familiar confession from the people who have made it through the professorial ranks in our field is “Well, it hasn’t been easy”. This panel explored why this may be the case, shedding light in the processes, the practices, the cultures, the challenges and success factors that mark a successful academic career in information systems. Four Professors who have moved quickly and successfully in their careers, working in different national contexts, talked about their experiences on this panel, which led to an open discussion about good practice and pitfalls for developing a sustainable academic career in IS, diversity in practice and challenges across countries, and the lessons that can be learned for the future. The idea for this panel emerged during a meeting of a new open group called ‘mid career forum’ at ICIS 2007. Noting that several events at IS conferences are geared towards either (very) junior or (very) senior faculty, a number of IS academics who are ‘in the middle’ met to discuss the need and opportunities for explicit peer support to this latter group. This proposed panel is a follow up event, aiming to open up a public debate in IS academia on one of the key concerns amongst members of the ‘mid career forum’, namely the process and success factors for pursuing further academic development and promotion. 3. Encircling the Globe: How can an Association of Information Systems Academics be truly International? - Dennis Galletta, president of AIS, USA - Guillermo Rodriguez Abitia, Mexico - Chrisanthi Avgerou, UK - Emmanuel Monod, France - Cathy Urquhart, New Zealand AIS was created in 1994 to be an international association right from the start. By the time AIS was formed, the field had already created an international community thanks to many years of International (ICIS) conferences. Today AIS boasts nearly 4,000 members from 81 countries, rotates presidents each year among three world regions, includes two representatives from each region, and sponsors 18 country chapters and 29 SIGs. AISWorld, a global resource offered by AIS, has twenty- or language-specific pages. Of six AIS-affiliated organisations, four are based in other countries and one is international. This provides strong evidence that AIS is truly an international community.
However, as much as the international group that forms AIS Council tries hard to remind the community that it is not a North American association, it suffers from lower membership and involvement from outside the Americas than it hopes. The number of IS academics worldwide is more evenly distributed than AIS memberships. Only 19.7% of AIS members come from Region 2 and 17.4% from Region 3. This evidence of the global nature of AIS is unfortunately not so strong.
The international group of panelists addressed important questions about whether AIS has not tried hard enough, or if its efforts are targeted incorrectly, and explored how to motivate the academics in Regions 2 and 3 to join and become active in AIS. 4. Going Virtual: Are there Real Opportunities for Business in Virtual Worlds? - Mikko Ahonen, University of Tampere, Finland - Brian Donnellan, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland - Steve Mahaley, Duke Corporate Education - Brian O'Donovan, IBM Dublin Centre for Advanced Studies - Robin Teigland, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden Gartner Group predicts that by 2012, 80% of all active internet users and Fortune 500 enterprises will have an avatar or a presence in a virtual world. However, since the entrance of business organisations into virtual worlds is relatively recent, there is a limited understanding of the factors necessary for firms to create value within this new medium. Thus, the primary intent of this panel was to investigate how organisations are creating value through virtual world activities with a secondary focus on understanding how to attract and leverage the “gaming generation” for value creation in these activities. This panel discussed and debated: How are business organisations using virtual worlds to create value? What are the benefits of private vs public virtual worlds in these efforts to create value? What are the best practices for implementing these virtual world efforts? 5. Informal Communication Practices in Organisational Knowledge Management - Robert Davison, City University of Hong Kong, China - Doug Vogel, City University of Hong Kong, China - Johan Björkstén, Eastwei Relations, China - Gerhard Schwabe, University of Zurich, Switzerland - Ann-Frances Cameron, HEC Montreal, Canada - Dubravka eez-Kecmanovi, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Knowledge management has seen considerable attention from both industry and academia in recent years, with substantial investments of finance and also reputation. In many contexts, the focus has been on formal, codification-based systems, as well as the corresponding cooperation of those whose knowledge is being tapped. However, there is also evidence to demonstrate that informal communication practices, such as those enabled by social networking applications including instant messengers, blogs and wikis, have great potential for knowledge sharing in organisations.
In this panel, we brought together experts from academia and industry, each of whom has experienced first hand the application of social networking tools in the context of knowledge sharing and management. In this way, the panel fits well within the theme of ECIS 2008 - “Information Systems in an Innovative Knowledge-Based Society”. We aimed to stimulate a provocative and engaging debate, both between the panelists and with the audience. The debate included not only experience reports from panelists, but also informed critique and plenty of opportunity for audience involvement. We challenged current received wisdom and seek to inspire innovative directions in knowledge management, informed by our focus on informal communication practices and social networking tools. 6. A New Global Process for Revising and Maintaining the Undergraduate IS Model Curriculum - Heikki Topi, Bentley College, USA - Brian Donnellan, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland - Markus Helfert, School of Computing, Dublin City University, Ireland
- Roy Johnson, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa The panel provided an overview and an analysis of the ongoing joint ACM/AIS IS undergraduate model curriculum revision project, which is proposing significant changes to both curriculum content and structure and the process that is used to develop and maintain IS model curricula. The panel members represented universities in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and thus, the panel created an excellent opportunity for an in-depth discussion regarding the regional differences in perspectives to curriculum development and the feasibility of a truly global IS model curriculum. The panel was structured to encourage active audience participation, and one of its purposes was to solicit feedback that will used to guide the curriculum development effort.
Additionally, there was a plenary session debate entitled 'Cricket or Baseball?' - Bob Galliers, Bentley College, USA - Richard Baskerville, Georgia State University, USA
- Kalle Lyytinen, Case Western Reserve University, USA - Cathy Urquhart, University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand - Brian Fitzgerald, University of Limerick, Ireland In a recent EJIS opinion piece – “Why the old world cannot publish” – four respected IS academics opined why it is that “the European publication record is disappointing” (Lyytinen, et al., 2007). They “propose several constructive reasons” for this state of affairs. These include: a “lack of appreciation” of journal articles, “weak publishing cultures”, and “inadequate PhD preparation”, amongst others. The authors were deliberately controversial in raising these issues, and so is this forum, which took the form of a debate. The aim was to build on the ECIS panel of 2007, from which the EJIS opinion piece emerged, with a view to adding new insights into what Galliers & Meadows (2003) called a “discipline divided”. The intention was not to privilege one tradition above another, but to point out their distinctive characteristics, and to argue for diversity in IS research. The forum was made up of two of the authors of the EJIS article; two AIS Vice Presidents, and former AIS presidents. The debate begun with the authors of the EJIS piece, who expanded on their arguments. It then turned to neither a European nor a North American perspective before returning to perspectives from either side of the Atlantic. Slides from this debate are available here.
Panel submissions for ECIS 2008 closed on Jan 31, 2008. Proposals focused on informing or challenging the IS community, bringing together experts offering insights into one of the thematic track areas, and included at least four speakers. Panel proposals described how the panel would engage the audience, and included some form of audience participation. Each panel ran for 90 minutes.
Proposals were a maximum of 4 pages and included:
a) Short summary of the panel topic
b) Short statement of how this panel will engage the audience and contribute to the conference and theme c) List of the panelists
d) Short CV of the panel organiser(s) and member(s) Proposals for panels were submitted using the review system.
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