[AISWorld] CfP ISD2012 Track: The changing landscape of Information Systems. Properties of a new IS ecology.

[Jacques Steyn]

CfP ISD2012 Track: The changing landscape of Information Systems. 
Properties of a new IS ecology.

*Track Theme
*The changing landscape of Information Systems. Properties of a new IS 
ecology.
Is this a new kind of IS? Or just more of the same thing?

*Conference Theme
*Building Sustainable Information Systems

*Dates
*Conference dates: 29-31August 2012
Paper submission deadline: 20 April 2012

*Venue
*Prato, Italy

*Conference Website
*http://infotech.monash.edu/research/ISD2012/

*Some keywords
*Information Systems, social media, mobile technologies, HCI, ecological 
systems, social sustainability, developing world, micro businesses.

*CfP
*We invite you to submit an abstract for a proposed paper in the area of 
Information Systems for ISD2012 (21st International Systems Development 
Conference) to be held on 29-31August 2012 in Prato, Italy.

Sustainability has several meanings, with the dominant meaning referring 
to the natural ecological and environmental domains. Green IT relatively 
recently became a popular topic at conferences and in publications. 
While this is an important issue, sustainability may also refer to the 
maintenance of the complex weave of social systems. Again there is a 
very wide range of meanings of what "social systems" means, but for the 
purpose of this track, social ecology would be the focus.

Information Systems (IS) theory traditionally focuses on IS for 
organizations, typically business organizations, assuming all other 
kinds of social organizations (such as government organizations and 
non-government organizations) to be variants of business systems. The PC 
itself was developed as a business tool, and only over the past two 
decades with its ability to handle multimedia also became a tool for 
entertainment. Over the past decade the networked PC became a powerful 
tool also in personal communication and private socialization in the 
form of the so-called social media. The rise into prominence of the PC 
as a tool of entertainment, communication and social media put 
information systems in the hands of individuals for the use of 
non-business purposes - i.e. for non-structured or semi-structured 
social organizations and personal use. The recent mobilization of 
non-structured socio-political gatherings on the Mediterranean and in 
the Middle East were made possible by social media technology; while 
citizen pressure groups use social media to get their voices heard, 
demonstrated by the several million objections early in 2012 against the 
proposed Antipiracy Bills in the USA. What is the impact of such 
non-formal social groups and individual use on the design and 
construction of information systems? Should design be about 
Human-Computer-Interface (HCI), or about Human-Human Communication 
(HHC), facilitated by technology? Similar questions were recently posed 
at other conferences, eg. the Interaction conference - 
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/25639-in-interaction-design/

The PC is no longer the dominant device for entertainment, personal 
communication and private socialization purposes. Mobile phone 
distribution has surpassed the PC in 2010 in market-share. The prominent 
past view of the client-server model, where client meant PC, has changed 
to a model where client now means mobile device - either mobile phone or 
tablet. Do the same principles of IS developed for the PC still apply?

Ecologically, sustainability has global implications. If social 
sustainability also implies global social sustainability, all societies 
and the complex web of international networks (technological as well as 
social) need to be considered. IS systems in the developing world, which 
makes up the majority of people on this planet, thus also need to be 
considered. However, distribution of network infrastructure in the 
developing world is poor, while most commerce takes place in the 
informal business sector and on the level of micro businesses. In 
addition, the mobile market dominates the PC market by far in the 
developing world. With its emphasis on formal organizational IS, which 
meant business and mostly big business, and at best medium-sized 
businesses, there is not much research in IS circles on information 
systems for micro-organizations and micro-businesses. IS research also 
typically assumes 24/7 broadband connectivity, which is hard to come by 
in the developing world. So how does cloud computing apply in this 
environment? And how should IS be designed for this environment?

Since the discipline of IS was introduced some time ago, the world has 
changed in the ways described above. What are the implications of this 
trend for future IS research and for principles to build sustainable IS? 
Do we need different theories and models for mobile systems, 
micro-organizations, individuals, social groups, and the developing 
world? Does /status quo/IS hold? These are the questions to be addressed 
in this track. Briefly then, what are the design implications for IS in 
the long-term outcome of these trends and events? Should information 
systems consider expanding the scope of the field, or can the existing 
IS conceptual tools deal with this?

_Suggested topics:_

/A short list to indicate the type of issues of interest to the track/

  *

    Non-formal organizational IS

  *

    IS for micro businesses

  *

    Social ecology of IS

  *

    Social media and IS

  *

    Mobile phones and IS

  *

    IS in the developing world

  *

    IS for private use

  *

    Social activism and information systems

  *

    The impact of ICT rights on IS

  *

    Alternative metaphors for interface design

  *

    The future of IS

*Publication
*Selected papers will be published in a book.

*Track Chairs
*Jacques Steyn
Head of School of Information Technology
Monash University, South African campus

Alexandra Cristea
Dept of Computer Science
Warwick University




-- 
___________________________
Jacques Steyn PhD, HED
Head: School of IT
Monash South Africa

+27-11-950-4132 Phone
+27-11-950-4033 Fax
+27-83-296-9122 Mobile
jacques.steyn.za    Skype
jacques at steyn.pro

http://sit.monash.ac.za/
http://sit.monash.ac.za/staff/steyn/
http://www.steyn.pro/

IDIA: International Development Informatics Association
http://www.developmentinformatics.org/
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