[AISWorld] CFP and call for reviewers: AMCIS 2013 mini-track on "Transdisciplinary Wisdom in IS Research" (IS Philosophy)

[Jan Kroeze]

Dear colleagues

This is the second call for papers for the AMCIS 2013 mini-track on
"Transdisciplinary Wisdom in IS Research" (IS Philosophy)

Please let me know at jan.kroeze at gmail.com if you would be interested to
peer-review papers submitted to this mini-track.

Mini-Track Title: Transdisciplinary Wisdom in IS Research
Track Title: IS Philosophy (IS
Philosophy<http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=58>
)

19th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2013)
Hyperconnected World: Anything Anywhere Anytime
Chicago, Illinois, USA
15-17 August 2013

Deadline for paper submissions: February 22, 2013 (the Bepress system is
now open for submissions)

Instructions for authors at: AMCIS website<http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/>
(http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/)

The mini-track details are listed under the Information Systems Philosophy
track. See:
http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=58

The cfp and templates are available at
http://amcis2013.aisnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84&Itemid=60

Description:


This mini-track has two intertwined themes: wisdom and transdisciplinarity
in IS research. Wisdom goes beyond knowledge and is concerned with inquiry
on what is of true value for the individual and for the collective
good.  Wisdom
arises in a person-context interaction but can also be conceived in terms
of groups, organizations, communities, and nations. Transdisciplinarity
refers to a holistic blended approach that brings together collaborators
from various disciplines to solve complex practical problems. This
mini-track offers an opportunity to reflect on transdisciplinary wisdom as
a goal of IS research and as a means for studying IS issues.



In today’s troubled world ridden with alarming crises of all kinds, the
importance of wisdom cannot be underestimated.  “If there is anything the
world needs, it is wisdom. Without it, I exaggerate not at all in saying
that very soon, there may be no world. . .” warns Robert J. Sternberg,
eminent wisdom researcher and 2003 President of the American Psychological
Association (Sternberg, 2003). Being at the pinnacle of the
data-information-knowledge-wisdom pyramid (Ackoff, 1989; Zeleny, 1987),
wisdom needs to be seen as an important goal of information systems but
there is little understanding of how to transform knowledge to wisdom
(Rowley, 2007). The IS field, with its interdisciplinary focus on the
relationship between information technologies and diverse individual,
organizational, and societal issues, is well positioned to advance wisdom
computing research (Dalal, 2012). Wisdom is both an end and a means in IS
research. Wisdom is inextricably connected with knowledge, decision making,
decision support, inquiry, inquiring systems (Churchman, 1971), inquiring
organizations (Courtney, Haynes, and Paradice, 2005), systems thinking,
business thinking (Mitroff, 1993), and learning organizations (Senge, 1990)
among other topics of interest to IS researchers. Transdisciplinary wisdom
is a means to IS research as the diversity enriching IS goes further than
the social sciences and may include the humanities as well (Kroeze, 2010;
Kroeze et al., 2011). Historical, philosophical and linguistic fields are
only three humanities disciplines that are relevant for IS.



According to Sternberg’s balance theory (2003), wisdom is the application
of intelligence, creativity and knowledge for the common good by balancing
intrapersonal, interpersonal and extrapersonal (institutional and other
larger) interests. Wisdom has been related to cognitive, reflective, and
affective personality characteristics including multiple perspectives and
insight (Ardelt, 2004) and to self-actualization and beyond (Maslow, 1971).



Wisdom’s emphasis on intelligence and creativity provides a link to
transdisciplinarity. The criteria of novelty and importance seem to
differentiate transdisciplinarity from interdisciplinarity, which is the
integration of insights from multiple disciplines (Weber, 2012). This is
where research in IS can make a huge contribution since a strong focus on
problem solving is typical of both IS and transdisciplinary research (De
Albuquerque and Simon, 2007:1460). Critical theory and action research are
examples of IS paradigms and research methodologies that focus on improving
organisations and society.



The practical focus of transdisciplinary IS is very clear in several
publications. Elliot (2011) encourages it in order to promote environmental
sustainability. Not only should IT try to minimise its own impact on the
environment but it should also be used to address the carbon footprint of
other industries (Elliot, 2011: 200). This necessitates the collaboration
of different disciplines to approach a common problem and to find solutions
which may change business practices in the process (Elliot, 2011: 204). The
impact-orientation of transdisciplinary work may especially be a
contribution from IS side – information systems are today pervasive in all
business endeavours and they are used to change processes and behaviour to
complement insights from other disciplines and to enhance efficiency. In
the academic world, our community engagement is one attempt to use our
knowledge and skills in a practical way. This enables academic staff to
reach out to the community, while they also enrich their pedagogy and
research at the same time.



The idea of novelty is also very important in transdisciplinarity with
regard to its theoretical contributions. Weber’s (2012) suggested framework
and criteria (including novelty and importance) can be used to evaluate and
develop new innovative theories in the IS discipline. Hovorka and Corbett
(2012) developed a trans-disciplinary framework for IS Sustainability
Research. The static borders of a settled discipline often need to be
deconstructed in order to see and solve new problems. Deconstruction is the
idea that all phenomena are deeply embedded in cultural environments and
that these layers must be uncovered in order to properly understand the
core of the issues (De Albuquerque and Simon, 2007:1460). When a discipline
becomes established it becomes a “self-bounded entity”, and its scope is
determined by the specialities of its researchers, journal editors’ and
reviewers’ agendas and the needs of universities and colleges offering the
subject (Hovorka, 2010: 6). The individuality of a discipline is not a
given, but something that evolves and changes as the academic society and
the wider society changes (Teo and Srivastava, 2007:525). Deconstruction is
typical of the postmodern era of our times, while the related call for a
pluralistic approach to solve complex problems is typical of the related
concept of postpositivism. Hirschheim (1985) already pleaded in 1985
formethodological pluralism in IS theory which transcends the
limitations of
the scientific method (positivism).



This minitrack will provide a platform to reflect on transdisciplinary
wisdom as an end and means of IS research through the application of social
science and the humanities. Three main approaches are possible:
multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary.
Multi-disciplinarity refers to the study of a phenomenon from divergent
angles, with little or no integration. Interdisciplinarity amalgamates two
or more perspectives, and transdisciplinarity is a holistic, blended
approach transversing disciplinary limits (Van Biljon, 2011).


Suggested Topics:


Potential themes/topics include but are not limited to the following:

   - Understanding wisdom as a goal for IS and its operational definitions
   and dimensions
   - Exploring present and potential contributions of the humanities
   (Linguistics, History, Art, Philosophy, Theology, Law, etc.) to IS
   - Probing the enrichment between IS and other disciplines, such as the
   natural and social sciences
   - Reflecting on multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches in IS
   theory and practice
   - Categorization of existing IS research as either multi-, inter- or
   transdisciplinary
   - Reflections on bridging divisions between diverse methodologies,
   assumptions, and communities of practice in IS research
   - Reflections on the wise use of technologies in a digital age
   - Understanding differences between knowledge and wisdom
   - Applications of diverse wisdom philosophic perspectives (e.g. Eastern,
   Western, African, Native American, etc.) to IS
   - Reflections on the role of IS in producing, sharing, impacting, and
   supporting wisdom at the level of the individual, organization, community
   (real and virtual), society, culture, nation, nation-bloc, and globe
   - Implications of transdisciplinary wisdom research for IS as a
   discipline


Mini-Track Chairs:*
*Jan H. Kroeze, School of Computing, University of South Africa, Pretoria,
South Africa, Email: kroezjh at unisa.ac.za* *Nik Dalal, Management Science
and Information Systems, Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State
University, Stillwater, OK, Email: nik at okstate.edu
References


Ackoff, R.L. (1989) ‘From data to wisdom,’ Journal of Applied Systems
Analysis, Vol. 16, pp.3-9.


Ardelt, M. (2004) ‘Wisdom as expert knowledge system: A critical review of
a contemporary operationalization of an ancient concept,’ Human
Development, Vol. 47, pp.257-285.


Churchman, C. West. (1971) The design of inquiring systems: Basic concepts
of systems and organization, Basic Books, New York.


Courtney, J.F., Haynes, J. and Paradice, D.P. (2005) Inquiring
organizations: Moving from knowledge management to wisdom, IGI Global.


Dalal, N., ‘Wisdom computing: Toward a framework for wisdom research in
Information Systems’ (July 29, 2012). *AMCIS 2012 Proceedings.* Paper 14.


De Albuquerque, J. and Simon, E. (2007) ‘Dealing with socio-technical
complexity: Towards a transdisciplinary approach to IS research,’ *ECIS
2007 Proceedings,* paper 149. Available at:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2007/149


Elliot, S. (2011) ‘Transdisciplinary perspectives on environmental
sustainability: A resource base and framework for IT-enabled business
transformation,’ *MIS Quarterly*, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 197-236.


Hirschheim, R. (1985) ‘Information systems epistemology: An historical
perspective,’ In *Research Methods in Information Systems,* E. Mumford, R.
Hirschheim, G. Fitzgerald and T. Wood- Harper, Eds. North-Holland,
Amsterdam, *IFIP WG 82 Colloquium Research Methods in IS, p*p. 13-36.


Hovorka, D.S. (2010) ‘Moving beyond IS identity: Concepts and
discourses,’ *ICIS
2010 Proceedings, *paper 267. Available at:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2010_submissions/267


Hovorka, D.S. and Corbett, J. (2012) 'IS sustainability research: A
trans-disciplinary framework for a 'grand challenge',' *ICIS 2012
Proceedings*. Available at
http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2012/proceedings/GreenIS/8/


Kroeze, J.H. (2010) ‘The mutualistic relationship between Information
Systems and the Humanities’ (full paper, edited version of inaugural
lecture), Proceedings of the 15th International Business Information
Management Association Conference (15th IBIMA), 6 - 7 November 2010, Cairo,
Egypt, pp. 915-927.


Kroeze, J.H., Lotriet, H.H., Mavetera, N., Pfaff, M.S., Postma, D.J.V.R.,
Sewchurran, K. & Topi, H. (2011) ‘ECIS 2010 panel report:
Humanities-enriched Information Systems,’ Communications of the Association
for Information Systems (CAIS), Vol. 28, No. 1, Article 24, pp.373-392.
Available: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol28/iss1/24 and
http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/4651


Maslow, A.H. (1971) Chpt 3, ‘Self-actualizing and beyond’ in ‘The farther
reaches of human nature,’ Penguin Compass, New York.


Mitroff, I. and Linstone, H.A., The unbounded mind: Breaking the chains of
traditional business thinking, Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1993.


Rowley J. (2007) ‘The wisdom hierarchy: Representations of the DIKW
hierarchy,’ *Journal of Information Science*, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 163-180.


Sternberg, Robert J. (2003) Wisdom, intelligence, and creativity
synthesized, Cambridge University Press, New York.


Teo, T.S.H. and Srivastava, S.C. (2007) ‘Information Systems (IS)
discipline identity: A review and framework,’ *Communications of the
Association for Information Systems, *vol. 20, article 33.Van Biljon, J.
(2011) ‘A critical review on the reporting of surveys in transdisciplinary
research: A case study in Information Systems,’ The Journal
forTransdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp.
337-350. Available:
http://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0&next=ej/ej_content_transd.html&bad=error/authofail.html


Weber, R. (2012) ‘Evaluating and developing theories in the Information
Systems discipline,’ *Journal of the Association for Information Systems*,
vol. 13, iss. 1, article 2. Available at:
http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol13/iss1/2Wenger, E., McDermott, R., &


Snyder, W.M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to
managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.


Zeleny, M. (1987) ‘Management support systems: towards integrated knowledge
management,’ Human Systems Management, Vol. 7, No. 1 pp. 59-70.

Sincerely

Jan H. Kroeze and Nik Dalal
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