[AISWorld] CFP: ISR Special Issue on Digital Infrastructure and Platforms

[Ritu Agarwal]

*Information Systems Research*

*Special Issue Call for Papers*

*DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLATFORMS*

*Special Issue Editors *

Panos Constantinides, University of Warwick (panos.constantinides at wbs.ac.uk)
Ola Henfridsson, University of Warwick (ola.henfridsson at wbs.ac.uk)
Geoffrey Parker, Dartmouth College (geoffrey.g.parker at dartmouth.edu)

*Idea in Brief*

Societies have become increasingly dependent on the digital infrastructure
that facilitates our daily activities. Energy, finance, health, payments,
transport, science, security, and city life are all areas where digital
infrastructure represents a critical foundation for increasing the
effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of life. It is therefore not
surprising that corporations, researchers, and policy makers have
recognized the potential of digital infrastructure in bringing together
people, information, and technology to support business practices, social
and economic activities, research, and collective action in civic matters
(Adner and Kapoor 2010; Atkins 2003; Au and Kauffman 2008; Constantinides
and Barrett 2014; NSF 2012; Tilson et al. 2010). The infrastructures are
enabling new capabilities and activities in ways that would have been
unimaginable even a decade ago. Examples include the increasing prevalence
of citizen science, direct manufacturing through 3D printing, wearable
devices, smart multi-purpose lighting, post-carbon energy systems,
collaborative sharing such as peer-to-peer lending and ridesharing, and the
collection of data from all types of equipment that makes the Internet of
Things possible.


Not unlike traditional infrastructure investments, such as roads and
electricity distribution networks, digital infrastructures are the
manifestation of complex technological and social systems (Edwards et al.
2007; Eisenmann et al. 2011) and can have profound implications for social
and economic transactions in at least three ways. First, digital
infrastructures evolve and create new organizing logics (Sambamurthy and
Zmud 2000; Yoo et al. 2010) over time as multiple actors add, change,
replace, and extend information systems and services on top of already
existing information systems and platforms (Hanseth and Lyytinen 2010;
Henfridsson and Bygstad 2013). Second, digital infrastructures are
typically not controlled by a single business, or governmental actor, but
offer platforms for innovation and collaboration by multiple actors (Hagiu
and Spulber 2013; Parker and Van Alstyne 2014; Tilson et al. 2010). Third,
digital infrastructures permeate almost every aspect of an end user’s
activity from the point of “turning on” to “switching off” their devices.
Digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and personal computers have
indeed become extensions of increasingly diffused and smart digital
infrastructure, powered by ever-expanding capabilities without the need for
heavy investments (cf. Lyytinen and Yoo 2002). Consider, for instance, the
explosion of wearable devices coupled with smartphone ecosystems for continual
monitoring of personal health, and how that coupling transforms healthcare
practices at all levels including national health initiatives. This offers
a new battleground for new digital ventures seeking to build their business
on top of such infrastructure, and it introduces policy issues for actors
seeking to govern such infrastructure.


Many sectors critical to society are at an important inflection point,
where major investments in digital infrastructure and platforms are already
underway. The decisions made today are likely to be path dependent and
subject to strong multi-sided network effects (Parker and Van Alstyne
2005). It is therefore vital to make informed choices about the economic
and organizational frameworks that will govern the evolution of digital
infrastructure, as well as the consequences of the use of these
infrastructures. The decisions will come with implications at the user,
service provider, and network levels. To date, digital infrastructure
research has been focused in relatively self-contained areas such as
information infrastructure studies (e.g., Hanseth and Lyytinen 2010),
platform economics and governance (e.g., Eisenmann et al. 2011; Gawer 2014;
Tiwana 2015), and science and technology studies (e.g., Edwards et al.
2007). To respond to recent calls for more research on digital
infrastructure (Tilson et al. 2010) and platform evolution (Tiwana et al.
2010), there is a need to bring these perspectives together into a special
issue that deals with digital infrastructure and platforms.



This special issue seeks papers presenting novel approaches to inquiry into
the organizational, economic, technical, and governance aspects of digital
infrastructure and platforms of the future. The special issue is open to
all types of research methodologies and especially encourages a diversity
of theoretical and empirical approaches. Topics of interest include but are
not limited to the following:




   - ·       Novel capabilities enabled by smart infrastructures and
   platforms
   - ·       Governance and control of digital infrastructure and platforms
   - ·       Regulation of digital infrastructure and platforms
   - ·       Industry-specific opportunities and challenges of digital
   infrastructure and platforms
   - ·       User behaviors on digital infrastructure
   - ·       Optimizing infrastructure investment decisions
   - ·       Novel approaches to platform evolution
   - ·       Scaling of digital ventures across digital infrastructure and
   platforms
   - ·       Valuation of digital infrastructure and platforms
   - ·       Intangible platform assets
   - ·       Standards implementation and maintenance
   - ·       The economics of digital infrastructure evolution
   - ·       Challenges of control and flexibility in infrastructure and
   platform architecture
   - ·       Open access policies and community-based development
   - ·       National and international policies
   - ·       Methodological challenges



*Projected Timeline*

September 1, 2016

Submissions due

January 2017

First round of editorial decisions

April 2017

Special issue workshop at Warwick Business School

June 2017

Revisions due

September 2017

Second round of editorial decisions

November 2017

Final revisions due

December 2017

Final editorial decisions

March/June 2018

Expected publication





*Special Issue Editorial Board*



·       Ashish Agarwal, University of Texas at Austin

·       Edward Anderson, University of Texas at Austin

·       Michael Barrett, University of Cambridge

·       Nick Berente, University of Georgia

·       Kevin Boudreau, Harvard University

·       Carmelo Cennamo, Bocconi University

·       Aravind Chandrasekaran, Ohio State University

·       Annabelle Gawer, University of Surrey

·       Ole Hanseth, University of Oslo

·       Jonny Holmström, Umeå University

·       John Horton, New York University

·       James Howison, University of Texas at Austin

·       Yu (Jeffrey) Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology

·       Jannis Kallinikos, London School of Economics

·       Rajiv Kohli, College of William & Mary

·       Anuj Kumar, University of Florida

·       Mingfeng Lin, University of Arizona

·       Rikard Lindgren, University of Gothenburg

·       Kalle Lyytinen, Case Western Reserve University

·       Eric Monteiro, NTNU

·       Joe Nandhakumar, University of Warwick

·       Sandeep Purao, Bentley University

·       Matti Rossi, Aalto University

·       Carsten Sørensen, London School of Economics

·       Siva Viswanathan, University of Maryland

·       Sunil Wattal, Temple University

·       Yuliang (Oliver) Yao, Lehigh University

·       Youngjin Yoo, Temple University





*Process*

·       Authors must submit all manuscripts through *ISR*’s online
submission system at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isr by September 1,
2016.

·       The editorial team will screen all submitted manuscripts. Only
manuscripts deemed to have a reasonable chance of acceptance in an
accelerated review process will remain under consideration.

·       Manuscripts that pass the initial screening will undergo no more
than two rounds of review (i.e., one major revision). Manuscripts not
accepted by the end of the second round will be rejected. The Guest Editors
will make the final decisions based on the AE report and review feedback.

·       After the first round of review, authors of manuscripts invited for
revision will be invited to present their work at a workshop organized on
the special issue topic at Warwick Business School in April 2017. Attendees
will be expected to cover their own travel and lodging expenses.

·       Authors must adhere to a strict schedule for submission and
revision of manuscripts.

·       Authors may submit rejected papers as regular submissions to
*Information
Systems Research* only if the special issue rejection letter recommends
such an action. The Guest Editors will recommend submission as a
regular *Information
Systems Research* article only in special circumstances, such as when a
formally reviewed manuscript had a strong likelihood of acceptance but
either was deemed to be a poor fit with the theme of the special issue or
required revisions that, while perceived to be feasible, are unlikely to be
accomplished within the special issue’s accelerated review schedule.





*Bibliography*



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-- 
Ritu Agarwal
EIC, ISR