[AISWorld] AIS Commitment to ICIS 2017

[Brook Pritchett]

Colleagues,

This week, the AIS Council held its annual fiscal year-end meeting for 2016-17. The meeting proved to be very productive in performing the business of the association, including the approval of the new MENA chapter and the introduction of new initiatives to improve the field of information systems.

An important topic of our meetings was ICIS 2017 in Seoul.  Given the recent inflammatory statements by political leaders in North Korea, the United States, and further afield, we assessed the viability of Seoul as the location of our fields most diverse and oldest conference.  We discussed:


1.      Extraordinarily high community interest in ICIS. Paper submissions reached near-record levels.

2.      The conference venue. The Coex Convention Center in the heart of Seoul affords conference participants unique opportunities to learn about the culture, the traditions, the food of Korea.

3.      Safety of participants.  With the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea, just six weeks after ICIS, we are confident South Korea will provide a safe and welcoming environment for our members and indeed the world!

4.      Conference leadership.  Yong Jin Kim, Jae Kyu Lee, and Ritu Agarwal have worked aggressively to ensure that ICIS 2017 continues the tradition of excellence demonstrated in Dublin, Fort Worth, and Auckland.


Upon concluding our discussion, we voted unanimously to support ICIS 2017 in Seoul.  While political rhetoric might cause some to question holding ICIS in Seoul, a careful analysis of reality suggests that Seoul provides tremendous opportunities for the Information Systems community to learn and strengthen our discipline.

Further, we voted to express our sincerest gratitude to the ICIS 2017 Conference Committee for their efforts. Notably the Conference Chairs Yong Jin Kim, Jae Kyu Lee and Ritu Agarwal and Program Chairs Christina Soh, Ola Henfridsson and Youngjin Yoo have worked to ensure a truly remarkable conference.

We thank all of members for your continued support and attendance at ICIS. We look forward to seeing each of you in Seoul!

Sincerely,

Jason Thatcher, Ph.D., AIS President
Matti Rossi, Ph.D., AIS President-Elect
Mary Jones, Ph.D., AIS Secretary
Matthew Nelson, Ph.D., AIS Treasurer
Alan Dennis, Ph.D. AIS VP Conferences
Carol Saunders, Ph.D., AIS VP of Publications
Ryan Wright, Ph.D., AIS VP of Member Services
Rhonda Syler, Ph.D., AIS Incoming VP of Student Chapters
Lakshmi Lyer, Ph.D., AIS VP SIGS and Colleges
Stacie Petter, Ph.D. AIS Region 1 Representative
Roman Beck, Ph.D., AIS Region 2 Representative
Ming-Hui Huang, Ph.D., AIS Region 3 Representative