[AISWorld] Pre-ICIS SIGPhil Workshop: What does influential and useful research mean to the IS community?

[Nik Rushdi Hassan]

Dear IS Colleagues,

There are still seats available for the SIGPhil workshop at ICIS. This
year, the workshop is organized as a Pre-ICIS event on Sunday, Dec 11, from
11:30am-6pm. The workshop's theme is on what the IS community considers to
be "useful," "influential," and "valuable" academic research, following up
on recent exchanges on this issue. We have an exciting line-up of speakers
(see below) who will present findings from an ad-hoc committee and discuss
the theme in detail. If you are looking for the latest developments in the
philosophy of IS or just want to socialize with thought leaders in IS,
please consider attending this workshop. Lunch and intelligent
conversations included. The SIGPhil will be pleased to verify your
participation for travel funding purposes.


*6th Pre-ICIS SIGPHIL Workshop What does influential and useful research
mean to the IS community? Time for a paradigm shift*

The AIS Special Interest Group on Philosophy in Information Systems
(AIS-SIGPHIL) will hold its 6th ICIS SIGPHIL Research Workshop as a
Pre-ICIS program in Dublin, Ireland on Sunday, December 11, 2016 starting
at 11:30am. Although labeled as a workshop, this event provides an
opportunity to spend quality time with thought leaders of the IS community
discussing important topics in an informal and friendly environment.
Workshop Presenters and Organizing Committee (in alphabetical order)

Niels Bjørn-Andersen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Jan vom Brocke, University of Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein

Samir Chatterjee, Claremont Graduate University, USA

Robert Davison, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Nik Rushdi Hassan, University of Minnesota Duluth, USA

Matti Rossi, Aalto University, Finland.

Monica Tremblay, Florida International University, USA
Workshop Theme

One of the AIS’s recent presidents (2013-2014), Jane Fedorowicz (2013),
made “On the road to relevance,” her presidential manifesto, acknowledging
that as a field, relevance is still a work in progress. This perennial
issue is a favorite in journal articles, conferences and panels, and
reemerged again, in a somewhat casual proposal to list the “most
influential” IS research to date (Chatterjee 2016). What transpired instead
was a seemingly endless firestorm of responses that spoke of how much this
issue struck a chord with the IS community. The responses ranged from the
IS field having significant impact on companies and on students to very
little impact if any. The wide range of responses suggests that the IS
community views “influence,” “usefulness,” or “value of research” in very
different ways. The theme of this year’s SIGPhil workshop is to explore
what influential, useful and valuable research means to the IS community so
that we can agree on some principles that can move our collective effort in
a positive direction. An ad hoc panel of distinguished IS scholars is
working towards generating a broader understanding of “Influence” and will
report some of their findings at the workshop.



The inaugural Debate Section of the Communications of the AIS that explored
the issue of the “Value of IS research” (Hassan 2014) with seven
experienced IS researchers (Avital 2014; Chiasson 2014; Frank 2014; Grover
2014; Johnston and Riemer 2014; Niederman 2014) also reached different
conclusions. We are not alone. The organizational sciences fields now and
again address this same problem regarding the impact of their own research,
the latest round (Davis 2015) even questioning the goals of organizational
research. Commercialization of ideas is obviously one measure of value and
usefulness, but it appears that even for the experts, influence, usefulness
and value may not be so apparent. One report stated that Google’s Larry
Page, who was on the verge on starting his PhD, had no intention of
creating a search engine (Battelle 2005). When he first stumbled on the
idea of ranking a page on the Internet, he just thought that given the
complexity of the Internet, it would be something useful. “My goals were to
work on something that would be academically real and interesting,” he
recalled, and that “there is no reason if you are doing academic work to
work on things that are impractical” (p. 74). The goal of this workshop is
to start this important conversation on influential and valuable academic
research.
Program

*Sun, Dec 11, 2016, Gresham Hotel, Room: O'Connell 2*



11:30am-12:30pm Lunch and Poster Session

12:30-12:45pm Introduction

12:45-1:30pm *Keynote Presentation by Prof. Samir Chatterjee. “Does IS
research have influence? Findings from a community-wide study”*

1:30-2:45pm Panel discussion and Q&A by Niels Bjørn-Andersen, Monica
Tremblay and Matti Rossi

2:45-3:00pm Coffee Break

3:00-3:45pm *Second Keynote Presentation by Prof. Dennis Galletta. “IS
research has relevance: Let’s stop beating ourselves up.”*

3:45-4:45pm Panel Discussions and Q&A by Robert Davison, Nik Rushdi Hassan,
and Jan vom Brocke

4:45-5:45pm Workshop paper presentations

5:45pm Workshop wrap-up

*Important Information and dates:*

Register for ICIS Conference and workshop as early as possible

Workshop Registration Fee: Early registration $60/Regular $80 (Student
$45/$65) includes lunch

SIGPhil Home Page: http://sigphil.wordpress.com
References

Avital, M. 2014. "Constructing the Value of Information Systems
Research," *Communications
of the Association for Information Systems* (34:Art 42) pp. 817-822.

Battelle, J. 2005. *The Search*, London: Portfolio.

Chatterjee, S. 2016. "Most Influential IS Papers"* AISWorld Listserv*,
Association for Information Systems, 2016

Chiasson, M. 2014. "Let’s Start Fooling Ourselves: Strategies for
Manoeuvring within the Micro-Political Influences Surrounding Our Research
Practices," *Communications of the Association for Information Systems*
(34:Art 46) pp. 843-848.

Davis, G.F. 2015. "Editorial Essay: What Is Organizational Research
For?," *Administrative
Science Quarterly* (60:2) pp. 179–188.

Fedorowicz, J. 2013. "On the Road to Relevance."  Association for
Information Systems, Retrieved Sept 7, 2013, from
http://ais.site-ym.com/news/138204/On-the-Road-to-Relevance-.htm

Frank, U. 2014. "Higher Value of Research," *Communications of the
Association for Information Systems* (34:Art 43) pp. 823-828.

Grover, V. 2014. "Value of IS Research: Let’s Not Talk Crisis – but We Can
Do Better," *Communications of the Association for Information Systems*
(34:1 Art 45) pp. 837-842.

Hassan, N.R. 2014. "Value of IS Research: Is There a Crisis?," *Communications
of the Association for Information Systems* (34:Art 41) pp. 801-816.

Johnston, R., and Riemer, K. 2014. "On Putting the Score Ahead of the
Game," *Communications of the Association for Information Systems* (34:Art
47) pp. 849-856.

Niederman, F. 2014. "Responding to Hassan (2014): The Core, Social Value
and IS, and Distinguishing Research Value," *Communications of the
Association for Information Systems* (34:1 Art 44) pp. 829-836.



-- 
Nik Rushdi Hassan, PhD
Assoc. Professor, Finance & MIS Dept.
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
University of Minnesota Duluth
1318 Kirby Drive, LSBE 335Q
Duluth MN 55812
Office Phone: (218) 726-7453
Fax: (218) 726-7516
Home Page: www.d.umn.edu/~nhassan
Email: nhassan at d.umn.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nikrushdi/