CALL FOR PAPERS

The 4th Information Systems Foundations Workshop:
Answering the Unanswered Questions about Design Research

2-3rd October, 2008

National Centre for Information Systems Research
School of Accounting and Business Information Systems
The Australian National University
Canberra, Australia

In conjunction with the Australian Research Council's Research Network in Enterprise Information Infrastructure (EII)

Important Dates
Paper submission (full paper): 7 July, 2008
Acceptance notification: 4 August, 2008
Final papers due: 1 September, 2008
Conference registration: 1 September, 2008 (early bird)

Keynote Speakers
Richard Baskerville, Georgia State University
Juhani Iivari, University of Oulu
Alan Hevner, University of South Florida

Workshop Theme
A basic theme underlying the workshop is that the disciplines related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are applied disciplines and should not draw their models of research practice uncritically from the natural or social sciences. An inspiration for this perspective is Herbert Simon’s Science of the Artificial.

Yet, despite increasing sympathy for this view, and increasing interest in design research and design theorizing with respect to ICT, there is not a great deal of firm guidance for researchers on “how to do” design research well and a number of questions remain unanswered. Experiences with reviewing papers for journals and research grants also suggest that researchers still struggle with aspects of the design research process across the ICT disciplines. The workshop will address this situation.

Workshop Format
Day 1 Thursday, 2nd October
Tutorial sessions with keynote speakers for researchers wishing to learn more about “best practice” in design research.

Day 2 Friday, 3rd October
Research papers addressing design research open questions.

Research Paper Submissions
Papers are invited in three main categories (but are not limited to these categories).

1) Developing Design Theory
Where does design theory come from? Is Simon’s means-end analysis model appropriate? Can design principles be extracted from practice? How can theorizing in the “normal science” paradigm lead to design principles? What is the role of creativity and innovation?

2) Evaluating and Testing Design Theory
What criteria should be used to evaluate designed artifacts and design theory? What methods can be used in evaluation? How well are design researchers doing at evaluating their design ideas? Are ICT researchers in fact building cumulative design theory? How much does our design research inform practice?

3) Different Approaches to Design Theory
Does the type of artifact matter? Is design research in different sub-disciplines in ICT intrinsically different? What can we learn from other applied disciplines (e.g. art, management, engineering)? Must ICT design theory be underpinned by explanatory “kernel” theories from other disciplines? Do underlying philosophical positions matter?

High quality papers that have not been previously published and are not under consideration for publication or presentation elsewhere are solicited for presentation. Submitted papers will undergo a double-blind review process, with at least two independent reviewers per paper. As with the previous ISF Workshops we expect papers will be published in the form of an edited volume, available for free download or print-on-demand hardcopy publication, by the ANU E-Press

The ISF Workshops
The 2008 workshop will be the latest in a series, begun in 1999 by Kit Dampney at Macquarie University and continued biennially from 2002 at the ANU, focussing on the theoretical foundations of the discipline of information systems. Previous workshops have generally been regarded by the attendees as great successes since they have combined not only interesting and thought provoking papers and related discussion but also highly enjoyable social programmes to complement the more formal part of the gatherings.

Program Chairs
Shirley Gregor, Australian National University
Susanna Ho, Australian National University

Tutorial Session Convenors
Joseph Davis, University of Sydney
Shirley Gregor, Australian National University

Program Committee
Jörg Becker, University of Münster, Germany
Joseph Davis, University of Sydney, Australia
Walter Fernandez, Australian National University, Australia
Erwin Fielt, Telematica Instituut, Enschede, Netherlands
Steven Fraser, Australian National University, Australia
Eleanor Gates-Stuart, Australian National University, Australia
Tom Gedeon, Australian National University, Australia
Sigi Goode, Australian National University, Australia
Peter Green, University of Queensland, Australia
Dennis Hart, Australian National University, Australia
Pertti Järvinen, University of Tampere, Finland
Robert Johnston, University College Dublin, Ireland
Nigel Martin, Australian National University, Australia
Craig McDonald, University of Canberra, Australia
Peter Marshall, University of Tasmania, Australia
Lian O’Brien, National ICT Australia (NICTA), Canberra, Australia
Nicholas Pratt, ESSEC Business School, France
Michael Rosemann, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
John Venables, Curtin University, Australia
Xiaofang Zhou, University of Queensland, Australia

Paper Submisison
Papers are to be submitted electronically. Style requirements are specified on the workshop web site. Submitted papers must use and adhere to the paper template provided on the website. Further details will be added progressively to this web site.

Other details
Submission of a paper implies that, if it is accepted, at least one author will register for the workshop and present the paper at the workshop. Papers accepted for presentation will be published in the Workshop Proceedings. Copyright arrangements will be similar to those of the Australasian Conference on Information Systems. That is, the authors assign to the Workshop organizers a non-exclusive license to use the paper in full in the Proceedings and on the Workshop web.

Any enquiries?