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Publications (125)
The ‘conversation’ offers an important contribution to the archaeology of information systems, both in practice as an academic domain or discipline, and a focus on the genealogy of the field, including some of the accidents and deviations that marked later developments. It is derived from a series of conversations and later exchanges that I arrange...
Part 1 of the ‘conversation’ offered important insights into a groundbreaking era for computer development – adding further detail to existing writings by Frank Land, the work of the LEO group in general, and extended accounts such as those by Ferry, Hally and Harding. This should have whetted the appetite for readers keen to know more, also prompt...
The history of computing in practice is barely 70 years old. The field of computing theory/academe is barely 60 years old, if we start counting with the advent of computer science and information systems courses/degrees in the 1960s. Yet computing historians have gotten a number of things dreadfully wrong in that short period of time.
History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history that we make today. Henry Ford’s edict on history has, in a sense, become a cliché derided by some as the ignorant spoutings of a self-opinionated, but highly successful entrepreneu...
In 2012, the Association for Information Systems (AIS) decided to establish the history of IS as a major study domain and, in 2013, appointed Professor Ping Zhang from Syracuse University as AIS Historian. One of her first acts was to set up a panel at each of the major AIS-sponsored conferences to examine aspects of IS history. The first conferenc...
In his recent book The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering, Capers Jones promises to fill a long-standing need for a text that gives readers an understanding of the history of software engineering. In this paper, I examine the extent to which Jones succeeds in meeting that promise.
In 2012, the Association for Information Systems (AIS) decided to establish the history of IS as a major study domain and, in 2013, appointed Professor Ping Zhang from Syracuse University as AIS Historian. One of her first acts was to set up a panel at each of the major AIS-sponsored conferences to examine aspects of IS history. The first conferenc...
In his recent book The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering, Capers Jones promises to fill a longstanding need for a text that gives readers an understanding of the history of software engineering. In this paper, I examine the extent to which Jones succeeds in meeting that promise.
In 2010 Jeff Baker proposed a panel for the 2010 ICIS Conference in St. Louis on the topic ” Technologies that Transform Business and Research: Lessons from the Past as we look into the Future? (Baker et al., 2011), He invited Frank Land to be a member of the panel. Frank sought to explore some topics that were receiving a great deal of attention f...
Prologue and preamble The views of Collingwood can be summarized as follows. The philosophy of history is concerned neither with ‘the past by itself’ nor with ‘the historian's thought about it by itself’, but with ‘the two things in their mutual relations’. (This dictum reflects the two current meanings of the word ‘history’ – the inquiry conducted...
It is now more than 60 years since the world's first business use of a computer, the valuation of bakery output, was rolled-out on the LEO I computer at Cadby Hall in London, the headquarters of the food production and catering company J. Lyons and Company. LEO I had been designed and built as a computer to be used for business data processing by a...
It is now more than 60 years since the world’s first business use of a computer, the valuation of bakery output, was rolled-out on the LEO I computer at Cadby Hall in London, the headquarters of the food production and catering company J. Lyons and Company. LEO I had been designed and built as a computer to be used for business data processing by a...
In 2010 Jeff Baker proposed a panel for the 2010 ICIS Conference in St. Louis on the topic " Technologies that Transform Business and Research: Lessons from the Past as we look into the Future? (Baker et al., 2011), He invited Frank Land to be a member of the panel. Frank sought to explore some topics that were receiving a great deal of attention f...
The purpose of this chapter is to argue the case that the study of Knowledge Management should embrace considerations of ethics and accountability. Knowledge Management—a relatively new discipline—is often seen as a necessary but benign component of any modern business organization. This chapter suggests that underlying modern notions of knowledge...
The article is shaped by two regularily repeated cliches. The first is History is bunk. Henry Ford's well known saying has two implications: (1) that what purports to be history is more often than not inaccurate if not a downright lie, and (2) that we have nothing to learn from history as modern innovations make the past irrelevant. The second clic...
Knowledge management (KM), as a topic for academic research and practical implementation, has had a short history dating back only to the early 1990s. Due to knowledge management’s recent debut as we know it, it is not surprising that much of the writing and research on the subject is controversial. In this article we note the need of a critical aw...
What are the technologies that will transform business and drive the research agenda for the IS field in the years to come? Which innovations, platforms, and paradigms will become dominant, and which others will ultimately pass into obscurity? In this panel discussion, we will seek answers to these questions from those with a unique and unmatched p...
Knowledge management (KM), as a topic for academic research and practical implementation, has had a short history dating back only to the early 1990s. Due to knowledge management’s recent debut as we know it, it is not surprising that much of the writing and research on the subject is controversial. In this article we note the need of a critical aw...
Mumford [née McFarland], Enid Mary (1924–2006), social scientist, was born on 6 March 1924 at Iona, Groveland Avenue, Wallasey, Cheshire, the daughter of Arthur McFarland (1893–1966), a hospital secretary, and later a prominent barrister and chief stipendary magistrate of Liverpool, and his wife, Dorothy, née Evans, a headteacher. Her family and in...
Knowledge Management has become in the past few decades an important branch of the wider discipline of Information Systems.
Its importance is based on the observation that we live in a knowledge society and that knowledge has become a crucial component
of a competitive organization. This essay argues that knowledge is a mark of civilization and has...
Design Science has, in the past few years, become a topic of increasing importance especially in the North American academic IS community. Some observers see a new hegemony in the process of forming. Others dispute that, but suggest that Design Science is merely the latest bandwagon rolling through the IS domain. The panel includes supporters of al...
A leading vendor of information technology (IT) systems commissioned the authors to investigate how its clients made their decision to acquire new systems, what benefits they expected to gain, and the kind of evaluation procedures used both before taking the decision to go ahead and subsequently when the systems were in operation. The 16 organizati...
Although information systems is growing rapidly, it has little theoretical clarity. An article in the Times Higher Education Supplement of March 1989 by Liebenau and Backhouse sparked a debate on the character of information systems as a discipline. This paper reviews that debate, bringing out the main points of many of the discussants, and present...
The purpose of this chapter is to argue the case that the study of Knowledge Management should embrace considerations of ethics and accountability. Knowledge Management-a relatively new discipline-is often seen as a necessary but benign component of any modern business organization. This chapter suggests that underlying modern notions of knowledge...
The purpose of this chapter is to argue the case that the study of Knowledge Management should embrace considerations of ethics and accountability. Knowledge Management—a relatively new discipline—is often seen as a necessary but benign component of any modern business organization. This chapter suggests that underlying modern notions of knowledge...
Knowledge management (KM), as a topic for academic research and practical implementation, has had a short history dating back only to the early 1990s. Due to knowledge management’s recent debut as we know it, it is not surprising that much of the writing and research on the subject is controversial. In this article we note the need of a critical aw...
The last decade of the 20th century saw the emergence of a new discipline within the realm of information systems, which became known as knowledge management (KM). As such, it has become one of the most discussed issues amongst academics and practitioners working in the information systems and human resource management arenas (Prusack, 2001). Among...
In recent years, complexity theory has been shown to throw light on a number of issues related to the management of organizations. Examples include the use of complexity notions to help understand situations such as mergers and acquisitions and assist in the successful facilitation of these events by suggesting appropriate enabling infrastructures...
This paper reports on a study that investigated the status and anticipated development of e-Business activity. A prime aim of the study was to increase understanding of the human and organizational issues that arise with e-Business, and the extent to which these are currently addressed. An expert panel method was used, which involved interviewing 7...
KM motivations and behaviour are intertwined with power relations and the self-interests of engaged actors, including researchers, and where during the design, implementation use and research into KM systems, dilemmas, sometimes explicit, but more often tacit, may affect behaviour. The public discussion around the relationship between business orga...
The last decade of the 20th century saw the emergence of a new discipline within the realm of information systems, which became known as knowledge management (KM). As such, it has become one of the most discussed issues amongst academics and practitioners working in the information systems and human resource management arenas (Prusack, 2001). Among...
What has IFIP contributed to the field of information systems and organizations through the activities of Working Group 8.2,
its central working group in information systems? What has WG 8.2 delivered to its constituents? What have the results and
impacts of the WG 8.2 been on the larger community? This panel will not shy away from controversy as i...
The paper describes an order processing and stock control application implemented at the Ford Motor Company's spare parts
depot at Aveley in the late 1950s. A major feature was the effective combination of computer and punched card technology,
which was the key to success.
The spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs) since the late 1940s has been remarkable. ICTs are ubiquitous, and they are studied under a variety of different headings in various major divisions in Universities around the world. Yet one of the key reference disciplines – Information Systems [IS] – is a domain in crisis: Having bat...
The paper describes an order processing and stock control application implemented at the Ford Motor Company's spare parts depot at Aveley in the late 1950s. A major feature was the effective combination of computer and punched card technology, which was the key to success.
Knowledge management (KM), as a topic for academic research and practical implementation, has had a short history dating back only to the early 1990s. Due to knowledge management’s recent debut as we know it, it is not surprising that much of the writing and research on the subject is controversial. In this article we note the need of a critical aw...
The last decade of the 20th century saw the emergence of a new discipline within the realm of information systems, which became known as knowledge management (KM). As such, it has become one of the most discussed issues amongst academics and practitioners working in the information systems and human resource management arenas (Prusack, 2001). Among...
This paper reports a study which reviewed the literature and explored the approaches adopted by a small sample of local government bodies engaged in implementing e-Government. The findings suggest that the e-Government implementation process underway in the UK does not embody the principles of widening democracy and increasing social inclusion. The...
Knowledge management (KM), as a topic for academic research and practical implementation, has had a short history dating back only to the early 1990s. Due to knowledge management’s recent debut as we know it, it is not surprising that much of the writing and research on the subject is controversial. In this article we note the need of a critical aw...
In the past decade the notion that modern technology with the internet, mobile computing and enhanced communication technology at its heart, can transform the administrative procedures of government at all levels and at the same time enhance the democratic
opportunities of all citizens, has taken hold. Many countries have rolled out extensive progr...
This paper reports on a study that investigated the status and anticipated development of e-Business activity. A prime aim of the study was to increase understanding of the human and organizational issues that arise with e-Business, and the extent to which these are currently addressed. An expert panel method was used, which involved interviewing 7...
Many of the notions, which underpin the study of Information Systems (IS) and IS Management are based on systems theory. However the sciences of complexity are in many ways complementary to those of systems theory, whilst helping to enrich and deepen our understanding of the arena of discourse. This article outlines the contribution made by complex...
This book is a useful text for advanced students of MIS and ICT courses, and for those studying ICT in related areas: Management and Organization Studies, Cultural Studies, and Technology and Innovation. As ICT’s permeate every sphere of society-business, education, leisure, government, etc.-it is important to reflect the character and complexity o...
This book is a useful text for advanced students of MIS and ICT courses, and for those studying ICT in related areas: Management and Organization Studies, Cultural Studies, and Technology and Innovation. As ICT’s permeate every sphere of society-business, education, leisure, government, etc.-it is important to reflect the character and complexity o...
Innovation is widely regarded as one of the crucial capabilities if an enterprise is to be successful and to sustain its success
(Kay, 1993). John Simmons, Chief Comptroller of J. Lyons and ‘father’ of the LEO project said:
Innovation is the lifeblood of successful business management. Without innovation the most successful business will ultimatel...
Knowledge Management (KM) has become one of the most discussed issues amongst academics and practitioners working in the information systems arena. The source of knowledge, the dissemination of knowledge, and the motives of the knowledge provider and knowledge seeker have received less attention in the literature than their significance warrants, b...
There is much discussion among IS academics in general and those who belong to IFIP WG 8.2 in particular of appropriate research methods and their underlying philosophical foundations. Discussion on research methods has tended to focus on the debate between those who advocate empirical methods based on validating models, frameworks, and hypotheses...
In 1949, the world's first business computer application was rolled out. The host for the application was a British catering and food-manufacturing company, which had developed and built its own computer, designed for business data processing. The author traces the endeavour's history and presents an analysis of how and why the company-J. Lyons & C...
The socio-technical approach to managing business and organizational change has been around for about half of the 20th century. Ever since the pioneers of the approach at the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations published the outcome of their study of the attempts by the National Coal Board in the UK to improve productivity by the introduction o...
This paper considers the problems of evaluating the benefits of an investment in information technology and systems against a background of institutional change. It is based on a case study in the National Health Service and follows the progress of a project to introduce benefits realisation in NHS Trusts. The case illustrates the importance of per...
“Value for IT money” has been and is an issue. There is concern that poor evaluation procedures mean it is difficult to select projects for investment, to control development and to measure business return after implementation. This concern has been matched by increased activity in researching IT evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to consider...
This book examines influential ideas within Management Information Systems (MIS). Leading international contributors summarize key topics and explore a variety of issues currently being discussed in the field. They re-visit influential ideas such as socio-technical theory, systems thinking, and structuration theory and demonstrate their relevance t...
There are many types of information system. The process of building and implementing such systems should be contingent on the characteristics of the real world system which is to be transformed with the use of information technology. The paper classifies systems in terms of their stability, knowability, and predictability, and suggests that each do...
An abstract is not available.
The world’s first computer designed and used primarily as a business computer was built by a British food manufacturing and catering company at the beginning of the 1950s. The paper tells the story of how the decisions to make a computer were taken and sets out an analysis of the characteristics of the enterprise which made such an action not as su...
One of the prime reasons for the deployment of information technology in organizations is the expectation of a positive return on the investment. But the returns from different types of application vary both in terms of the ability to provide straightforward measurement of the costs and benefits, and in the degree of certainty with which estimates...
L'A. montre (1) que les professionnels des systemes d'information ont tente de mettre la technologie de l'information (TI) et les systemes d'information dans une position centrale qu'en pratique ils n'ont pas, (2) que les industriels ont des conceptions differentes de l'importance de TI, (3) l'impact de TI sur l'organisation, (4) la situation attei...
Too narrow a focus on overcoming organisational obstacles such as financial hurdle rates can often obstruct effective evaluation of investment in information technology (IT). To clear the hurdle rates with a minimum amount of organisational disturbance, evaluation procedures are often distorted. This may mean that 'difficult to handle' benefits are...
This note addresses the problem of choosing an appropriate method when evaluating an IT investment as set out in a previous work. The problem arises immediately because there are many methods on offer for performing the evaluation and a great number of different situations in which those methods could be applied. There is thus a problem of matching...
This note addresses the problem of choosing an appropriate method when evaluating an IT investment as set out in a previous work. The problem arises immediately because there are many methods on offer for performing the evaluation and a great number of different situations in which those methods could be applied. There is thus a problem of matching...
Evaluating the costs and benefits of IT projects is currently a major issue for senior general managers. This paper focuses on a particular aspect of the problem: how organizations appraise IT investments in taking the decision whether to go ahead with them or not. The paper looks first at the different roles of evaluation; second at what is done i...
Evaluating the costs and benefits of IT projects is currently a major issue for senior general managers. This paper focuses on a particular aspect of the problem: how organizations appraise IT investments in taking the decision whether to go ahead with them or not. The paper looks first at the different roles of evaluation; second at what is done i...
An abstract is not available.
An abstract is not available.
The main features of systems theory are presented in an overview by four members of the Systems Engineering Action Committee of the Management and Design Division. The systems approach is one of the major intellectual developments of the last half century, and comprises a body of concepts for the description, analysis and design of complex entities...
The main features of systems theory are presented. The systems approach comprises a body of concepts for the description, analysis and design of complex entities. It embraces the engineering of control, computing systems, biological organisms, human organisation and economics. The generalised theory has the feature of holism, `the whole is greater...
An abstract is not available.
