Michael Gau

University of Liechtenstein · Information Systems

Online communities are virtual communities where users exchange knowledge, organize tasks, and accomplish work. We focus on how individual users influence the ways others behave. We draw from mimetic theory and leverage computationally intensive theorizing to examine the influence of popular developers on other developers in GitHub, the largest and...

Design Science Research (DSR) is a well-established paradigm in the Information Systems field generating knowledge on the design of innovative solutions to real-world problems. The maturity of DSR has increased due to many methodological contributions, including conceptualization of the design process, templates on how to plan and document, as well...

Design science research (DSR) intends to contribute design knowledge to the scientific discourse in the field of Information Systems. However, such design knowledge is typically produced in isolated DSR projects and does not follow a systematic knowledge accumulation strategy in terms of refining or extending previous design knowledge. Towards a fi...

Design science research (DSR) intends to contribute design knowledge to the scientific discourse in the field of Information Systems. However, such design knowledge is typically produced in isolated DSR projects and does not follow a systematic knowledge accumulation strategy in terms of refining or extending previous design knowledge. Towards a fi...

The information systems field has a long-standing interest in how individual actions co-evolve with social structures. Yet, studying the exact process of co-evolution turned out to be elusive. We propose a novel way to study this co-evolution using digital trace data. By analyzing the sequences of individual actions through digital trace data and t...

Digital infrastructures are socio-technical arrangements of physical objects, digital technologies, users, and processes. They constantly evolve and provide the foundation for the emergence and implementation of a variety of applications. But how and why do digital infrastructures evolve? In this short paper, we report on an ongoing study of an Ind...

Design-oriented research typically involves some kind of research problem discovery activity in order to identify and understand the problem space. Researchers can apply different methods to explore the problem space, for instance, interviews or focus groups. However, these methods are time consuming and do not scale well. Especially when it comes...

We introduce a new theoretical construct to empirically measure and analyze the dynamics of actions and events in virtual organizing through digital trace data: DNA of virtual organizing. The new construct captures the actions and events that form the basic building blocks of all possible and actual paths in virtual organizing. By possible paths, w...

Policies to fight COVID-19 have largely targeted at indoor spaces. Abundant empirical evidence showed that COVID-19 spreads more easily through aerosols in closed rooms. We have been utilizing Design Science Research (DSR) to develop a smart space management solution that draws from space-related trace data to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in indo...

Design Science Research (DSR) provides a rich body of frameworks, approaches, and methods to support researchers in conducting DSR projects. However, there is little tool support and guidance for effectively documenting DSR processes. In this article, we present a prototypical implementation of a conversational agent called "DSR Buddy" that is inte...

Virtual reality promises to be a tool that can improve higher education. Immersive virtual environments offer the chance to enrich courses with experiential learning experiences. The technological possibilities evolve rapidly and more and more researchers report on adopting virtual reality for learning-albeit such work often has a more or less expe...

Action patterns occur wherever people perform work. Research has provided important insights about how action patterns form, change and dissolve over time. However, it has neglected the question of why actors choose to enact certain action patterns. In this research-in-progress, we shed light on the socio-cognitive factors underlying the formation...

Design Science Research (DSR) is a highly context-dependent and iterative process. Design processes in DSR projects represent the actual strategy and execution of design knowledge inquiry and are typically unique. However, details of the actual design process are often lost as there is a lack of transparency in published DSR projects. In this resea...

To solve societal problems, it is essential to engage with actual problem owners in society in a scalable way. In this paper, we follow a Citizen Design Science Research (CDSR) paradigm proposing to more actively involve society in DSR projects. Specifically, we present MyResearchChallenge.digital, a prototypical system that supports participatory...

The information systems (IS) field contains a rich body of knowledge on approaches, methods, and frameworks that supports researchers in conducting design science research (DSR). It also contains some consensus about the key elements of DSR projects—such as problem identification, design, implementation, evaluation, and abstraction of design knowle...

Like all research projects, researchers should carefully plan and manage design projects to ensure valid and meaningful research outcomes. In this paper, we present the Design Canvas concept implemented in the MyDesignProcess. com platform. The Design Canvas captures the most important dimensions of a design project and displays them at a glance. I...

Design Science Research (DSR) is now an accepted research paradigm in the Information Systems (IS) field, aiming at developing purposeful IT artifacts and knowledge about the design of IT artifacts. A rich body of knowledge on approaches, methods, and frameworks supports researchers in conducting DSR projects. While methodological guidance is abund...

This paper reports on the results of a design science research (DSR) study that develops design principles for information systems (IS) that support organisational sensemaking in environmental sustainability transformations. We identify initial design principles based on salient affordances required in organisational sensemaking and revise them thr...

This paper reports on an action design research study that aims to identify design principles for information systems (IS) that allow for sensemaking in the context of environmental sustainability transformations. Green e-community is presented as a prototype that instantiates a set of initial design principles and provides the foundation for subse...