Information systems ‘in the wild’: supporting activity in the world

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Although many information systems (IS) design methods and techniques are available to IS professionals, none of them completely supports the design process. One of the problems is that there is a mismatch between IS design method; and the system to be built. Actually, in designing an IS, the methods or techniques employed should match the types and characteristics of the system to be built. Thus paper will explore the relationship between IS types/characteristics and systems design methods, and provide IS designers with a systems framework to develop methods or techniques that match the types and characteristics of IS.

This thesis presents a new modelling method for information systems analysis and design, where the concept of service and the principles of service orientation are used for integrated modelling and reasoning about information systems architectures across organisational and technical systems boundaries. The concept of service enables cohesion of the intersubjective and objective modelling traditions by using a single type of diagram that facilitates detection of semantic inconsistency, incompleteness, ambiguity and discontinuity between the static and dynamic aspects of information systems specifications. The thesis is focused on three research topics, which are fundamental to the development of a new service-oriented modelling method. The first research topic concerns a pragmatic-driven specification of information systems. It clarifies answers to the research question: How can a conceptual modelling process be driven by pragmatic considerations? The second research topic provides a service-oriented modelling foundation for information systems analysis and design. It answers the research questions: How can the concept of service be used explicitly for the analysis and design of information systems and how can the static and dynamic aspects of information systems specifications be integrated at the conceptual level? The third research topic presents transition principles to implementation-specific design and answers the research question: How can service-oriented conceptual representations be aligned with implementation-specific design? The thesis contributes with a new knowledge to the area of conceptual modelling of information systems. The service-oriented modelling method consists of the modelling process, modelling language and techniques for the analysis and design of information systems on three levels of abstraction: pragmatic, semantic and syntactic. These three levels are necessary for a holistic understanding of enterprise architecture by stakeholders. The advantage of the service-oriented modelling method is that it can help to control traceability from information system design to original requirements. The method facilitates the semantic integration of the structural, behavioural and interactive aspects of information systems conceptual representations by using a single diagram type. The modelling language provides service-oriented constructs that are fundamental to building the major systems analysis patterns. The service-oriented modelling process contributes with seven steps of incremental design, which justifies various information systems components. The method provides the basis for a gradual and systematic way of modelling and an understanding of how pragmatic, semantic and logical information system requirements are linked together. The possibility to detect and eliminate undesirable characteristics of service-oriented diagrams can help to improve communication among stakeholders. Service-oriented specifications are computation-neutral and therefore they are more comprehensible for business analysis experts in comparison to implementation specific graphical representations of information systems. Finally, this thesis presents the challenges for future research, one of which is the development of the automated tools for the alignment of business models with implementation-specific information systems specifications.

This research examines the definitions and interpretations of mindfulness in information systems (IS) literature and in Buddhism. It extends a previous qualitative case study (Wang, 2015) and further examines the students’ learning outcome in mindfulness and their interpretations of mindfulness in information systems development and end user experience. Students in a Systems Analysis and Design undergraduate course were asked to design websites for a contemplative community of practice. More than half of the IS students can interpret mindfulness using both the concepts in the existing IS literature and in Buddhism, even without the explicit exposure to the literature. For those students who have not related to both, they applied the IS literature to interpret mindfulness in systems development and applied Buddhism to interpret mindfulness in end user experience. Overall, the majority of the IS students who were exposed to mindfulness have recognized its importance in IS design and in end user experience and learned to express themselves with the terminologies of mindfulness, awareness, and contemplation.

Business process (BP) designs and enterprise information system (IS) designs are often not well aligned. Missing alignment may result in performance problems at run-time, such as large process execution time or overloaded IS resources. The complex interrelations between BPs and ISs are not adequately understood and considered in development so far. Simulation is a promising approach to predict performance of both BP and IS designs. Based on prediction results, design alternatives can be compared and verified against requirements. Thus, BP and IS designs can be aligned to improve performance. In current simulation approaches, BP simulation and IS simulation are not adequately integrated. This results in limited prediction accuracy due to neglected interrelations between the BP and the IS in simulation. In this paper, we present the novel approach Integrated Business IT Impact Simulation (IntBIIS) to adequately reflect the mutual impact between BPs and ISs in simulation. Three types of mutual impact between BPs and ISs in terms of performance are specified. We discuss several solution alternatives to predict the impact of a BP on the performance of ISs and vice versa. It is argued that an integrated simulation of BPs and ISs is best suited to reflect their interrelations. We propose novel concepts for continuous modeling and integrated simulation. IntBIIS is implemented by extending the Palladio tool chain with BP simulation concepts. In a real-life case study with a BP and IS from practice, we validate the feasibility of IntBIIS and discuss the practicability of the corresponding tool support.

Objective: the purpose of the entire work is to help system analysts involved in assessing the quality of information sys tems (IS) operation during their creation, operation, modernization, development, to form the appearance of a comprehensive probabilistic prediction methodology applicable in the interests of ensuring quality and safety, justifying acceptable risks, identifying significant threats and supporting the adoption of scientifically rational system decisions to proactively counter threats in IS life cycle. The purpose of the 3rd part of the work is to complete the detailing of the general methodological provisions on the probabilistic prediction of the quality of IS operation quality (taking into account the enlarged description of the approach in the 1st part of the article [1] and the presentation of the basics of detailing modeling using «black boxes» in the 2nd part of the article [2]) by proposing: • the formalization of complex modeled systems consisting of parallel-sequential structures formed from «black boxes» and combined using logical connections «AND», «OR»; • the methods of system analysis of the IS operation quality; • the main components of the appearance of a comprehensive methodology for the probabilistic predicting IS operation quality, used by system analysts in the interests of ensuring quality and safety, justifying acceptable risks, identifying significant threats and supporting the adoption of scientifically based system decisions to proactively counter threats in the life cycle of specific IS. Research methods include: methods of probability theory, methods of system analysis. The modeled system is formally represented by «black boxes» and complex systems in the form of parallel-sequential structures formed from «black boxes» combined using logical connections «AND», «OR». The obtained results of mathematical modeling are used in the interpretation of the original IS, in the interests of which the corresponding calculations are carried out. The result of the work as a whole is: based on the research results presented in [1, 2], methodological provisions have been created that form the main components of the appearance of a complex methodology for probabilistic prediction of IS operation quality in accordance with GOST R 59341-2021 «System engineering. Protection of information in system information management process». The use of the proposed methodological provisions is intended to help system analysts form the appearance of a versatile complex methodology of probabilistic prediction, applicable in the interests of ensuring quality and safety, justifying acceptable risks, identifying significant threats and supporting the adoption of scientifically sound system decisions to proactively counter threats in the life cycle of specific IS. Scientific novelty of the work: with the widespread introduction of modern information technology tools and systems, the problems associated with a comprehensive study of the IS operation quality remain acutely relevant. Despite the fact that many system engineering standards have appeared that recommend the use of probabilistic system analysis for various types of systems, in practice, the formation of a set of techniques applicable to predicting quality measures, justifying acceptable risks, identifying significant threats and supporting the adoption of scientifically sound system decisions in IS life cycle causes practical difficulties for system analysts. These difficulties and the use of subjective assessments are related not only to the versatility of the very concept of IS operation quality, but also to the complexity of mathematical formalization, taking into account the specifics of each system. As a result, many important aspects are beyond the analyst's field of consideration, specific quality measures turn out to be incommensurable on a single quantitative scale, and the inverse analytical tasks of proactive threat management in IS life cycle and constituent elements are not solved. I.e., in practice, there is a contradiction between the needs for system analysis of IS and the possibilities for solving urgent problems of system analysis. To overcome this contradiction, the proposed methodological provisions formulate the general purpose of IS operation in various areas applications – to ensure the reliability and timeliness of providing the necessary information, completeness, validity and safety of the information used for subsequent intended use. The main proposed components of the complex methodology of probabilistic prediction of IS operation quality have determined the scientific novelty of this work, focused precisely on achieving this general formulated goal of IS operation.

The system analysis is the necessary activity in designing information systems (IS), especially in creating complex IS which have to satisfy a wide pallet of users’ demands. Installing the IS without expert’s planning and leading can lead to the huge users’ dissatisfaction, and maybe non - usage of system which often the consequent system do not work. This is especially emphasized when we talk about web based IS which demand a strong defined access rules as well as accurate data update procedures. In this paper is made a system analysis and design of IS for local economic development (LED). The problem of LED itself is very important because of the decentralization process that happens in R.of Macedonia in recent year as well as the global crises and the necessity of employment increasing. As an important factor we mention a need of increasing the usage of IS, especially when is concern of the issues that help for the young people’s position. Analysis of the need of IS for LED’s support is made on the couple of present local governments’ (LG) web sites in R.of Macedonia as well as the interviews and a questionnaire of the LER’s responsible in the LG and potential users of this kind of information. The results of this survey are decanting in analysis of the information needs as well as the LED’s support System’s proposition. We are using the structural analysis and logical design of IS as the working’ methodology. For this purpose, a series of systematic undertaken processes were used. These processes, we think, that will enhance the information and usage of computer’s IS in function of business climate and business community’s better information. The proposed model for LED’s support IS which have to cover the users’ demands will be made with creating a redundant databases, loaded whit trigger procedures and intelligent agents.

This paper advances the long term project of developing a situated information systems analysis and design methodology. Conventional approaches to information systems design are informed by the widely-held view that human purposeful action proceeds by deliberation on a mental model of the world of action. In contrast, situated information systems are informed by the view of situated action theory that routine action is largely non-deliberative and makes crucial use of structures in the action environment for attainment of goals. The expectation is that systems designed using this situated approach will be more effective in supporting routine activity than systems designed using the conventional approach. This paper reports on a case study conducted in the chemotherapy unit of a large hospital. The case study was conducted using the preexisting version of the situated systems methodology with the results of the case study informing further development of the methodology. The research provides further evidence of the ability of information systems informed by a situated model of action to effectively support complex but largely routine activity.

The paper describes experiments that investigated the use of auditory stimuli (speech and non-speech sound) to communicate data in two information systems. These experiments were performed under a multimedia stock control system and a multimedia e-mail tool. Experiments using the multimedia stock control information system investigated rhythms and timbre to communicate windows and their associated functions as well as the simultaneous rise of speech and sound to communicate a large amount of information to users. Experiments using the multimedia e-mail tool investigated the use of tunes and short pitch sequences with visual stimuli to communicate information in browsing e-mail data. The paper also integrates experimental results front both systems and discusses the incorporation of auditory stimuli in interactive audio-visual or multimedia information systems. Auditory stimuli helped to communicate, complement or reinforce information that users received via the visual channel. These auditory technologies could also benefit visually impaired users of such systems. Results also indicated that the simultaneous use of sound and speech can be useful in the design of interactive multimedia information systems. The inclusion of auditory stimuli (including speech) in the design of information systems has the potential to maximise the volume of information communicated to users.

In the former VLDB Conference we have presented a global model for the design of a complete information system (IS). This model constitutes an original attempt to integrate at the conceptual level, data, processes and dynamics in the design of IS. In the same way, we now present a system of tools allowing IS definition, creation and functionning compatible with the general model previously defined. This system is an extension of the DBMS approach for the design and management of IS. The goal of those tools is to create an IS functioning and evolving as the dynamic reality it represents.

In this paper, we continue our long-term project of developing a situated information systems analysis and design methodology, and present it as a radical alternative to conventional information systems analysis and design. Taking a situated approach entails focusing on action and a situated analysis and design methodology aims to increase efficiency and effectiveness through supporting routine action. We suggest that, as well as improving effectiveness and temporal efficiency, applying the situated methodology will result in less wasted human effort expended in search of information. We discuss the implications of an action focus for our conception of what an information system should be, and illustrate the application of the methodology with examples from a case study.

This issue is the first of ISJ's 25th volume and, as is customary on such anniversaries, this editorial reflects on the life of the ISJ and on its future. The editors-in-chiefs have periodically analysed the nature of the papers that ISJ publishes, most recently in the valedictory editorial by David Avison and Guy Fitzgerald in volume 22 (Avison & Fitzgerald, 2012). This looked at papers in the first 21 volumes. Here we update this analysis by reflecting on the content in the last three volumes and consider how we need to develop the journal further. The last three volumes, 22-24, comprised 64 papers. ISJ has moved from four issues a year to six and the number of papers published in each volume has increased from around 17.3 to 21.3. The move to six issues a year was occasioned by increases in good quality submissions and a desire to ensure that the time between acceptance and publication was shorter. In these 64 papers, we see many of the publication trends identified in earlier papers exacerbated. The 64 papers were produced by 177 authors (some authors produced more than one paper, of course) with an average of 2.77 authors per paper. Remarkably, only 4 single authored papers were published (6.25%) cementing a decreasing trend of 32.4% single authored papers in volumes 1-17 and 13.6% in volumes 18-21. Papers with four authors are now quite common, and some have five or six. While single authored papers are often preferred by tenure and promotions committees, the trend in IS, or at least in the ISJ, is for multi-authored papers. ISJ is continuing to becoming more global, with the authors of papers more geographically diverse. Avison and Fitzgerald identified the reduction in UK papers in the ISJ, the plateauing of contributions from North America and the increases from Asia-Pacific. UK contributions in the most recent volumes have fallen from 16% to 14.2%. North American contributions drop from 40.8% to 36.7%, while Asia-Pacific authors now comprise 20.3% of the total (up from 18.9%) and Europe (excluding the UK) hosts 28.2% of contributors (up from 22.3%). Taken together, the increase in author numbers and their greater geographical spread means that more papers are co-authored by people from different geographical regions. Indeed, within regions there is a sense that co-authors work in different countries, and even within countries, co-authors are seldom co-located in the same institution – and where they are, they are often not in the same academic unit. Given the global nature of IS, and the multiple perspectives upon it that need to be brought to bear, this diversity appears healthy. In a different aspect of diversity, the gender balance of authors continues to become more even. 35% of the most recent paper authors are female, compared to 14.4% in volumes 1-6, 19.8% in volumes 13-17 and 28% in the volumes 18-21. As in the earlier analyses, virtually all the most recent authors are academics. Fewer than 4% of papers are co-authored by practitioners, down from 7.1% in the last analysis. While, we are improving diversity in many respects, we are not attracting (or publishing) papers by practitioners. If this reflects less research, or poorer research, being undertaken by or with practitioner co-authors then this is a concern for a discipline such as IS. The trend over time has been for more ISJ authors to be located in business and management schools or departments. Most recently, this percentage has increased again – from 43.3% to 46.3%. The percentage in IS departments has dropped again to 31.6%, while that from computer science has increased from a very low base to just over 5% and the number from ‘other’ has nearly doubled to 13%. However, caution needs to be exercised over the home academic units as the data is taken from the addresses of authors. Some authors may be in a department, within a school that is part of a faculty that is itself an element of a college which is a unit of an institution. Thus, someone may be in an IS department that is within a business school. The address they choose to use may refer to either (or both) – but perhaps reflects their preference for the unit they would most like to be associated with. Likewise, there is a diversity of titles for units that make classification problematic – departments of Tourism Information, Health Administration, Social Informatics, and Business Education for example. So, what does the ‘typical’ authorship of an ISJ paper look like? There will be multiple authors, of both genders who are unlikely to work in the same institution or even in the same country and whose departmental home disciplines are different. What these co-authors are researching remains diverse too. While ISJ has been known as an interpretivist journal around a third of papers are positivist. About half the papers are qualitative. In terms of the 10 questions and challenges that Avison & Fitzgerald (2012) posed in their final editorial, the ISJ has, recently, published more papers from under-represented regions, it has improved the gender balance of authors, and it has remained generalist in its outlook. We have published more papers, more issues and more special issues. We can continue to do better in these aspects, and other challenges remain. We would like to be more risk taking, we have plans for additional sections to reflect different aspects of IS and of research, and the journal needs to reflect the need that the IS community has identified for the impact of its research to be better understood and better communicated. We will take up these issues throughout this year. When we assumed the role of editors-in-chief in July 2012, we introduced a new era for the Information Systems Journal as management of the journal shifted to us from the founding editors. In our inaugural editorial we indicated our desire to retain the commitment to publishing high-quality research that is consistent with the founding mission of the journal. That is, the motivation for founding ISJ was a desire to publish work that pushed out the boundaries of acceptable methodology for conducting information systems research. Since the methodological norm in 1991 was quantitative and positivist research, ISJ was established to be a publication outlet for qualitative interpretive and later critical research. Going forward into the next 25 years we are committed to the founding principles of ISJ, as we interpret them today. First, we will continue to publish high quality research that is informed by the interpretive tradition. This means that while positivist and quantitative research is welcome, and indeed, has been published in significant quantity, the production of numbers and the testing of hypotheses are not sufficient. The paper must also ‘tell a good story’ with the literature review, the analysis of data, and the discussion. Second, we will continue to publish work that pushes out the boundaries of acceptable information systems research. But in 2015 this is less about methodology than it is about content. Therefore, while we continue to welcome and publish research about information system development and management, we also welcome and want to publish research on emerging topics of relevance to the information systems field. This would include, for example: papers about societal/environmental influences on information systems; research about information systems professionals; and the consequences of information systems – intended and unintended, positive and negative. We also encourage research on the effect of new technologies – such as 3D printing, ubiquitous computing, wearable computing, and the Internet of things – on information systems development and practice. Finally, we welcome research that will explore a future in which information systems are an ever more important component. For instance, information systems are increasingly embedded in organisations, in societies and even in people. However, these embedded systems and their implications for privacy, convenience or control are rarely subjected to in-depth investigations. Throughout 2015, as part of the ISJ 25th anniversary, we will publish, in addition to our regular papers and special issues, a set of invited papers. We invited all those who published in our very first volume, and some others, to consider submitting a paper for volume 25. Many accepted our invitation. It is remarkable how many of the people who published in ISJ 1(1-4) are still active in the field. This may reflect the youth of the discipline, the youth of those working in it 25 years ago, that ISJ attracted submissions from very young academics, or that continual reductions in pension entitlements globally have meant many people have continued working for longer than they had anticipated. The first paper in this issue is by Lee, Thomas and Baskerville who argue for the restoration of the IS artifact in design science. They do so by unpacking the concept of the IT artifact. In doing so they remind us that what is being designed is not the IT artifact, but the IS artifact, which consists of three artifacts: the technology artifact (the hardware and software), the information artifact (the message) and the social artifact (human actions). They illustrate the primacy of the IS artifact in design science with material from three cases. The result is to restore the idea that the study of design in information systems needs to consider the design of the entire IS artifact, not just the technology artifact. This result encourages an expansion in the use of design science research methodology to study a broader set of artifacts. Three cases serve as a reminder that the component parts of the IS artifact - the information artifact, the technology artifact, and the social artifact - all interact and combine into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. In the second paper, Myers and Baskerville contribute new methodological insights in their argument for active engagement by IS researchers during the conduct of ethnographic work. While most ethnographic research in information systems has been based on the traditional anthropological model in which the ethnographer observes but does not actively seek to change the situation, they argue for the incorporation of action research perspectives into ethnographic research. They do so by describing two existing types of research that relate ethnography and design. The first type is ethnography for design, in which the results of the ethnographic study of some context informs the subsequent design process. The second type is ethnography to study design. Here, the ethnographer is studying those who are engaged in the design activity. They contrast these with the third type, design ethnography, in which the ethnographer is actively engaged in the activity of design, production or introduction of artifacts. Hence, the researcher is intervening in changing the context being researched. The researcher is actively engaged with others in a future-oriented way: designing, creating, innovating, and improvising artifacts that may affect the cultural and social values under study. Hence, rather than being a passive observer of changes in human behavior or organizations and human society more generally, the design ethnographer becomes an active participant in shaping these changes. In the third paper of this issue, Alter passionately engages with the concept of the “IT artifact” and trenchantly argues that it is no longer useful, it has outlived its usefulness. IT artifacts are ubiquitous in research, yet there is a huge amount of inconsistency in the way the term is used, with the result that it no longer means anything in particular at all. Alter traces the way the definition of IT artifact has morphed since it was first used by Orlikowski & Iacono (2001) to definitions in 2013 that are so loose and all-encompassing as to be essentially meaningless. Alter also suggests that cousins of the IT artifact, notably the IS artifact, the sociotechnical artifact, the social artifact and the technical artifact, simply confuse the issue further, each overlaps to some extent with other artifacts. In order to fill the yawning void that will be created when the IT artifact is retired, Alter proposes three ways forward, the most ambitious of which develops Alter's own notion of IT-enabled work systems (Alter, 2013). As Alter notes in his conclusion, retiring the IT artifact will help to enhance the rigour of our research because we will not use terminology that is meaningless. Indeed, we will also focus on more useful research that is meaningful.

Sutirtha Chatterjee) join the editor-in-chief (Robert Davison) to craft a position statement regarding the ISJ's view on theory. It is applicable, with sensitivity, to the empirical research articles that we consider for publication.

This paper arose from concerns regarding the current conceptualizations of ‘design’ in the emerging literature on design science (DS) in information systems (IS). In this paper, we argue that current conceptualizations of design in IS are overly narrow, which necessarily limits what is viewed as acceptable DS research. In response we advance a more encompassing view of design. The revised view extends the current perspectives of design in the IS literature to embrace broader conceptualizations of design, which are evident in many intellectual communities outside IS where design is viewed as a critical component of both research and practice - such as management, engineering, architecture and others. In addition to the fairly common conceptualizations of design as product and design as process or action, design is also conceived as: intention; planning - including modeling and representation; communication; user experience; value; professional practice; and as service. Further, whereas the current conceptualization of design in IS views IS design knowledge as split across two paradigms, namely DS and behavioral science, in this paper we argue for a broader and more integrated view of design: one that emphasizes both the construction-centered and human-centered aspects of design in IS. Building from our broader view, we discuss some of the implications for design-oriented research in IS, and consider ways in which this human- centered perspective might impact on the context and content of design research in IS.

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