-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [AISWorld] AMCIS CFP: Transdisciplinary Wisdom in IS Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2012 16:07:10 -0600 From: Dalal, Nik nik@okstate.edu To: aisworld@lists.aisnet.org aisworld@lists.aisnet.org CC: Jan Kroeze jan.kroeze@gmail.com
CALL FOR PAPERS
18th Americas Conference on Information Systems
Seattle, Washington, August 9-12, 2012
TRACK: Philosophical Perspectives in IS MINI-TRACK: Transdisciplinary Wisdom in IS
In today's troubled world ridden with alarming crises of all kinds, the importance of wisdom cannot be underestimated. If there is anything the world needs, it is wisdom. Without it, I exaggerate not at all in saying that very soon, there may be no world warns Robert J. Sternberg, eminent wisdom researcher and 2003 President of the American Psychological Association (Sternberg, 2003). Being at the pinnacle of the data-information-knowledge-wisdom pyramid (Ackoff, 1989; Zeleny, 1987), wisdom is an important goal of information systems. The IS field, with its interdisciplinary focus on the relationship between information technologies and diverse individual, organizational, and societal issues, is well-positioned to advance wisdom computing research. Wisdom is both an end and a means in IS research. Wisdom is inextricably connected with knowledge, decision support, inquiry, inquiring systems (Churchman, 1971), inquiring organizations (Courtney, Haynes, and Paradice, 2005), systems thinking, business thinking (Mitroff, 1993), and learning organizations (Senge, 1990) among other topics of interest to IS researchers. Transforming data, information, and knowledge ultimately to wisdom is seen as a necessary and critical goal by leading IS researchers past and present (e.g., Ackoff, 1989). Transdisciplinary wisdom is a means to IS research as the diversity enriching IS goes further than the social sciences and may include the humanities as well (Kroeze, 2010; Kroeze et al., 2011). Historical, philosophical and linguistic fields are only three humanities disciplines that are relevant for IS.
While wisdom defies conventional definitions and there are many theoretical perspectives on the nature of wisdom, in a sense, wisdom is concerned with inquiry on what is of true value toward the individual and collective good. Wisdom arises in a person-context interaction but can also be conceived in terms of organizations, communities, and nations. According to Sternberg's balance theory (2003), wisdom is the application of intelligence, creativity and knowledge for the common good by balancing intrapersonal, interpersonal and extrapersonal (institutional and other larger) interests. Wisdom has been related to cognitive, reflective, and affective personality characteristics including multiple perspectives and insight (Ardelt, 2004) and to self-actualization and beyond (Maslow, 1971).
This minitrack will provides a platform to reflect on transdisciplinary wisdom as an end and means of IS research through the application of social science and the humanities. Three main approaches are possible: multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. Multidisciplinarity refers to the study of a phenomenon from divergent angles, with little or no integration. Interdisciplinarity amalgamates two or more perspectives, and transdisciplinarity is a holistic, blended approach transversing disciplinary limits (Van Biljon, 2011).
Potential themes/topics include but are not limited to the following:
* Understanding wisdom as a goal for IS and its operational definitions and dimensions
* Exploring present and potential contributions of the humanities (Linguistics, History, Art, Philosophy, Theology, Law, etc.) to IS
* Reflecting on multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches in IS theory and practice
* Reflections on bridging divisions between diverse methodologies, assumptions, and communities of practice in IS research
* Applications of diverse wisdom philosophic perspectives (e.g. Eastern, Western, African, Native American, etc.) to IS
* Reflections on the role of IS in producing, sharing, impacting, and supporting wisdom at the level of the individual, organization, community (real and virtual), society, culture, nation, nation-bloc, and globe
* Implications of wisdom computing research for IS as a discipline
References:
Ackoff, R.L. (1989) From data to wisdom, Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, Vol. 16, pp.3-9.
Ardelt, M. (2004) Wisdom as expert knowledge system: A critical review of a contemporary operationalization of an ancient concept, Human Development, Vol. 47, pp.257-285.
Churchman, C. West. (1971) The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of Systems and Organization, Basic Books, New York.
Courtney, J.F., Haynes, J. and Paradice, D.P. (2005) Inquiring Organizations: Moving From Knowledge Management To Wisdom, IGI Global.
Kroeze, J.H. (2010) The mutualistic relationship between Information Systems and the Humanities (full paper, edited version of inaugural lecture), Proceedings of the 15th International Business Information Management Association Conference (15th IBIMA), 6 - 7 November 2010, Cairo, Egypt, pp. 915-927.
Kroeze, J.H., Lotriet, H.H., Mavetera, N., Pfaff, M.S., Postma, D.J.V.R., Sewchurran, K.& Topi, H. (2011) ECIS 2010 panel report: Humanities-enriched Information Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), Vol. 28, No. 1, Article 24, pp.373-392. Available: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol28/iss1/24 and http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/4651
Maslow, A.H. (1971) Chpt 3, Self-actualizing and beyond, in The farther reaches of human nature, Penguin Compass, New York.
Mitroff, I. and Linstone, H.A., The Unbounded Mind: Breaking the Chains of Traditional Business Thinking, Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1993.
Sternberg, Robert J. (2003) Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Van Biljon, J. (2011) A critical review on the reporting of surveys in transdisciplinary research: A case study in Information Systems, The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp. 337-350. Available: http://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0&next=ej/ej_conten...
Wenger, E., McDermott, R.,& Snyder, W.M. (2002) Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Zeleny, M. (1987) Management support systems: towards integrated knowledge management, Human Systems Management, Vol. 7, No. 1 pp. 59-70.
Mini-track chairs:
Nik Dalal Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK 74078 nik@okstate.edumailto:nik@okstate.edu (405) 744-8618tel:%28405%29%20744-8618
Jan H. Kroeze University of South Africa Muckleneuk, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa kroezjh@unisa.ac.zamailto:kroezjh@unisa.ac.za +27-12-429-6976tel:%2B27-12-429-6976
Submission Procedure:
Submit your manuscript using the manuscript central system at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2012https://email.okstate.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b0787b438f4442bc95161e907622cd9d&URL=http%3a%2f%2fmc.manuscriptcentral.com%2famcis2012
Submit the manuscript using the AMCIS2012 Paper Templatehttp://amcis2012.aisnet.org/images/amcis2012_paper_template.doc
For more information, see http://amcis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/program/call-for-papers
Important Dates
January 3, 2012: Manuscript Central will start accepting paper submissions
March 1, 2012: (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): Deadline for paper submissions
April 6, 20012: Authors will be notified of acceptances on or about this date
April 25, 2012: (11:59 PM Pacific time zone): For accepted papers, camera ready copy due
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