SUBJECT
Final CfP ISD2012 Deadline 4 May 2012 - Track: The changing landscape of
Information Systems. Properties of a new IS ecology.


Track Theme
The changing landscape of Information Systems. Properties of a new IS
ecology.
Is this a new kind of IS? Or just more of the same thing?
Conference Theme
Building Sustainable Information Systems
Dates
Conference dates: 29-31August 2012
Paper submission deadline: 4 May 2012
Venue
Prato, Italy
Conference Website
http://infotech.monash.edu/research/ISD2012/
Some keywords
Information Systems, social media, mobile technologies, HCI, ecological
systems, social sustainability, developing world, micro businesses.

CFP
WE INVITE YOU TO SUBMIT PAPERS IN THE AREA OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR
ISD2012 (21ST INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE) TO BE HELD
ON 29-31AUGUST 2012 IN PRATO, ITALY.

SUSTAINABILITY HAS SEVERAL MEANINGS, WITH THE DOMINANT MEANING REFERRING
TO THE NATURAL ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DOMAINS. GREEN IT RELATIVELY
RECENTLY BECAME A POPULAR TOPIC AT CONFERENCES AND IN PUBLICATIONS.
WHILE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE, SUSTAINABILITY MAY ALSO REFER TO THE
MAINTENANCE OF THE COMPLEX WEAVE OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS. AGAIN THERE IS A
VERY WIDE RANGE OF MEANINGS OF WHAT "SOCIAL SYSTEMS" MEANS, BUT FOR THE
PURPOSE OF THIS TRACK, SOCIAL ECOLOGY WOULD BE THE FOCUS.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS (IS) THEORY TRADITIONALLY FOCUSES ON IS FOR
ORGANIZATIONS, TYPICALLY BUSINESS  ORGANIZATIONS, ASSUMING ALL OTHER
KINDS OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS (SUCH AS GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND
NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS) TO BE VARIANTS OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS. THE PC
ITSELF WAS DEVELOPED AS A BUSINESS TOOL, AND ONLY OVER THE PAST TWO
DECADES WITH ITS ABILITY TO HANDLE MULTIMEDIA ALSO BECAME A TOOL FOR
ENTERTAINMENT. OVER THE PAST DECADE THE NETWORKED PC BECAME A POWERFUL
TOOL ALSO IN PERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND PRIVATE SOCIALIZATION IN THE
FORM OF THE SO-CALLED SOCIAL MEDIA. THE RISE INTO PROMINENCE OF THE PC
AS A TOOL OF ENTERTAINMENT, COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA PUT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE HANDS OF INDIVIDUALS FOR THE USE OF
NON-BUSINESS PURPOSES - I.E. FOR NON-STRUCTURED OR SEMI-STRUCTURED
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONAL USE. THE RECENT MOBILIZATION OF
NON-STRUCTURED SOCIO-POLITICAL GATHERINGS ON THE MEDITERRANEAN AND IN
THE MIDDLE EAST WERE MADE POSSIBLE BY SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY; WHILE
CITIZEN PRESSURE GROUPS USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO GET THEIR VOICES HEARD,
DEMONSTRATED BY THE SEVERAL MILLION OBJECTIONS EARLY IN 2012 AGAINST THE
PROPOSED ANTIPIRACY BILLS IN THE USA. WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF SUCH
NON-FORMAL SOCIAL GROUPS AND INDIVIDUAL USE ON THE DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS? SHOULD DESIGN BE ABOUT
HUMAN-COMPUTER-INTERFACE (HCI), OR ABOUT HUMAN-HUMAN COMMUNICATION
(HHC), FACILITATED BY TECHNOLOGY? SIMILAR QUESTIONS WERE RECENTLY POSED
AT OTHER CONFERENCES, EG. THE INTERACTION CONFERENCE -
HTTP://WWW.SILICONREPUBLIC.COM/NEW-MEDIA/ITEM/25639-IN-INTERACTION-DESIGN/
THE PC IS NO LONGER THE DOMINANT DEVICE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, PERSONAL
COMMUNICATION AND PRIVATE SOCIALIZATION PURPOSES. MOBILE PHONE
DISTRIBUTION HAS SURPASSED THE PC IN 2010 IN MARKET-SHARE. THE PROMINENT
PAST VIEW OF THE CLIENT-SERVER MODEL, WHERE CLIENT MEANT PC, HAS CHANGED
TO A MODEL WHERE CLIENT NOW MEANS MOBILE DEVICE - EITHER MOBILE PHONE OR
TABLET. DO THE SAME PRINCIPLES OF IS DEVELOPED FOR THE PC STILL APPLY?

ECOLOGICALLY, SUSTAINABILITY HAS GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS. IF SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY ALSO IMPLIES GLOBAL SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY, ALL SOCIETIES
AND THE COMPLEX WEB OF INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS (TECHNOLOGICAL AS WELL AS
SOCIAL) NEED TO BE CONSIDERED. IS SYSTEMS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD, WHICH
MAKES UP THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET, THUS ALSO NEED TO BE
CONSIDERED. HOWEVER, DISTRIBUTION OF NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE
DEVELOPING WORLD IS POOR, WHILE MOST COMMERCE TAKES PLACE IN THE
INFORMAL BUSINESS SECTOR AND ON THE LEVEL OF MICRO BUSINESSES. IN
ADDITION, THE MOBILE MARKET DOMINATES THE PC MARKET BY FAR IN THE
DEVELOPING WORLD. WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON FORMAL ORGANIZATIONAL IS, WHICH
MEANT BUSINESS AND MOSTLY BIG BUSINESS, AND AT BEST MEDIUM-SIZED
BUSINESSES, THERE IS NOT MUCH RESEARCH IN IS CIRCLES ON INFORMATION
SYSTEMS FOR MICRO-ORGANIZATIONS AND MICRO-BUSINESSES. IS RESEARCH ALSO
TYPICALLY ASSUMES 24/7 BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY, WHICH IS HARD TO COME BY
IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD. SO HOW DOES CLOUD COMPUTING APPLY IN THIS
ENVIRONMENT? AND HOW SHOULD IS BE DESIGNED FOR THIS ENVIRONMENT?

SINCE THE DISCIPLINE OF IS WAS INTRODUCED SOME TIME AGO, THE WORLD HAS
CHANGED IN THE WAYS DESCRIBED ABOVE. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS
TREND FOR FUTURE IS RESEARCH AND FOR PRINCIPLES TO BUILD SUSTAINABLE IS?
DO WE NEED DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS FOR MOBILE SYSTEMS,
MICRO-ORGANIZATIONS, INDIVIDUALS, SOCIAL GROUPS, AND THE DEVELOPING
WORLD? DOES STATUS QUO IS HOLD? THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED
IN THIS TRACK. BRIEFLY THEN, WHAT ARE THE DESIGN IMPLICATIONS FOR IS IN
THE LONG-TERM OUTCOME OF THESE TRENDS AND EVENTS? SHOULD INFORMATION
SYSTEMS CONSIDER EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF THE FIELD, OR CAN THE EXISTING
IS CONCEPTUAL TOOLS DEAL WITH THIS?

SUGGESTED TOPICS:
A SHORT LIST TO INDICATE THE TYPE OF ISSUES OF INTEREST TO THE TRACK
	NON-FORMAL ORGANIZATIONAL IS
IS FOR MICRO BUSINESSES
SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF IS
	SOCIAL MEDIA AND IS
MOBILE PHONES AND IS
IS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
IS FOR PRIVATE USE
SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
THE IMPACT OF ICT RIGHTS ON IS
ALTERNATIVE METAPHORS FOR INTERFACE DESIGN
THE FUTURE OF IS

PUBLICATION
SELECTED PAPERS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN A BOOK.

TRACK CHAIRS
JACQUES STEYN
HEAD OF SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MONASH UNIVERSITY, SOUTH AFRICAN CAMPUS

ALEXANDRA CRISTEA
DEPT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
WARWICK UNIVERSITY




-- 
Dr. Alexandra I. Cristea, Associate Professor
Director of Postgraduate Research
Coordinator Intelligent Adaptive Systems Group
Department of Computer Science, Room 336
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

tel:       +44 (0)24 765 73774
fax:       +44 (0)24 7657 3024