How Percy Ludgate\u27s 1909 Paper Helped Thwart Konrad Zuse\u27s Computer Patent in 1960

This investigation outlines how Percy Ludgate\u27s 1909 paper describing his design for a mechanical computer, his “Analytical Machine”, was used in 1960 by a German patent attorney to thwart Konrad Zuse\u27s computer patent, just in time, as it was about to be granted. This narrative is then followed by analyses of, and discovery of proof of, the role of IBM in preventing Zuse from getting what would have been the premier patent on the concept of a programmable computer, and then by an exploration of how information about Ludgate\u27s 1909 paper was found by (or for) the opposing German patent attorney

Information Systems is Not a Reference Discipline (And What We Can Do About It)

A number of recent papers have proclaimed that the IS field has approached the status of a reference discipline. The paper draws on citation data from 33 IS and non-IS journals over 12 years to test this assertion. Analysis of this data suggests that the IS field has left a modest imprint on other sub-fields of management. Based on this evidence, the paper concludes that IS is not yet a reference discipline, but has the potential to become one. We propose number of measures to enhance the external influence of the field that may, in time, lead to it becoming a true reference discipline

Testing System Intelligence

We discuss the adequacy of tests for intelligent systems and practical problems raised by their implementation. We propose the replacement test as the ability of a system to replace successfully another system performing a task in a given context. We show how it can characterize salient aspects of human intelligence that cannot be taken into account by the Turing test. We argue that building intelligent systems passing the replacement test involves a series of technical problems that are outside the scope of current AI. We present a framework for implementing the proposed test and validating the properties of the intelligent systems. We discuss the inherent limitations of intelligent system validation and advocate new theoretical foundations for extending existing rigorous test methods. We suggest that the replacement test, based on the complementarity of skills between human and machine, can lead to a multitude of intelligence concepts reflecting the ability to combine data-based and symbolic knowledge to varying degrees

A Demographic and Content Survey of Critical Research in Information Systems for the Period 2001 – 2005

The information systems (IS) field has been the subject of many enquiries over the years, however, in relation to research from a critical theory perspective, such enquiries as have been reported are problematical. The field includes a small number of academics who research and engage in discourse on information systems topics from a critical theory perspective. The growth and influence of this group are the focus of this enquiry. The paper reports the results of an extensive demographic and content survey of information systems research and writing activity from a critical perspective published in leading information systems journals, conferences and specialist critical information systems forums in the period 2001–2005. Patterns and trends of critical research and of critical IS researchers and authors are identified. The findings show distinct regional and gender distributions of authors of critical papers compared with IS field norms. The paper contributes to the IS field’s development by raising awareness of critical researchers’ activities and providing an analysis of critical activity in the IS field

An Exploratory Study of Information Systems Researcher Impact

Citation counts of refereed articles are a potentially valuable measure of the impact of a researcher\u27s work, in the information systems discipline as in many others. Citation counts can be generated from a number of data collections, including Thomson’s ISI database and Google Scholar. This paper reports on an exploratory study of the apparent impact of IS researchers, as disclosed by citation counts of their works in those two collections. Citation analysis using currently available databases is found to be fraught with many serious problems, particularly if the ISI collection is used. Unless these problems are appreciated and addressed, IS researchers will be under-valued by those with authority over research funding and employment, to the serious detriment of the IS discipline