The Historical Research Method and Information Systems Research

In this paper, we review the premises and practice of the historical method in order to understand how it can be applied to studying information systems (IS) related phenomena. We first examine the philosophical and methodological foundations of the method. For this purpose, we introduce a four-tiered research framework, which consists of (1) the paradigmatic or meta-theoretic assumptions that guide historical research, (2) pragmatism as an overarching approach or a way of doing historical research, (3) the historical method as the guiding principles for producing history, and (4) a review of some central techniques IS historians have applied in historical research. For point four, we review how McKenney et al. (1997) and Porra et al. (2005, 2006) applied Mason et al.’s (1997ab) seven steps of doing IS history. Finally, we compare the historical method with other methods applied in the IS field today: We compare the historical method with the longitudinal case study, case study, field study, and ethnography

Stages of development, improvement and application of equipment for welding in space, created with the participation of Ukrainian scientists

The article is devoted to the historical analysis of development and improvement of electrotechnical equipment that was developed and applied in the USSR to conduct works on welding and related technologies in space in the period from the 60s to the 90s of the last century and to assess the contribution of Ukrainian scientists in this field.Etapy rozwoju, ulepszania i stosowania sprzętu do spawania w kosmosie, tworzonego z udziałem ukraińskich naukowców Artykuł poświęcono analizie historycznej rozwoju i doskonalenia sprzętu elektrotechnicznego, który tworzono i stosowano w ZSRR do prowadzenia prac nad spawaniem i pokrewnymi technologiami w kosmosie w okresie od lat 60. do 90. Ubiegłego wieku oraz ocenie wkładu ukraińskich naukowców w tej dziedzinie

Emancipation Research in Information Systems: Integrating Agency, Dialogue, Inclusion, and Rationality Research

Emancipation is a key concept in critical theories. Prior work suggests that emancipation is a complex and multi-faceted concept. Many conceptualizations of emancipation exist, and emancipation is defined in different ways. Existing empirical studies mainly focus on one or few components of emancipation. To have an integrated understanding of emancipation, we review the literature on emancipation in information systems (IS), with a view toward developing a typology of components of emancipation in the IS field. The typology of emancipation components consists of four components: freedom to act, freedom to express, freedom to belong and freedom to think. These components relate to the concepts of agency, dialogue, inclusion, and rationality, respectively

Oral History in Information Systems Research: a reconsideration of a traditional tool

Considerable research has been done on ERP implementation projects and their success in organisations of various size. Project management has been identified as one of the critical success factors of the ERP implementation. The results from IS implementation success studies cannot be generalised to the small and medium business context. Few project management studies investigate project management activities in SME ERP implementation context. Many leading scholars in recent studies recognise outcome-focused approach to projects. This applied to the context of SME ERP projects means the project is not finished until the strategic objectives of the business, which were the rationale for adopting ERP, are realised. In this research, perceived factors of ERP project success from perspective of various stakeholder groups will be investigated and contrasted with IS Model of Success. There is increasing emphasis on determining the best fit project management approach based on type project type. Using the criteria specified in one of the available project typology methods as the framework, different views on SME ERP project type will be examined to obtain greater understanding of best fit project management approach for this type projects. Finally, using PMI’s project management knowledge areas as the structure, the project management activities that could impact achieving ERP adoption objectives will be explored. Data will be collected using semi structured interviews with project managers and ERP consultants. Participants will be asked to reflect on their experiences in SME ERP projects. There are contradictory views on many issues in SME ERP projects in terms of project success, best fit project management approach, and project management practices. Critical hermeneutics as the mode of analysis will be used for interpreting the text and making sense of SME ERP project as a temporary organisation

Digital Organizational Resilience:A History of Denmark as a Most Digitalized Country

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how digital organizational resilience was a key to digital transformation success in the public sector of Denmark. Using a historical research method, we analyze the IS history from 1998-2019 at all three levels of the public sector in Denmark. This study finds historical events about barriers and hindrances and shows how resilience enabled continuity in the transformation. We find a pattern of three elements in the history of what constitutes digital organizational resilience in e-government: digitalization strategy, collaboration across the public sector, and the ability to learn from overcoming barriers and hindrances. Digital resilience has previously been studied in the context of individual learning and cyber security. This pattern is a promising basis for understanding and achieving resilience in a transformative digitali-zation strategy in the public sector

Editorial: The History and Philosophy Department

Amid social and political upheavals and economic uncertainties and the increasingly pivotal role of information and communications technologies in society, the information systems (IS) field is perfectly positioned to address the social and technical implications stemming from these developments. One can find such discussions in historical and philosophical papers that have always attracted IS researchers’ attention but that have not received a formal channel to grow and thrive. The history and philosophy department of the Communications of the Association for Information Systems provides such a channel. By providing an avenue to analyze historic events and past successes and failures and to encourage new philosophical thinking for the present and the future, the history and philosophy department seeks to achieve what Peter Keen (1991, p. 27) once prognosticated: for the IS field to be at the “forefront of intellectual debate and investigation about the application of IT across every aspect of…society”. With this lofty goal in mind and to encourage a shift towards writing more historical and philosophical research, I describe these two intricately related genres of research that are distinct from the hypothetico-deductive research that crowds the pages of our journals but that perhaps hold the most potential for moving the IS field towards becoming an intellectually and socially influential discipline

Dynamics of Youth Engagement in the Local Church

According to many biblical accounts, children were included in worship experiences. Despite the efforts of many churches to engage, attract, and retain youth, there is still a lack of youth participation, involvement, and interest in the local church. This not only affects youth, but also the church. Unengaged youth do not have the opportunity to become future leaders of the church. In turn, churches will experience a void in future leadership and will be prohibited from flourishing. This qualitative historical study examined reasons for youth disengagement in an effort to find strategies for effective retention and engagement to benefit youth and the church. Existing literature pertaining to youth engagement in local church ministry will be examined. Data centered on the youth’s perspectives of youth leadership will be collected via surveys. The findings informed strategies that may engage youth in the local church, encourage youth leaders to grow in their relationship with the Lord, and prepare youth to serve Christ. Youth are vital for the future of the church, and Christ cares about youth. Therefore, this study may influence engagement approaches by providing opportunities for mentorship, engagement, and church leadership development

Information Systems Research Themes: A Seventeen-year Data-driven Temporal Analysis

Extending the research on our discipline’s identity, we examine how the major research themes have evolved in four top IS journals: Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), and Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS). By doing so, we answer Palvia, Daneshvar Kakhki, Ghoshal, Uppala, and Wang’s (2015) call to provide continuous updates to the research trends in IS due to the discipline’s dynamism. Second, building on Sidorov, Evangelopoulos, Valacich, and Ramakrishnan (2008) we examine temporal trends in prominent research streams over the last 17 years. We show that, as IS research evolves over time, certain themes appear to endure the test of time, while others peak and trough. More importantly, our analysis identifies new emergent themes that have begun to gain prominence in IS research community. Further, we break down our findings by journal and show the type of content that they may desire most. Our findings also allow the IS research community to discern the specific contributions and roles of our premier journals in the evolution of research themes over time

Theorizing Information Systems as Evolving Technology

Information systems scholars have struggled with the field’s fundamental relationship to technology. In particular, they have debated whether the IT artifact is unwisely taken for granted and whether or not it lies at the field’s core. Here, applying Brian Arthur’s general theory of technology, I suggest that one may theorize IS itself as an evolving family of technologies. From this perspective, one may open new avenues for IS research—for, in particular, historical and other related studies where the unit of analysis is the technology itself and the focus is its evolution