What Do We Like About the IS Field?

What do we like about the IS field? This article is based on a panel discussion at the 2009 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) held in Phoenix, Arizona. The panel was sponsored by the Senior Scholars’ Consortium. Given the recent enrolment downturn in IS programs and concerns expressed by some about the strength of the field, this article sets out the views of some senior scholars who describe what they like about the IS field

Satanic Mills or Silicon Islands? The Politics of High-Tech Production in the Philippines

[Excerpt] So how do we make sense of high-tech production as it emerges in developing countries like the Philippines? What explains the changes and wide variation in how work is organized? What can these changes tell us about the transformation of work in a globalizing economy? And finally, what consequences do these changes have for workers, the vast majority of whom are women? This book engages these key research questions by taking them up at a strategically crucial and empirically grounded flashpoint: a local site of global production and the local labor market in which it is embedded

2025 Conversation - 4/11/2013

What do we – the Brockport community – want the College at Brockport to look like in the year 2025? What is it about the College, about our community, about us, that the College in 2025 should embody? What are the values, the soul, the DNA – as it were – that must endure and that we would want the College of 2025 to reflect and for those of us privileged to be here in 2025, would want to be part of. Thinking broadly, how do we envision the components that make the College (the academic core- the faculty and student – the essential programming and infrastructure – our staff and physical environment; and the broader community – our alumni, programmatic partners, and surrounding community)? What do we want it to look like

2025 Conversation - 3/28/2013

What do we – the Brockport community – want the College at Brockport to look like in the year 2025? What is it about the College, about our community, about us, that the College in 2025 should embody? What are the values, the soul, the DNA – as it were – that must endure and that we would want the College of 2025 to reflect and for those of us privileged to be here in 2025, would want to be part of. Thinking broadly, how do we envision the components that make the College (the academic core- the faculty and student – the essential programming and infrastructure – our staff and physical environment; and the broader community – our alumni, programmatic partners, and surrounding community)? What do we want it to look like

Ethnographies of critique: critical judgment as cultural practice

INTRODUCTION This paper sketches out some preliminary thoughts about what it might mean to conceptualise critique as a textured and variegated cultural practice, and whether it is possible and desirable to study it as we do other cultural practices, ethnographically. I would like to begin by posing three questions, taking as a point of departure Nikolas Kompridis’ statement that in modern capitalist societies there is nothing ‘more urgent today than to resist the sense that our possibilities are contracting or that they are exhausted’ (2006: 280). First, then, is this statement true, in the broadest sense of the term? Second, if this were the case, what kind of cultural practices, what kinds of knowledge, and what ways of being with others have the effect of opening futures up rather than closing them down—and should we necessarily accept the ones that critical theorists recommend as positive goods? Finally, if we can recognise these practices in theoretical or philosophical terms, should we also try to study them in more ‘empirical’ or interpretive ways

Networks, Hierarchies, and Markets: Aggregating Collective Problem Solving in Social Systems

How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization--markets, networks, and hierarchies--in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members of Congress individually and collectively wrestle with the Internet, and, in particular, their use of official websites. Each office is simultaneously making decisions about how to utilize their website. These decisions are only partially independent, where offices are looking at each other for lessons, following the same directives from above about what to do with the websites, and confront the same array of potential vendors to produce their website. Here we present the initial results from interviews with 99 Congressional offices and related survey of 100 offices about their decisions regarding how to use official Member websites. Strikingly, we find that there are relatively few efforts by offices to evaluate what constituents want or like on their websites. Further, we find that diffusion occurs at the "tip of the iceberg": offices often look at each others' websites (which are publicly visible), but rarely talk to each other about their experiences or how they manage what is on their websites (which are not publicly visible). We also find that there are important market drivers of what is on websites, with the emergence of a small industry of companies seeking to serve the 440 Members. Hierarchical influences--through the House and through the party conferences--also constrain and subsidize certain practices.

Second Thoughts:First Introductions to Philosophy

An open educational and open-ended resource for whomever is interested in philosophical thinking. In this scholarly handbook you find two kinds of chapters. First, there are chapters that provide a broad introduction into a specific philosophical subdiscipline, such as political philosophy, epistemology or metaphysics. As this collection covers most of the sub-disciplines currently taught at Western philosophy departments, you can legitimately claim that you have been introduced to Western ‘philosophy’ as a whole, understood rather canonically, after having read the entire handbook. Second, there are chapters that introduce slightly more specific topics or philosophical approaches.The open-ended nature of this handbook, means that new chapters will be added in the future. We hope that philosophy will change and grow with time to become more diverse and inclusive and that this handbook will do so as well. We think of philosophy and its evolution as an organic process, as a tree that branches out in many different directions, adding new directions as it goes along. In this handbook, we organize the wide variety of topics that philosophers discuss into four main branches, which represent important subject areas that philosophers have covered.First, there is ‘thinking about societies’, which includes chapters that cover philosophical approaches to matters of obvious societal relevance. How should we organize our societies? How should we treat others? What exactly are cultures and what role do they play in a globalized world? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on what binds and divides us as societies and communities.Second, there is ‘thinking about humans’, which includes chapters that zoom in on people, the members that make up those societies. Is there something like human nature and what does that look like? How do human minds and bodies relate to each other? Are we free or not? This branch covers what one could broadly call ‘philosophical anthropology’: philosophical discussions, theories and views on what it means to be human.Third, there is ‘thinking about thinking’, which include chapters that focus on the ways in which humans can relate to the outside world. How can we come to know things about that world? What is truth exactly? What are the values and limits of scientific understanding? How do we reason and argue and how do we do so properly? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on how humans come to believe things about themselves and the worlds they live in.Fourth, there is ‘thinking about reality’, which includes chapters that investigate those worlds in more direct ways. Do things have an essence?What do we mean when we say that some things exist and others do not? How can language help us access the reality out there? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on the world we, as humans, find ourselves in

Evaluating whether a change in organisational structure would improve its competitive advantage

The purpose of this research is to study and analyse the internal and external structure of Ultimate Clean ltd, where I do work. We have put concentration on background of the company in the starting. This information is followed by aim and scope of research, which shows that what is the research question and what is scope of our research. After that Literature review is elaborated under five main subheadings. These subheading gives us deep information about the literature of organisation structure, competitive advantage. After that, Organisational context with internal and external analyse of the company is given which highlight the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the company. Some external factors like political, economic, social and legal, are also discussed in this report. Then some information is given for method of research that why we use it, where and when it is used. Some limitations are also discussed in this report of method. After this, result section comes. In this section, we discussed deeply about the answers of customers, employees and employer. We prepare a discussion of the result and conclude it wisely. In the end, some recommendations are also given to improve organisational structure of Ultimate Clean ltd. We suggest a new structure for the organisation to develop within company to have a good competitive advantage in market place. A big list of references is also given in the end of this report

Education’s not black and white, it’s vibrant grey

This paper offers a learner’s eye-view of a journey through education, written in an auto-narrative style. Sarah’s story spans from Secondary School to College and through University finishing at the point of Graduation. Revealed in this open and honest account is an insight to coping with home life whilst navigating the trials of the Education system. Sarah makes criticisms of her peers at every level reminding us how competitive some students have to be to get on and achieve success in their education. Critical judgements are also made about Sarah’s School teachers and University lecturers, which are at times as rewarding as they are uncomfortable, but always truthful. Consequently, there is much to learn by both academics and students from this sensitive and vulnerable personal revelation. Sarah’s evidence in turn points to some fundamental questions about the genuine outcomes of the Educational system, e.g. what are we actually teaching young people to be like? And do we like the product in terms of their values, beliefs and motives? A concluding message from Sarah’s perspective is that greater independence in learning, freedom in thinking and equipping people to reason, judge and make decisions in whatever realm, may be defining steps towards becoming educated