Getting Around to It: How Design Science Researchers Set Future Work Agendas

Background: There is a long tradition of writing about future work in research papers, and information systems design science research (IS DSR) is no exception. However, there is a lack of studies on (1) how IS DSR authors currently envision the next steps for their work and (2) guidelines to improve the communication of opportunities to accumulate knowledge. Method: This paper contributes to this topic, building on a systematic literature review of 123 IS DSR papers published between 2018 and 2022. Results: Design-oriented research requires the research team to decide which tasks to carry out immediately in building the future and which to postpone as research debt. The paper\u27s contribution is threefold. First, we propose a research debt lifecycle to support (1) project stakeholders, (2) IS DSR community, and (3) societies looking for better futures. Second, we discuss the anatomy of future work in recent IS DSR. Finally, we suggest guidelines to manage and report the next research steps. Conclusion: This paper presents a pioneering assessment of future work suggestions in the IS field, focusing on the design science research paradigm. Future work directions emerge from researchers\u27 choices during the IS DSR process that must be continuously managed

Semantic and Web: The Semantic Part

The Web is everywhere in daily life. Business is not possible any more without the fast communication through the web. The knowledge of the humans is reflected in the information accessible in the web. New challenges occur with the flood of information and electronic possibilities for the human being. The current World Wide Web enables an easy, instant access to a vast amount of online information. However, the content in the Web is typically for human consumption, and is not tailored to be machine-processed. The Semantic Web, which is intended to establish a machine-understandable web, thereby offers a promising and potential solution to mining and analyzing web content. The Semantic Web is currently changing from an emergent trend to a technology used in complex real-world applications. This part of the special issue "Semantic and Web" especially investigates how semantic technologies can help the human being to open the new possibilities of the web. The papers, which contribute more to Web technologies, are published in Open Journal of Web Technologies (OJWT)

Semantic and Web: The Web Part

One major aim of the Semantic Web is to enable a machine-processable Web of data. Hence, the Semantic Web community regards it as extension of the traditional web. On the other hand, the applications of the Semantic Web rely deeply on web technologies in order to work in a distributed fashion, world-wide. The goal of this special issue is to bring together contributions from these communities to address the challenges in Semantic Web and Web technologies in cooperation. The papers included in this special issue demonstrate how new technologies of the Web and Semantic Web complement each other and provide more contributions to the area of web technologies. The semantic part of this special issue, which contains substantial theoretical and empirical contributions to Semantic Web, is published in Open Journal of Semantic Web (OJSW)

A STRATEGIC VIEW ON INTERTWINING DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL MATERIALITIES ACROSS LIFECYCLES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Opportunities to use virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VAM-R) are emerging in various sectors of the economy. To seize them, managers need to develop comprehensive strategies that intertwine digital and physical forms of materiality. This paper proposes a way to assess and steer the transformations of the reality-virtuality continuum across lifecycles of products and services. Our approach identifies use cases for VAM-R according to the (1) strategic imperative, (2) physical materiality, (3) reality-virtuality assessment, (4) digital materiality, (5) information value, and (6) project portfolio. The findings result from three action research cycles in manufacturing and healthcare. For theory, we propose a framework to evaluate the reality-virtuality continuum and guide VAM-R transformations. For practice, we propose and test an artefact accessible to domain experts with different backgrounds, and a sequence of steps to assist managers in their digitalization strategies with VAM-R. Lifecycle approaches offer an alternative perspective to situational transformation, potentially improving the pervasiveness of organizational changes using information technologies

Towards a Business Process Quality Culture: From High-Level Guidelines to Grassroots Actions

We present an information systems development (ISD) approach to integrate quality culture in business processes. Action research is our mode of inquiry and a company from the food industry provides the setting. Food production involves auditing throughout the supply chain and a demanding information system, with numerous goals and rules grounded on the organizational policies and values. However, there is a lack of holistic process-oriented approaches to leverage a quality culture. This paper provides a contribution, with the ISO2 approach, offering a set of artifacts to support the ISD lifecycle. An audit from a food retail group confirmed the positive outcome of its use, internalizing quality principles while developing the IS, and it is planning to suggest its adoption by their network of food suppliers

Legal and Smart! An Exploratory Case Study on Understandability of Smart Contracts

This paper addresses the understandability of smart contracts when compared to their traditional legal form. Our method is an exploratory case study conducted with 36 students in information systems (IS). We conclude that smart contracts written in Solidity language are understandable by users with a background in programming languages such as Java and Python. The main advantage of smart contracts is the clarification of complex and/or disperse clauses in legal agreements. A key disadvantage is the lack of support to contextual information. An hybrid of the two forms can contribute to the clarification of legal contracts, but also raises challenges to keep both versions synchronized. In the advent of blockchain-related implementations, our work contributes to the adoption of smart contracts in IS courses and prepares futures research to evaluate the understandability of smart contracts by IS experts, legal advisors, and end users

More than a gut feeling: Ensuring your inter-organizational business model works

We present an approach, called BIZ2BIS (from Business Models to the Blueprint of the Information System), to help design, discuss, and evaluate inter-organizational business models without a central point of authority, and also derive high-level requirements for their underlying IS. Its iterative and incremental nature enables the identification of attractive value propositions for all participants, thus ensuring a resilient value network. We have used three case studies to craft the first draft of our approach, accounting for principles, ideas, and concepts from the business model field. We then used action research to refine it, while simultaneously assisting a consortia tasked with setting up an inter-organizational business model and supporting IS for a wine producing region. The varied viewpoints provided by BIZ2BIS and its systematic nature enable the analysts to cope with the complexity of modern networked business models and their IS implications in an integrated manner

A Tale of Action-Research in Information Systems: Memories of a Ph.D. Student

This paper tells the tale of a Ph.D. student who used action-research to establish an information systems design methodology. It describes how he initiated his project, how he came across action-research, and how he slowly evolved in his search for coherence until he felt he could progress confidently. The paper is mainly intended to offer to readers who are unfamiliar with action-research a context where they can become aware of some of the difficulties of its use how they can be solved, and recognize some criteria that can be met to ensure that the results obtained are scientifically valid. The paper concludes by reflecting on the close relationship between action-research and the epis¬temology of the information systems field, suggesting that this relationship should be the object of further exploration

Blockchain for Development: Preliminary Insights from a Literature Review

Blockchain is considered a disruptive technology with the potential to cause socioeconomic transformation in developing and emerging economies. In this preliminary study, we conducted a review of papers dealing with Blockchain for development published by 2019. These were issued in various outlets such as journals, conference proceedings, and professional magazines. We also caught some gray literature, such as press releases and reports. Initially, we found 288 papers, but after an evaluation of relevance and removing duplicates, we ended up with 35 articles. We examined the research focus taking into consideration such aspects as understanding of development, Blockchain use, type of contribution, and themes investigated in the papers. We also analyzed the research scope understood as country or region of inquiry. Based on the analysis, we discerned opportunities and challenges of Blockchain for development and gaps and opportunities for future research

Quality Management Systems and Information Systems: Getting More than the Sum of the Parts

Companies are increasingly concerned with quality management of their products and services. Holding a quality certification, such as ISO 9001:2000, is becoming a compulsory requirement to play in selected markets. Designing a quality management system requires the extensive involvement of staff and managers and the analysis and redesign of business procedures. Interestingly enough, very similar requisites and tasks characterize enterprise systems design. However, the two endeavors are systematically conducted as separate projects, which are handled by different teams, equipped with unconnected methodologies. We present the first results of an approach we are developing to simultaneously address the design of the Quality Management System and of the Enterprise System. We identify the important synergies between the two initiatives, with the ultimate goal of creating a streamlined match between business processes and information system support, so that, when the project is finished, we can get both a fully operational information system and an officially certified quality audit for the whole enterprise