EVALUATING DIAGNOSES , TREATMENT AND INFERENCE ACTIVITIES IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROFESSION

Information systems (IS) is a field that influnces and is influnced by the work of many different academics and practitioners. The influnce of IS to other areas of knowledge (i.e. management) has led some people to argu in favor and against the idea that IS has become a reference field of knowledge. Focusing on either knowledge elements or knowledge activities of a reference field leaves out consideration of relationships and interactions through time between both. \ Following Abbott´s sociology of professional knowledge, this paper proposes a triad of analytical categories: ˜Diagnoses´, ˜Treatments´ and ˜Inferences´ to examine and advance a more comprehensive understanding of the development of IS. Our analysis, based on a pilot survey of five IS journals, suggests that the key focus of IS activity has been on refining methodologies (treatments). The field has been less explicit and inclusive in generating and disseminating diagnoses and inferences. \ Those people working in the field can and should make available untapped stocks of knowledge in relation to these two elements whilst attempting to expand the jurisdiction (ownership) of IS over different problems. They can do so by relating more strongly methodologies to how IS problems can be defined and theorized upon. As this is work in progress, we propose a number of implications that we intend to explore in further research.

Design Fiction for Cybersecurity Using Science Fiction to Help Software Developers Anticipate Problems

Security and privacy issues are an ever-increasing problem for software systems. To address them, software developers must anticipate the problems that their developed systems may face, using a process we call 'threat assessment'. Unfortunately, given the shortage of security experts, and the need to 'think laterally', threat assessment is very difficult for many development teams. One possibility is to use stories, known as 'Design Fiction,' to help developers visualize different contexts and future use for their software. But such stories are themselves difficult to write. A recent pilot project investigated using a broad-brush threat model and fiction samples derived from existing science fiction literature to help developers create threat assessments for Health Internet-of-Things devices. The preliminary results are encouraging, and open the possibility of developing a method to support developers in threat assessment in any domain

Addressing organisational and societal concerns An application of critical systems thinking to information systems planning in Colombia

Includes bibliographical referencesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:7742. 64415(36) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Critical management perspectives on Information Systems

Foreword As I write this foreword, the news reaches us of the death of Heinz Klein, a founding father of the critical approach to information systems and contributor to this volume. The number of projects his death leaves us to complete is testimony not only to the generous way he worked with so many colleagues throughout the world, but also to his belief in extending and challenging the critical approach. This book is a further step in the process of extending, challenging and developing the critical approach to information systems. It takes seriously the need to acknowledge the historical roots of the subject in the socio-technical and critical management approaches and the contribution of work on Habermas and Foucault. However, it also takes seriously the call of Heinz Klein to diversify the approach, to bring in new voices and new ideas, and to revisit and extend older ideas. This book addresses these points in a number of important ways. Stahl’s attention to the ethical dimension of critical IS reminds us that ethics is at the heart of Habermas’s work, yet it is often overlooked as a subject of enquiry, both in mainstream IS and in critical IS. Semiotics and ethnography are two areas hitherto minimally addressed in critical IS. They receive welcome attention in this book, adding to the push for the exploration of new approaches. Critical IS research has, at times, been criticised for its lack of engagement with empirical issues. Thus, the chapters by Oliver and Romm on ERP systems and Doolin on healthcare systems are all the more welcome, especially as these are empirical areas subject to much discussion within mainstream IS. Two final chapters provide useful reflection. It is fitting that Heinz’s chapter closes the book. However, this does not mean that he has the last word and that his work is over. Rather, it serves as a reminder that his legacy is to leave us with questions to answer and work to do in the critical tradition which he did so much to form and shape. Professor Alison Adam Director of the Information Systems, Organisations and Society Research Centre University of Salford, U.K