Infosys v1n047 (November 28, 1994) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/infosys/infs-v1n047 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IIIII N N FFFFF OOO SSSSS Y Y SSSSS * * I NN N F O O S Y Y S * * I N N N FFF O O SSSSS Y SSSSS * * I N NN F O O S Y S * * IIIII N N F OOO SSSSS Y SSSSS * * * * INFOSYS: The Electronic Newsletter for Information Systems * * Volume 1, Number 47 November 28, 1994 * * * * Editor: Dennis W. Viehland, Massey University, New Zealand * * Listowner: Greg Welsh, American University, Washington DC * * * * Current Subscribers = 3,507 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TABLE OF CONTENTS * * * * * * * * * * * * * EDITOR'S NOTE - Introducing ISWorld Net * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld Net: Scholarly Infrastructure for IS * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld Net Mission and Organisation * * ANNOUNCEMENT - InfoSys Junction: An Information Crossroads * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld: an Electronic Mailing List for IS * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0414* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EDITOR'S NOTE - Introducing ISWorld Net * * Dennis Viehland, Massey University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This is a _very_ special issue of INFOSYS. This issue announces the premiere of ISWorld Net, a series of initiatives that promise to change the way Information Systems professionals use the Internet. At the center is ISWorld Net itself, a Web-based resource for information retrieval. The first two articles by Blake Ives, ISWorld Net founder and Chairperson, discuss ISWorld Net's potential, mission, and governance. Within ISWorld Net is InfoSys Junction, a crossroads of information exchange for dynamic and directory information. I am proud to have led the initial development of InfoSys Junction, which is currently about one-third "INFOSYS-on-the-Web" and two thirds "directory-of- directories." ISWorld is a new electronic mailing list intended to serve the general needs of the Information Systems community. Announcements, questions, and comments of interest to most IS faculty, students, and practitioners can be distributed via ISWorld. After you have read this issue, what is your next step? Your action plan should be: --Load your favorite Web browser (eg, Mosaic, Cello, Netscape, Lynx). If you don't have a Web browser ask your network service department to assist you in getting one. --Load the following URL for ISWorld Net: http://www.cox.smu.edu/mis/iswnet/home.html --Set the ISWorld Net as your home URL (henceforth, when you start your Web browser you will load ISWorld Net automatically). --Add ISWorld Net to your hotlist so you can find it again easily. --Check out ISWorld Net and InfoSys Junction. Most of what you see here represents infrastructure and is still under construction. Especially check out "volunteers" so you can see the global team that is committed to this enterprise. --In electronic mail, send the following one-line message to listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie: subscribe ISWorld yourfirstname yourlastname Finally, share this information. This is an issue of INFOSYS that should be posted to office networks, to newsgroups, and saved for future reference. This November 28, 1994 issue of INFOSYS is devoted exclusively to announcing ISWorld Net. It's a keeper. \EOA 0415* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld Net: Scholarly Infrastructure for IS * * Blake Ives, Southern Methodist Univ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We are pleased to announce the formation of ISWorld Net, a unified presence on the World Wide Web devoted to the creation and dissemination of information related to Information Systems. ISWorld Net will provide information management scholars and practitioners with a single entry point to resources related to Information Systems technology and promote the development of an international scholarly infrastructure that will dramatically improve the world's ability to use information systems for creating, disseminating, and applying knowledge. ISWorld Net offers Information Systems faculty numerous opportunities to be more productive and effective in our teaching and research. In our teaching, we constantly find ourselves reinventing variations on the same wheel -- each in our own institution and in our own classes. There can be a better way. Faculty, located throughout the world, could work together on the design and delivery of courses and curricula. An international team of students could work together on a net-resident project. Case studies could be distributed throughout the world moments after being approved. Faculty could access sample chapters from potential text books or market their own books without relying on a publisher. Simha Magal, of Bowling Green State University, oversees a major department of ISWorld Net focused on Information Systems teaching and learning. There are similar exciting opportunities in research, allowing us to interact with distant colleagues in real-time rather than in "conference-time" or even "mail-time." Well-designed instruments and related measurement tools, such as coding schemes for process or event-based studies, could be made accessible on-line, as could data from past studies, working papers, tables of contents, and abstracts from journals. The research section of ISWorld Net, under the leadership of Jim Brancheau and David E. Monarchi of the University of Colorado at Boulder, provides a structure for distributing knowledge about Information Systems research. What this all means, and how it might unfold, is yet to be seen. All we can say today is that we -- as academicians in the late twentieth century -- are participants in a truly revolutionary change in the manner in which knowledge is created and disseminated. We have the rare opportunity to witness the "birth" of a worldwide, virtual learning organization, focused on knowledge about Information Systems. The birth will be accompanied by all the beauty, excitement, nervous anticipation, and uncertainty of the birth of a new child. The emerging electronic infrastructure will change the way we do our business and, both by example and by the tools we create and organize, serve as a model for other disciplines. We are presented today with a rare challenge -- the opportunity to create a new scholarly infrastructure. It is also an opportunity to play a significant leadership role within the university and society. We need people to think creatively about the possibilities, and we need theorists to apply and develop theories appropriate for this exciting new enterprise. This is the new great frontier. Come join us, and come to explore. The World Wide Web address for ISWorld Net is: http://www.cox.smu.edu/mis/iswnet/home.html. (Adapted from Editorial Comments in Management Information Systems Quarterly (18:4) December, 1994 by Blake Ives and Bob Zmud; reprinted with permission of MISQ.) \EOA 0416* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld Net Mission and Organisation * * Blake Ives, Southern Methodist Univ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ISWorld Net Mission and Objectives We will provide information management scholars and practitioners with a single entry point to resources related to information systems technology and promote the development of an international information infrastructure that will dramatically improve the world's ability to use information systems for creating, disseminating, and applying knowledge. Our mission requires that we become: --A Knowledge Repository: Providing access to information related to research, teaching, and our professional activities. --A Learning Organization: Learning through immediate worldwide availability of examples, summaries of phenomena, explanations, and discussions. --Builders of the Future: To be at the forefront of design of a networked global world through action research--helping to build a networked world requires that we help create that world. --Theory-based: Seeking to find or formulate theories that will permit generalization of our experiences and research. --Evaluators of Our Enterprise: Testing through use and experimentation the systems and knowledge repositories we design and build. --Open in Our Operations: Open access to information about, and governance of ISWorld Net. --Distributed in our Management: Providing common goals, structure and tools, while leaving implementation in the hands of individuals or institutions. --Recognizers of Accomplishment: Designs that capture and disseminate the contributions of individuals and institutions. --Linked to Practice and Policy: Drawing universities, governments, and the private sector more closely together. --A Distribution Channel: Controlled (pull versus push) access to the information systems academic marketplace throughout the world. --Advocates for Universal Access: Striving for equal access to information. --Committed to Freedom: Embracing the importance for freedom and democracy of unfettered access to information. The ISWorld Net Founders are: --Association for Information Systems --ACM's Special Interest Group on Business Information Systems --Information Systems Research --International Conference on Information Systems --International Federation of Information Processing: Technical Committee 8 --Management Information Systems Quarterly. The ISWorld Net Governing Board is: --Blake Ives, Southern Methodist University, Chair (MISQ) --Gordon B. Davis, University of Minnesota, Vice Chair (IFIP) --Mike Ginzberg, Case Western Reserve University and Hans Oppelland, Erasmus University (ICIS) --George M. Kasper, Texas Tech University (ACM) --John L. King, University of California at Irvine (ISR) --William R. King, University of Pittsburgh (AIS) --Dennis W. Viehland, Massey University (InfoSys Junction) Associated organisations are being sought for inclusion in ISWorld Net. Numerous individuals and their universities make major contributions to ISWorld Net -- see the volunteers page in ISWorld Net. The Chairperson of ISWorld Net is: Blake Ives 410C Fincher Building Edwin L. Cox School Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas 75275, USA Voice: 214-768-4108 Fax: 214-768-4099 E-mail: bives@sun.cis.smu.edu URL: http://www.cox.smu.edu/mis/blake.html \EOA 0417* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - InfoSys Junction: An Information Crossroads * * Dennis Viehland, Massey University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * InfoSys Junction is a crossroads of information exchange for the global Information Systems community. As such, it is part of scholarly infrastructure that Blake Ives outlines in the introductory article. The core of ISWorld Net are those areas that are central to our mission as Information Systems professionals -- research, teaching, publishing, and similar activities related to knowledge creation and dissemination. Information retrieval for these areas are featured prominently on the ISWorld Net home page. The role of InfoSys Junction is different. It is an information exchange center for the resources that allow us to carry out those missions -- our journals, our research centers, our conferences and meetings, our people. InfoSys Junction records the infrastructure related to knowledge creation and dissemination. Two types of information are in InfoSys Junction: --Dynamic Information: InfoSys Junction is a location where IS professionals can access Web-based information about upcoming conferences, calls for papers, and similar dynamic information. In this respect InfoSys Junction is similar in purpose to INFOSYS. --Directory Information: InfoSys Junction is also where directories, lists, and other "semi-dynamic" information can be found. Currently, InfoSys Junction maintains directories of IS departments, research centers, journals, Internet resources, and INFOSYS. InfoSys Junction is the future home of a directory of IS faculty and Information Systems Resources on the Net (ISRN), a directory of electronic mailing lists, newsgroups, gophers, and other IS resources on the Internet. The InfoSys Junction Team is: --Dennis Viehland, Massey University: Editor, InfoSys Junction; and Information Systems Resources on the Net --Bob O'Keefe, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Web Master, InfoSys Junction; Journals; and Relevant Internet Resources --Hsiang-Jui, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Web Author, InfoSys Junction --Blake Ives, Southern Methodist University: Senior Advisor, InfoSys Junction --Michael Vanecek, University of North Texas: Call for Papers --Al Bento and Milton Jenkins, University of Baltimore: Research Centers There are several opportunities for those interested in becoming involved in this exciting, new adventure. Write to the editor for more information about sponsorship or assistance with the following portions of InfoSys Junction: --Conferences --Information Systems Departments --INFOSYS Archives --Information Systems Resources on the Net If you know of some information that you feel should be in InfoSys Junction, don't hesitate to suggest it to us. The editor of InfoSys Junction is: Dennis W. Viehland Department of Information Systems Massey University-Albany Auckland, New Zealand Voice: 64-09-443-9612 Fax: 64-09-443-9640 E-mail: d.viehland@massey.ac.nz URL: http://smis-www.massey.ac.nz/personal/dviehlan/dennis.html \EOA 0418* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - ISWorld: an Electronic Mailing List for IS * * John Mooney, University College Dublin * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ISWorld is an electronic mail distribution list intended to serve the general needs of the Information Systems community. The ISWorld list is maintained at the Department of Management Information Systems, Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin, Ireland. ISWorld will provide a forum for discussion of all aspects of IS/IT and aims to become the primary mailing list for providing communication among the IS community throughout the world. The ISWorld list is part of ISWorld Net, an activity designed to provide a single entry point to resources related to information systems technology and to promote the development of an international information infrastructure for creating, disseminating, and applying knowledge. Subscribers are encouraged to use ISWorld for distributing messages such as: --Single announcements of events or table of contents for organizations listed in the ISWorld Net's "in association with" or "founders" pages (preferably with a URL pointing to further information on the WWW). --Requests for information, but with encouragement to reply to the individual posting the request, rather than replying to the entire list. If appropriate, the collective responses might later be broadcast as a single message by the person who made the original request. --News of general interest to the field. --Status reports on the development of ISWorld Net. --Requests for volunteers to establish other listservers or web presences on various topics. --Notices about major events in other listservs or websites that are of general interest. --Faculty position announcements. --Announcements about IS funding sources. --The approach of important deadlines (e.g., call for papers). To subscribe to ISWorld, send a message to listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie that contains the single line: SUBSCRIBE ISWorld yourfirstname yourlastname To distribute a message to all the people currently subscribed to the ISWorld list, send the message to the list address isworld@irlearn.ucd.ie. Messages that our not related to IS, that have a very narrow audience, or that are offering to sell something or to promote something that is for sale are discouraged. All messages should have a subject line, and that subject line should clearly reflect the content of the message. Finally, messages should be in good taste as they reflect upon the professionalism of both the sender, his or her institution, and our field. Given the large membership of this list, we wish to minimize the level of superfluous postings while maintaining the dynamics of an unmoderated list. Replies to messages posted on the list are sent *only* to the sender of the original posting. We have adopted this policy on the basis that the majority of replies to original postings are accidental, and bothersome to the majority of list members. In the event that you think that your comments on an initial posting are of interest to the community at large, you are encouraged to broadcast your comments by explicitly addressing the reply to the list. You should NOT send any commands to the list address, but to the listserver at listserv@irlearn.ucd.ie. Sending commands to the list address will result in the command itself being distributed to each member of the list. There are two immediate negative outcomes of doing this. First, you will immediately become quite unpopular with the esteemed list members for generating "junk e-mail." Second, the command will have no effect, since it will not have received by the listserver software. All commands should be sent to the listserver that maintains the ISWorld list, specifically . The listowner of ISWorld is: John G. Mooney Management Information Systems Department Smurfit Graduate School of Business University College Dublin Belfield, Dublin 4, IRELAND Voice: +353-1-706-8340 Fax: +353-1-283-7260 E-mail: jmooney@irlearn.ucd.ie URL: http://www.ucd.ie/~jmooney/home.html \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ABOUT INFOSYS * * INFOSYS is an electronic newsletter for faculty, students, and * * practitioners in the field of Information Systems. INFOSYS * * publishes news items, requests for assistance, calls for papers * * announcements of professional meetings and conferences, position * * announcements, journal table of contents, and other items of * * interest to the Information Systems community. * * * * INFOSYS is published biweekly, more frequently if volume requires * * it. INFOSYS operates as an electronic mailing list on listserv * * software at American University in Washington, DC. The editor is * * Dennis W. Viehland . * * * * To subscribe to INFOSYS send the following one-line e-mail * * message to listserv@american.edu: subscribe infosys yourfirstname * * yourlastname (e.g., subscribe infosys John Smith). You will * * receive a welcome letter that will tell you more about INFOSYS * * and listserv. To cancel your subscription send the following * * message to listserv@american.edu: unsubscribe infosys * * * * Guidelines for submitting articles to INFOSYS are published in * * the Welcome message each new subscriber receives (or e-mail "get * * infosys welcome" to listserv@american.edu). Send articles to * * infosys@american.edu or d.viehland@massey.ac.nz. * * * * The INFOSYS Calendar of Upcoming Events is updated fortnightly * * and can be obtained in the following ways: * * --E-mail: send the following one-line message to * * listserv@american.edu: get infosys calendar * * --FTP: anonymous FTP to ftp.american.edu; file is \infosys\ * * infosys.calendar * * --Gopher: gopher to auvm.american.edu; choose INFOSYS * * --WWW: forthcoming * * * * INFOSYS Back Issues are archived by Robert McArthur at: * * http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~mcarthur/infosys/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *