Infosys v2n008 (ISSN 11733764, March) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/infosys/infs-v2n008 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * INFOSYS: The Electronic Newsletter for Information Systems * * Volume 2, Number 8 ISSN: 1173-3764 March 17, 1995 * * * * Editor: Dennis W. Viehland, Massey University, New Zealand * * Listowners: Greg Welsh, American University, Washington DC * * Peter M. Weiss, Pennsylvania State University * * * * Current Subscribers = 3,681 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TABLE OF CONTENTS * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS - From Innovation * * ANNOUNCEMENT - Database of AI Conferences * * ANNOUNCEMENT - An Electronic MIS Collaboratory on the WWW * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Inaugural AIS Americas Conf on Info Systems * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Models and Methodlgies for Enterprise Integratn * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Russian Forum on Elec Communication Technology * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0554* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS - From Innovation * * Dennis Viehland, Massey University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The editors of Edupage (extracted regularly in this column) have introduced Innovation, an electronic newsletter that "offers a weekly summary of trends, strategies, and innovations in business and technology, giving you an executive briefing on ideas for the future." I have found Innovation issues contain fewer abstracts than Edupage, but Innovation abstracts tend to be longer and, accordingly, offer more content. Innovation seems to aim itself toward the executive, manager, and information management professional. Edupage offers more on computing, telecommunications, the Internet, and information technology. The annual subscription fee (US$15) is small enough that most IS professionals will get good value from Innovation. Subscription information, including how to obtain a trial subscription, is listed below (please mention that you read about Innovation in INFOSYS). The following abstracts are from the Jan 30, Feb 6, 13, 20, 27 and March 6 and 13 issues. WORKERS NOT YET LAID OFF SHOULD IMPROVE THEIR MORALE: The Total Quality Management (TQM) movement is under some strain these days, as it competes with downsizing and reengineering. TQM helps cut costs, but cutting jobs is quicker ... even though it destroys the employee motivation needed for TQM to be effective. And whereas TQM focuses on continuous and painstaking improvement of a process, reengineering calls for a radical departure from existing processes. One indicator of this shift in management styles is that applications for the prestigious Baldridge award has fallen by a third in the last three years. (The Economist 1/14-20/95 p.55) A PC IN EVERY HOME: The trend toward home PC ownership is accelerating, with four million machines purchased just since last summer, according to a survey by Odyssey LP. That brings the percentage of PC-equipped homes to 31%, with many of the more recently purchased machines sporting souped-up multimedia machines as well. Odyssey's president notes that the higher ownership figures often cited in other surveys are estimated from PC sales, a method that overstates the case because it doesn't take into account that many sales are replacement machines rather than first- time PC purchases. Odyssey's survey found that about half of the computers purchased in the last six months replaced existing home PCs. (Wall Street Journal 2/6/95 B5) KINDER, GENTLER REENGINEERING: A follow-up to the enormously popular book "Reengineering the Corporation," the new book "Reengineering Management" (by one of the first book's co-authors) offers a less aggressive plan for management action. Instead of the tough-guy approach of the first book, James Champy proposes a "new mindfulness" characterized by trust, integrity, imagination, and a cooperative spirit. The book's wisdom in a nutshell: The purpose of a business is to serve customers, do useful and meaningful work, create an organizational culture that serves people's needs, act in a "mentoring, participative" manner rather than an autocratic one, and have employees who can work as a team and communicate with people. Champy admits that the reengineering movement has not fulfilled its promise, and blames this failure on managers who continue to operate with obsolete thinking. (James Champy, "Reengineering Management," Harper Business, 1995) DOES TECHNOLOGY DESTROY JOBS? Technology critics such as Jeremy Rifkin, "The End of Work" (G.P.Putnam, 1995) claim to see an accelerating trend toward general unemployment caused by information technology. The doomsayers insist that the problem of worker displacement will worsen steadily because increasingly powerful information technology can now automate large segments of virtually every kind of work (including that of computer programmers, lawyers, accountants, and physicians), and can destroy employment stability by making work more portable (thus allowing a company to have its daily work processed on the other side of the world). More optimistic technology watchers argue that new technology always creates more jobs in the overall economy than it destroys. They insist that technological innovation will bring about dramatic investment and growth opportunities -- especially in occupations focused on information technology, training/retraining, and catering to the financial, health and other needs of an aging population. (The Economist 2/11-17/95 p.21) COMPAQ'S NEW STRATEGY PAYS OFF: Before Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer took over, the company had been relying on its engineers to determine product enhancements, resulting in a very high-quality product that still didn't necessarily relate to customers' needs. Pfeiffer shifted the focus from "very high quality" to "the right features at a competitive price," and the rest is history -- Compaq outsold all other PC makers in 1994. Hewlett-Packard made the same mistake so many times, it even developed a name for the previous approach -- "the next bench syndrome." One engineer gets an idea, and turns to the engineer seated on the next bench to ask him what he thinks. The result is a product that's built for someone just like the engineer on the next bench, rather than the average user. (Upside March '95 p.16) TRENDS IN NETWORKED ORGANIZATIONS: Two technology trends are dictating the way that networking can influence how people work: "The first is the explosive growth of connections to the Internet. In 1991 most organizations used networks only for internal communication. In 1995 organizations and their employees find it as easy to access the global electronic world as their own internal electronic colleagues. Through membership in electronic discussion groups, increasing numbers of employees participate in daily discussions with people who share common interests but do not share a common employer. This evolution challenges managers to balance the benefits of employee development and new sources of potentially useful information with the risks of the loss of proprietary information or even the loss of employees as they learn of better job opportunities through the net. The second trend is the significant growth in the use of network-based video communication. The growth is likely to increase as video comes to the desktop computer. The ability of employees to rapidly convene ad hoc video meetings will surely be important. Managers and organizations will face significant challenges in learning how to manage video-group dynamics." (Scientific American Special Issue 1995 p.6) THE GIVE AND TAKE OF THE DIGITAL AGE: The Economist (Feb. 11) reports that although the technology revolution has resulted in some workers losing their jobs to machines, the overall balance sheet is favorable, with more jobs being created than lost. Most at risk are telephone operators, postal workers, bank tellers and other workers performing repetitive tasks that can be easily automated. But the new high-tech, knowledge-based industries are creating more jobs, and at the same time these high-tech workers are creating demands for other kinds of workers -- jobs such as gardening, cooking and childcare will experience strong growth in the near future. (Investor's Business Daily 2/28/95 A4) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: Innovation is published weekly, with individual subscriptions available at $15 a year. Site licenses are also available. For a trial copy of Innovation, type the word "subscribe" in the body (not subject) of a message to innovation- request@newsscan.com. To pay by VISA, Mastercard, Discover or American Express, send us your name, card number, and expiration date. To pay by check, simply make your check payable to NewsScan, Inc. (and print your e-mail address on the check). International subscribers should pay in U.S. funds by credit card, international money order, or check drawn on a U.S. bank. To reach us: John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas NewsScan, Inc P.O. Box 15010 Atlanta, GA. 30333-0010 Voice: 404-371-1853 Fax: 404-371-8057 E-mail: Comments@NewsScan.com \EOA 0555* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - Database of AI Conferences * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the Internet there is a large database containing announcements for AI conferences. The database system has facilities for searching for specific AI conferences. To access the database via gopher use the command: gopher wachau.ai.univie.ac.at To access the database via WWW use the address: http://www.ai.univie.ac.at/ The database service is provided by the Department for Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, University of Vienna, and the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Vienna, Austria, Europe. The underlying WAIS search engine supports searches for substrings (asterisk is wildcard character) (e.g. mach* will match machine, machete, macho,...) exact literal matches (search term enclosed in double quotes) (e.g. "machine learning") conjunctions (terms connected by and) (e.g. machine and learning will match entries containing BOTH words machine and learning). Most of the stuff of this database server has been moved to the WWW server: URL http://www.ai.univie.ac.at/ Give it a try, if you are able to use WWW services. Please address comments and bug reports to gopheradmin@ai.univie.ac.at \EOA 0556* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANNOUNCEMENT - An Electronic MIS Collaboratory on the WWW * * Andrew B. Whinston, Univ of Texas-Austin * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At the Center for Information Systems Management at the University of Texas at Austin, we have set up a World Wide Web (WWW) server to provide an organized approach to information dissemination and a forum to bring together researchers and practitioners to participate in stimulating discussions regarding MIS issues and research ideas. In order to accomplish these objectives, we have arranged the server according to a conceptual foundation for generating maximum value for the user. Additionally, through the development of a specialized annotation system, we have integrated bulletin board features with the browsing capabilities of the Web. Details of the conceptual foundation for the way we have organized our Web can be found at http://cism.bus.utexas.edu. We invite you to access our server and to provide your inputs to our conceptualization of the MIS Collaboratory. \EOA 0557* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Inaugural AIS Americas Conf on Info Systems * * Dennis Galletta, Univ of Pittsburgh * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Editor's note: a previous version of this CFP was published in article 0452 in v1 n50 of INFOSYS. This article highlights some updated information. The submission due date is 2 weeks away. AIS Inaugural Meeting Association for Information Systems Americas Conference on Information Systems August 25 (noon) - August 27 (3pm), 1995 (note: new start date) AIS encourages submission of papers and proposals for panels, tutorials, and workshops. The conference will feature: --Paper presentations (managerial and technical) --Technology briefings --Teaching/curriculum/research center workshops --Software demonstrations --Research-in-progress (managerial and technical) --Topical panel discussions --Professional development workshops --Tutorials A description of each of these tracks is available from the WWW URL listed below or, if WWW access is not available, by e-mail from the General Chair at galletta@vms.cis.pitt.edu. Important Dates (no change): Submission due date: April 1, 1995 Notification of Acceptance: May 15, 1995 Camera Ready Copy: June 30, 1995 Please make all submissions to the appropriate Program Committee Member Track Chair, not to the Program Chair. All other questions about the program should be addressed to the Program Chair: Hugh Watson C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Chair of Business Administration University of Georgia Athens, Georgia Voice: (706) 542-3744 Fax: (706) 542-3743 E-mail: hwatson@uga.cc.uga.edu Address all other inquiries to the General Chair: Dennis Galletta Associate Professor of Business Administration Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Voice: (412) 648-1699 Fax: (412) 366-2352 E-mail: galletta@vms.cis.pitt.edu Track Chairs (to whom proposals should be submitted): Managerial Papers: Janice Sipior Management Dept Villanova University 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085 Voice: (610) 519-4347 Fax: (610) 519-7864 E-mail: sipior@ucis.vill.edu Technical Papers: John Windsor Business Computer Info Systems PO Box 13677 University of North Texas Denton, TX 76203-3677 Voice: (817) 565-4147 Fax: (817) 565-4935 E-mail: windsor@cobaf.unt.edu Managerial Research-in-Progress: Jeet Gupta Department of Management Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 Voice: (317) 285-5301 Fax: (317) 285-8024 E-mail: 00jngupta@bsuvc.bsu.edu Technical Research-in-Progress: Heidi Owens Portland State University School of Business 615 SW Harrison Portland, OR 97201 Voice: (503) 725-3770 Fax: (503) 725-5850 E-mail: heidio@sbamail.sba.pdx.edu Technology Briefings: Sree Nilakanta Dept of Management 342B Carver Hall Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 Voice: (515) 294-8113 Fax: (515) 294-6060 E-mail: nilakant@iastate.edu Topical Panel Discussions: Linda Volonino Dept of MIS Canisius College 2001 Main St Buffalo, NY 14208-1098 Voice: (716) 888-2219 Fax: (716) 888-2525 E-mail: volonino@wehle.canisius.edu Teaching/Curriculum/Research Center Workshops: Jim King 104 Davidson, 9th & College The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Belton, TX 76513 Voice: (817) 939-6659 Fax: (817) 939-4535 E-mail: kingj@hsb.baylor.edu Professional Development Workshops: Ted Stohr Dept of Information Systems Leonard N. Stern School of Business New York University 44 West 4th Street, Suite 9-170 New York, NY 10012-1126 Voice: (212) 998-0800 Fax: (212) 995-4220 E-mail: tstohr@stern.nyu.edu Software Demonstrations: J.P. Shim Dept of Mgmt and Info Systems Mail Box 9581 Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS 39762 Voice: (601) 325-1994 Fax: (601) 325-8651 E-mail: jshim@cobilan.msstate.edu Tutorials: Mark Frolick MIS and Decision Sciences Fogelman College of Bus and Economics University of Memphis, Room 300 Memphis, Tennessee 38152 Voice: (901) 678-4945 Fax: (901) 678-4151 E-mail: frolickm@cc.memphis.edu The most current version of the current AIS Call for Papers can be found on the World-Wide-Web at: http://www.pitt.edu/~ais/meeting \EOA 0558* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Models and Methodlgies for Enterprise Integratn * * Peter Bernus, Griffith University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IFIP TC5 Special Interest Group on Architectures for Enterprise Integration Working Conference on Models and Methodologies for Enterprise Integration (EI95) 8-11 November, 1995 Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia The purpose of the conference is to: --Discuss the state of the art in enterprise engineering based on enterprise modelling and associated methodologies, architectures --Analyse the needs of the enterprise engineering / enterprise integration user community and the way present techniques meet these requirements --Identify the most promising results for enterprise engineering as well as research results which could transform the field in the medium term future. Major questions to be addressed at the conference include: --Tools for Enterprise Modelling: Requirements and Design Issues --Languages: Integrating Enterprise Models (Language Design and Ontological Modelling) --Gaining Advantage Though the Use Of Enterprise Reference Architectures --The Role of Enterprise Engineering Methodologies --The Role of Recently Popularised Approaches in Enterprise Integration (eg, concurrent engineering, re-engineering, etc) --Significant Opportunities and Generic Building Blocks (reusable partial models, agent based integration, etc). Will They Beat the Complexity of Enterprise Engineering? The Conference is planned to be discussion oriented, with approximately 40-60 participants, each of whom will contribute to the conference either by a full paper or a position paper. A limited number of non-contributory audience will be allowed, mainly from industry; if you are interested in this category, please send a short professional CV to the address below by 1 May 1995. The Conference will be organised around the major questions listed above -- where papers in that area will be presented shortly and an evaluation paper of the area will be given by invited speakers. This will then be followed by a general discussion of the area, where transcripts of the discussion are taken for the proceedings, to appear as a book. Paper preprints will be available before the coference. Four hard copies of full papers or short position papers are due by 1 May, 1995. Full papers should not exceed 12,000 words (preferably 15-20 pages). Position papers not exceeding 2,500 words (preferably 3-5 pages). Papers due: 1 May 1995 Notification of acceptance: 30 June 1995 Revised papers for preprints due: 31 August 1995 Send papers via air mail or international courier to: Mrs Denise Vercoe c/o School of Computing and Information Technology Griffith University Nathan Queensland 4111 Australia Voice: +61-7-875 5002 Fax: +61-7-875 5051 E-mail: ei95@cit.gu.edu.au Please let the organisers know as soon as possible of your intention to attend. A response form for this purpose is available from: Angela Laffey, conference secretary Australian Computer Society O.O. Box 135 Aspley (Brisbane), Queensland 4034, Australia Voice: +61-7-263 9777 Fax: +61-7-263 7020 E-mail: ei95@cit.gu.edu.au Conference information and a longer version of this CFP including program committee, location information, etc. is available through the WWW page http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/ei95 \EOA 0559* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Russian Forum on Elec Communication Technology * * Juri Gornostaev, Centre for Sci and Tech Info * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The 5th International Russian Forum on Electronic Communication Technology for the 90's October 23-25, 1995 Moscow, Russia Russia has big plans for the coming decade to computerize vital sectors of the Russian economy and to continue the full-scale modernization of Russia's national telecommunications infrastructure. Worldwide industry leaders that have the capability to turn these plans into reality will be gathered in Moscow for the fourth presentation of the Russian Forum ECT'95. The format will be three days of conference paper presentations combined with five days exhibition "Telecommunication systems and services" and two days of tutorials and technical seminars. Papers are desired in - but not restricted to - the following topic areas: --Organisational structures for the provision of international data communication services --Expanding national networks to global environment --Management and operation of international and national telecommunication networks --Global WAN architecture for the 90's --Transition to OSI and new standards --EDI, EDIFACT, electronic information market --ISDN and integrated services --Security for open communication --Intelligent networks and their applications --Interconnecting local area networks --Workstations in telecomm environment --Protocol interworking techniques --Mobile communications Full version of papers due for review June 30, 1995 Notification of acceptance/rejection July 30, 1995 Camera-ready manuscript due August 20, 1995 The written and spoken language of ECT'95 is English for an international audience. An application form and information on the Exhibition, Product reviews, Conference, Seminars and Tutorials and preliminary programme is available from: Dr. Juri Gornostaev Computer Department International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information 125252, Moscow, Russia, Kuusinen Str., 21-B Voice: 7(095)198-7691, 198-7041 Fax: 7(095)943-0089 E-mail: enir@ccic.icsti.msk.su Please submit your application form to: ECT'95 Programm Committee International Centre for Scientific and Technical Information 125252, Moscow, Russia, Kuusinen Str., 21-B Voice: 7(095)198-7691, 198-7041, 198-7350 Fax: 7(095)943-0089 E-mail: enir@icsti.msk.su \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\pub\ * * infosys.calendar * * --Gopher: gopher to auvm.american.edu; choose INFOSYS * * --WWW: forthcoming * * * * INFOSYS Back Issues are archived by Robert McArthur at: * * AUSTRALIA: http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/~mcarthur/infosys/ * * by Eric Morgan (N Carolina State Univ) at: * * USA: ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/infosys/ * * USA: wais://wais.lib.ncsu.edu/infosys * * USA: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/infosys-index.html * * by Brian Fitzgerald (University College Cork) at: * * EUROPE: http://www.ucc.ie/htbin/infosys * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *