Infosys v3n020 (July 11, 1996) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/infosys/infs-v3n020 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * INFOSYS: The Electronic Newsletter for Information Systems * * Volume 3, Number 20 ISSN: 1173-3764 July 11, 1996 * * * * Editor: Dennis W. Viehland, Massey University, New Zealand * * Listowners: Greg Welsh, American University, Washington DC * * Peter M. Weiss, Penn State * * Sponsor: boyd & fraser publishing, Danvers, Massachusetts * * * * Current Subscribers = 4,918 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TABLE OF CONTENTS * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS - From Innovation * * CONTENTS - Journal of Strategic Information Systems * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Workshop on Intelligent Decision Support * * CALL FOR PAPERS - ICIS Doctoral Dissertation Paper Competition * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Eighth Annual Hypertext Conference * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Annual International Simulators Conference * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Diffusion, Transfer and Implementation of I.T. * * POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT - Visiting/Tenure-Track Faculty, CIS * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NEWS - From Innovation * * Dennis Viehland, Massey University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NETWORKING YOUR NEXT JOB: Network consultants will become a trendier and trendier occupation as virtually every small business comes to understand that it has to have its own network business strategy. Up till now, "small companies typically hand the job of deploying and managing their local area network to the person on the staff who has demonstrated the most computer aptitude, and not always with good results." In the same way that entrepreneurs created a whole industry built around placing "temp" employees, a major opportunity awaits entrepreneurs who can figure out a way to provide the nation's small businesses with a "temp" network management service run by people who understand both networking and business needs. (Nation's Business Jun 96 p37) INFORMATION LEVERAGE POINTS: The head of the information management program at the University of Texas at Austin, says that "many companies don't have a clue. They don't know what the key drivers of their business success are, so they don't have measures or indicators of those drivers." Finding what those key drivers are usually means questioning assumptions -- such as the shipping company that had assumed (incorrectly) that its customers cared a lot about its ability to deliver anywhere in the world. The best way to identify the key drivers of cost, revenue growth and profitability in your organization is just to "hang out on the production line, visit customers, even chat up a competitor at a trade show" -- keeping in mind that the information that matters today may not be what matters tomorrow. Identifying and using key "information leverage points" is a continuous process, not a one- time project. (Thomas H. Davenport, "Finding The Information That Matters," CIO 1 Jun 96 p26) WHICH WAY THE WEB? The World Wide Web is now still in its infancy. What are the main revolutionary developments that will change the Web in the next few years? The editor of IEEE Multimedia sees major changes in three categories: first, in the refinement of broadband wireless networks, cable modems, and MPEG-4 compression techniques, which will be used to compress whole environments rather than just signals; second, the creation of more sophisticated Web search engines that will allow semantic searches not just for text, but also for images, graphics, sound, video and other signals; and third, the change that will occur when the nature of information sources changes from traditional documents to databases and multimedia documents. "However, there's another wrinkle to consider, since databases might now contain data from many different sensors. What would happen if sensors became information sources?" (Ramesh Jain, "Globalizing The Web," IEEE Multimedia 3(2) Sum 96 p3) A COMPUTER IN EVERY WALLET, A MOUSE IN EVERY TABLE? Researchers at IBM's Almaden, Calif. lab have come up with several ideas for 21st century information appliances, including a wallet with a pager sewn into one side, plus a scanner and a tiny keyboard. Add a 3-oz battery pack, and the wallet could double as a cell phone. Meanwhile at the MIT Media Lab, scientists have built a table that detects the position of your hands in the air above it, allowing you to move objects on a computer screen just by waving your hands around. And at Xerox, they've come up with a desk that's connected to cameras on the ceiling and can be used to automatically transfer documents to the Net and organize them. (Business Week 24 Jun 96 p118) QUANTUMLY SPEAKING: In the next 15 years, scientists will have narrowed the width of lines etched into semiconductors to less than one-tenth of a micron, meaning that electrical signals running through those circuits will contain so few electrons that adding or subtracting a single one could make a difference in the computer's functions. "At that point, we better have a new technology ready to go into production," says Texas Instruments' nanoelectronics manager. To control the movements of very small groups of electrons, researchers are developing quantum dots that can corral rambunctious electrons, allowing them to escape only when zapped by a precisely sized boost of energy from outside. Such "quantum confinement" could lead to tiny, very high-powered lasers that would eliminate the need for expensive repeaters in optical fiber telecommunications systems, or make it possible to store 15,000 times more data on a computer chip the same size as those produced today. (Business Week 1 Jul 96 p102) MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT YOU KNOW: Sybase co-founder Robert Epstein points out that there are three approaches to creating a data warehouse. There's the operations approach, which most companies take, that uses the warehouse to improve yields or analyze a particular part of the business. There's the think-center approach, where the warehouse is used to examine the business in an ad hoc manner. And then there's the third model, "which doesn't exist today but I think will become important in a few years, where you actually sell the contents of your warehouse... Over time I think information technology departments will shift more and more into the think- center and revenue-center type of operations. Increasingly, companies will be creators of intellectual property." In explaining why companies should get into the data warehousing mode, Epstein equates data warehouses to atomic particle accelerators. "Here's the thing: If you want to learn more about the atom, you smash particles together; and if you do it with more energy, you learn more. So you go to the government and you say, 'I need billions of dollars to smash particles faster.' And it says, 'What will you learn if we give you this money?' And you say, 'If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you for the money.' So a data warehouse is the same way. You say, 'If we spent this money to understand our business better, well, what would we learn?' Well, we don't know. And then you write a check." (Investor's Business Daily 26 Jun 96 A6) HOW THE AGE OF INFORMATION WILL AFFECT THE CITIES: The recently disbanded Congressional Office of Technology Assessment concluded in one of its last reports that, due to the impact of information technologies, many older, higher-cost metros, central cities, and inner cities will continue to lose jobs and investment to flourishing lower-cost, mid-size metros and outer suburbs and exurbs. The director of the OTA project says that "the industrial city is largely outmoded. In its place is rising a postindustrial, borderless metropolis in which technology will play a central role." (Robert Atkinson, "The Rise Of The Information-Age Metropolis," The Futurist Jul/Aug 96 p41) Editor's Note: Innovation offers a weekly summary of trends, strategies, and innovations in business and technology. This is an abbreviated list of news items of interest to the IS community from the June 17, 24, July 1, 8, 1996 issues. Subscriptions are available at $15 a year. For a trial copy of Innovation, type the word "subscribe" in the body (not subject) of a message to innovation- request@newsscan.com. \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTENTS - Journal of Strategic Information Systems * * Gerard Wanrooy, Elsevier Science * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Journal of Strategic Information Systems Table of Contents Volume 5 Issue 1 Editorial by Bob Galliers, pp 3-5 Viewpoint: "The new alchemist: how to transmute base organisations into corporations of gleaming gold" by Frank Land, pp 7-17 Research papers: --"Role of national culture in the transfer of information technology" by Barry Shore and A.R. Ventakachalam, pp 19-35 --"Reconciling the IT/business relationship: a troubled marriage in need of guidance" by John Ward and Joe Peppard, pp 37-65 Case study: "The role of IT in retailing: the case of supporting fashion purchasing at at European department store chain" by Claudia Loebbecke, Juliane H. Krone and Tawfik Jelassi, pp 67-78 Book reviews pp 79-82 Calendar pp 83-86 Announcements pp 87-88 For a free sample copy of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems please send the message "JSIS Sample Copy (INFOSYS)" with your professional postal address to p.schrader@elsevier.nl. Only a few issues a year have larger print-runs to fulfil these requests, therefore requests for one specific issue cannot be honoured. \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Workshop on Intelligent Decision Support * * IDSS Mailing List Newsletter, June 1996 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Workshop on Intelligent Decision Support 1996 (IDS'96) September 9, 1996 Melbourne, Australia Intelligent decision support, IDS, extends the notion of traditional decision support systems with the addition of diverse techniques and heterogeneous technologies as well as other components designed to enhance the capability of decision makers in support of their professional work. As such IDS offers support in situations where information is incomplete, uncertain or complex and where decisions require a person's judgement and preferences. The overall goals of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners with the aim of developing real world applications, based on the IDS approach, and ensuring such development is well researched. The workshop intends to focus on all aspects of the development and lifecycle of IDS applications with the aim of identifying the important issues for the practical application of the IDS approach. The presentation of any relevant contribution to IDS is encouraged. The workshop is tentatively scheduled for September 9th. The workshop will follow IFIP 96 World Computer Congress in Canberra (2-6 September) to facilitate international delegates to the Congress to participate in the workshop. Please indicate your availability on this date. Deadline for submission: July 19, 1996 Notification of authors: August 17, 1996 Final version due: September 9, 1996 Intending participants are encouraged to submit a paper on theoretical or practical issues of IDS applications. Authors should submit papers by Friday 19th July to Frada Burstein at the address given below. All submissions should be in the form of a printed paper, written in English. Papers should be printed on A4 sized paper. They must be a maximum of 12 pages long, including figures and bibliography. The papers should have a separate page, in addition to the 12 pages mentioned above, with the title of the paper, names, postal and e-mail address of the authors, a 200-word abstract, and a list of keywords. Please indicate on the front page whether your paper is a theory paper or an annotation to the demonstration. For more information about submissions consult the full call for papers at http://www.is.monash.edu.au/~fburstei/CFP.html Registration Fee: This year a very modest fee of $50.00 will be charged for attendence at the workshop to cover costs. Enquires to the Program Chair: Frada V. Burstein Department of Information Systems Monash University Caulfield Campus. PO Box 197 Caulfield East Victoria. 3145 Australia E-mail: frada.burstein@is.monash.edu.au Voice: +61-3-9903 2011 Fax: +61-3-9903 2005 \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - ICIS Doctoral Dissertation Paper Competition * * Mike Newman University of Manchester * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 1995-96 Doctoral Dissertation Paper Competition The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is pleased to announce that it will offer an annual award of $1,000 for the best doctoral dissertation paper in the information systems field. The winner and runners-up in the dissertation competition will be announced at the Annual ICIS Conference to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, December 16-18, 1996. Important change: It was approved at the last ICIS executive meeting that the ICIS dissertation competition would change to reviewing and recognizing the best dissertation PAPER, a practice followed by the Academy of Management. It has the specific advantage of encouraging doctoral students/junior faculty to write a high-quality research paper derived from their doctoral dissertation. To be eligible for the 1996 competition, dissertations must have been completed in the time period from September 1, 1995, to August 31, 1996. The derived paper must, in the opinion of the judges, be related to an important issue in the information systems field. Authors must be in good standing in their doctoral programs but need not be majoring in management information systems per se. Criteria for selection: In the opinion of the judges, the paper must: --make an original and substantive contribution to the understanding, development, or use of information systems --represent high research standards, in terms of theory and method. Submission Process All papers and supporting documents must be MAILED to the address below to be RECEIVED by September 25th 1996 at 5pm. Any papers received after that date will not be reviewed and the same fate applies to submissions without the appropriate documents. The following information is required: --One copy of the dissertation manuscript in loose-leaf (unbound) form (for audit purposes only). --Four copies of a single-authored paper derived from the dissertation. This paper should be 5,000 to 6,000 words long. The paper should not contain the author's name, affiliation, or other identifying information. --The application must include a short letter from the student's thesis advisor or chairman of the doctoral program, attesting: (a) that the thesis meets all requirements for graduation with a doctoral degree and has been successfully defended during the time period September 1, 1995, to August 31, 1996; (b) that the paper and dissertation are regarded by the thesis committee as being representative of the best level of their department's doctoral work; (c) that the paper derived from the dissertation meets the ICIS criteria for selection listed above. Works under consideration for publication can be submitted if they otherwise meet the criteria for selection. ICIS will not return submissions. Authors will retain full copyright of the submitted papers and dissertations. All materials should be mailed to be received by September 25 to: ICIS Doctoral Awards Program Attn: Mike Newman Dept. Accounting and Finance University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL United Kingdom Voice: +44 161 275 4003 Fax: +44 161 275 4023 E-mail: mike.newman@man.ac.uk \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Eighth Annual Hypertext Conference * * Gerard Hutchings * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Eighth Annual Hypertext Conference April 6-11,1997 Southampton, United Kingdom In 1987 the first Hypertext conference was held. At that time hypertext was in its infancy, with a few but important systems available, e.g. KMS, NoteCards, StorySpace, Intermedia, Augment, HyperCard, and Guide. There was even a working Xanadu prototype. Since then hypertext has found its way into information kiosks, on-line manuals, collaborative authoring systems, and the World Wide Web. The Hypertext 97 conference will make it evident that the popularity of hypertext still inspires new radical ideas within a multitude of disciplines. The Conference Chairs are Wendy Hall and Hugh Davis of the University of Southamton. Hypertext 97 will provide a common setting for researchers, practicing professionals and students to share experiences and to present results about hypermedia authoring, publishing, system construction, human-computer interaction, digital libraries, and electronic literature. Hypertext 97 will provide a forum for presentation and discussion of exciting and original developments in hypertext and hypermedia through several different technical formats: --papers --panels and perspectives --technical briefings --demonstrations --posters --courses --technical workshops In addition, there will be joint sessions with the Sixth World Wide Web Conference which will be running concurrently in California. Topics include but are not limited to: --Large-scale distributed hypermedia (including WWW applications) --Collaborative hypermedia systems --WYSIWYG hypermedia authoring --Integration and open hypermedia architectures --Empirical studies and hypermedia evaluation --Hypermedia interfaces to data bases --Information design --Innovative hypertexts and novel uses of hypertext and hypermedia --Underlying technologies (persistent object stores, link services) Schedule for Submissions 27 Sep 96: Papers due; Proposals for Panels, Briefings, Workshops, and Courses due 16 Dec 96: Notification of acceptance for Papers, Panels, Briefings, Workshops, and Courses 17 Jan 97: Proposals for Posters and Demos due; Final versions of accepted papers due 17 Feb 97: Notification of acceptance for Posters and Demos Full details on submission of papers, panel proposals, workshops and courses, together with information about the conference venue can be found at the Hypertext 97 Web site http://ht97.soton.ac.uk/ht97/ If you cannot access the Web site, send e-mail to ht97info@ht97.soton.ac.uk. \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Annual International Simulators Conference * * Todd Schultz, Augusta College * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Annual International Simulators Conference April 6-10, 1997 Atlanta, Georgia The Society for Computer Simulation is soliciting proposals for papers, workshops, seminars, and panels on simulation and simulators for the Annual International Simulators Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on April 6-10, 1997. Abstracts/drafts are due September 27, 1996 with notice of acceptance made by Oct 18, 1996. Papers to be published must be completed by Jan 13, 1997. Computer Simulation in Business makes up one track and includes the topics MIS, Operations Research, Decision Analysis, Business Statistics/ Resampling, Cost Management, and Applied Simulation. For information about this track or the conference in general, contact Todd Schultz School of Business Administration Augusta College Augusta, GA 30904-2200 E-mail: tschultz@admin.ac.edu Voice: (706) 737-1562 Fax: (706) 667-4064 \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALL FOR PAPERS - Diffusion, Transfer and Implementation of I.T. * * Dave Wastell, Manchester University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Second Working Conference of IFIP WG8.6 on Diffusion, Transfer and Implementation of Information Technology "Facilitating Technology Transfer Through Partnership: Learning From Practice and Research" 22-25 June, 1997 Ambleside, Lake Windemere, U.K. Following its highly successful first conference in Oslo last year, IFIP WG8.6 is holding its second meeting at Ambleside in the English Lake District on the theme of partnership and technology transfer in the I.T. context. Partnership denotes the aspiration of organisations to establish mutually beneficial relations based on shared risk, collaboration and reciprocal learning. Many forms of partnership exist in the I.T. domain: collaborative product development, partnerships between user organisations and I.T. suppliers (technology and services), research collaborations, consultancy networks, partnerships involving product manufacturers and component suppliers, internal user-led development projects. Technology transfer is a key factor in all these cases; they all represent situations where the free flow of complementary expertise is critical in realising a successful outcome. Partnership facilitates this exchange by establishing an ethos of cooperation, trust and mutual learning. The meeting will provide a forum for exchanging practical experiences of partnership (good and bad), for reflecting on general principles/concepts, and for discussing methodological and formal aspects of developing/sustaining partnerships. The conference theme should be interpreted broadly, as embracing all forms of partnership (intra- as well as inter-organisational) in any technical context involving I.T., e.g. software development, provision of specialist services, facilities management, and so on. Whilst submissions addressing the theme will be particularly welcome, the conference is not exclusively limited to this, and contributions on any topical issue relating to technology transfer, adoption and implementation are invited. Three forms of contribution may be submitted: --Experimential reports from a practitioner viewpoint, no more than 3000 words --Research papers (case studies, ethnographies, laboratory studies or surveys), no more than 6,000 words --Panel or workshop proposals that describe the topic (up to 1000 words) and the names/affiliations of contributors. An important aim of the Conference is to promote interaction between academics and practitioners. Contributions from practitioners are sought and academics are encouraged to submit papers of direct relevance to practice. Important dates: Submission for review by referees (3 copies): October 31, 1996 Notification of acceptance/rejection: January 15, 1997 Final copy due by: February 28, 1997 Submissions should be sent to: Tom McMaster IFIP WG8.6 Working Conference Information Systems Research Centre University of Salford Salford, M5 4WT U.K. Further enquiries to either: Tom McMaster E-mail: t.mcmaster@mcs.salford.ac.uk Voice: +44 161 745 5000 ex. 4946 Fax: +44 161 745 5559 Dave Wastell E-mail: was@cs.man.ac.uk Voice: +44 161 275 5722 Fax. +44 161 275 6236 Full details are available at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~was/ambconf.html \EOA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT - Visiting/Tenure-Track Faculty, CIS * * Munir Mandviwalla, Temple University * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Faculty Positions Department of Computer and Information Sciences Temple University The Department of Computer and Information Sciences has one visiting position beginning August 1996, and one tenure-track position beginning in August 1997 in the area of Information Systems. The Department offers programs leading to the Bachelors and Masters degrees in Information Systems through the School of Business and Management and in Computer Science through the College of Arts and Sciences. The newly restructured PhD in Computer and Information Sciences provides exciting opportunities for faculty to participate in a truly multi-disciplinary program. Doctoral students with masters-level background in information systems or computer science customize their advanced curriculum in consultation with their dissertation committee. The PhD has three tracks: Information Systems, Software Systems, and Artificial Intelligence. Candidates should have a strong applied knowledge of technology along with a background in information systems development so that they can contribute to multiple tracks. For more information about the positions see http://www.cis.temple.edu/~mandviwa/misc/position.html Additional information about Temple is available at http://www.temple.edu, while information on the department is available at http://www.cis.temple.edu. For the visiting appointment, submission may be made via e-mail. Word documents can be accepted as attachments. To apply, submit vita and bibliography to: Professor John T. Nosek Chairman, Faculty Search Committee Temple University (038-24) Department of Computer & Information Sciences Rm. 303, 1805 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19122-6094 E-mail: nosek@thunder.ocis.temple.edu Voice: 215-204-7232 NOTE: Between July 20 and September 5, 1996 all applications should be directed to Dr. Munir Mandviwalla E-mail: mandviwa@vm.temple.edu Voice: 215-204-8172 or at the address listed above \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 . * * * * INFOSYS is sponsored by boyd & fraser, publishers of educational * * materials for computer and information education. Contact Bill * * Lisowski or visit * * http://www.thomson.com/bf.html for more information about boyd * * & fraser. * * * * 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 pub/infosys/ * * infosys.calendar * * --Gopher: gopher to listserv.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 * * * * The INFOSYS home page on the World Wide Web can be found at: * * http://www.rpi.edu/~okeefe/infosys/InfoSys/infosys.html * * * * INFOSYS readers who want access to IS information on the Web are * * advised to consult ISWorld Net at the following mirror sites: * * USA: http://www.isworld.org/isworld.html * * Australia: http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/isworld.html * * Ireland: http://http://smagal.ucd.ie/isworld.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *