Kristiansand International Workshop on Information Systems Research (KIWISR)

Index:

Foilers from the workshop can be found here, using the provided username and password.

• About KIWISR
• Theme of KIWISR
• Format of KIWISR
• The program and participant list (FinalProgrKIWISR08_02.pdf)

• Travel information

  • Arriving by air
  • Hotel accomodations
  • How to get to the university while in Kristiansand

• Previous panellists

About KIWISR

Hosted by University of Agder, Kristiansand International Workshop on Information Systems Research (KIWISR) has the objective to examine the state of the art in IS research through discussions, presentations, debate and above all dialogue. No specific topic other than an overarching theme for each year is envisaged; the only hope is that innovative, creative and provocative ideas will be explored. Actual areas explored will depend on the current/planned research and thinking of the invited panelists and other participants.

Participation is by invitation only – a decision we made strictly in the interest of manageability. There are three categories of participants:

• Invited panellists: In each event, we invite “prominent” personalities in IS to form the panel.
• University of Agder faculty.
• Invited participants: We invite acknowledged researchers and interesting personalities from the IS milieu in Norway

This years panelists are: Sambamurthy (Eli Broad Professor of Information Technology from Michigan State University and editor-in-chief Information Systems Research), Dr. Ola Henfridsson (Professor Viktoria Institute, Sweden), Rita Walzcuch (Maastrich University, the Netherlands), Virpi Tuunainen (Helsinki School of Economics, Finland), and Björn Niehaves (University of Münster, Germany), Ilze Zigurs (University of Nebraska, Omaha). [back to top of document]

This years theme.

The theme of this year's workshop is “Mode 2 knowledge production”. This mode of knowledge is very different from “Mode 1 knowledge” where the research agendas are largely governed by academic interests and research happens predominantly in university environments. This carries a strong distinction between what is fundamental and what is applied. By contrast, Mode 2 knowledge production is solution focused and takes place in the context of economic and social applications. The research agenda is determined by the common interests of a variety of stakeholders including academics and practitioners. Continuous mutual informing occurs between the fundamental and the applied and the theoretical and the practical. In general, knowledge is built in the contexts where it is put to use, and its products and results, as they materialize, contribute to further theoretical advances. Although some of the quality control criteria of Mode 1, like peer reviewing, still hold in Mode 2, additional criteria, of social, economic and political nature, are called up through the context of application. Quality control is more context and use dependent, as well as more concerned with social accountability because the complexity of the problems at hand cannot generally be faced just in scientific and technical terms. Mode 2 success is defined not just in the traditional dimension of scientific excellence, as judged by disciplinary peers, but also efficiency, usefulness, and the ability to fulfill the expectations of multiple stakeholders. This is recognizable today in a substantial proportion of the public funding systems, which, besides the requirement of scientific excellence, also line up several extra-scientific criteria regarding social and economic priorities. Thus, for Mode 2 success, scientific rigor without relevance becomes meaningless.

In KIWISR-IV, these issues will be explored in depth. Specific questions examined will include (a) defining relevance and rigor in Mode 2 knowledge, (b) research approaches that are required to produce Mode 2 knowledge (b) the process of involving the different stakeholders, especially academia and practice (c) mechanisms and forms to bring academia and practice together. The workshop will be a pioneering forum for international researchers working in this innovative area.

No proceedings will be published. However, all material will be collated and presented to the participants in a loose-leaf binder. A summary of the workshop will be disseminated to the field through a suitable outlet, such as Communications of the AIS. [back to top of document]

The panellists in previous events have been:

• KIWISR-I: Bob Zmud, Kalle Lyytinen, Mike Newman, Cynthia Beath, Arun Rai, and Laku Chidambaram
• KIWISR-II: Ritu Agarwal, Niels Bjorn Anderson, Deepak Khazanchi, Daniel Robey, Rajiv Sabherwal, and Geoff Walsham
• KIWISR-III: Brian Fitzgerald, Juhani Iivari, Sandeep Purao, Letitzia Jaccheri, and Mike Newman

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Questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information:
Bente Elisabeth Holmen
Bente.e.holmen@uia.no
Tel: +47 3814 1504

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