Volume 3 Number 4
2000
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The Value of Information Systems Teaching and Research in the Knowledge Society

Governments and businesses are becoming ever more interested in the production and capitalisation of knowledge, so much so that the ‘knowledge economy’ is now regarded as the paradigm of economic progress. This has significant implications for teaching and research generally, and for the IS community in particular. This paper provides a brief analysis of general developments in higher education to provide a context for discussing the developments specific to IS. Stakeholder analysis is then used to identify the main responsibilities and pressures placed upon the IS academic community. Using the stakeholder analysis as a set of ‘requirements’ that the IS academic community must balance, several ways in which IS teaching and research can better contribute value to the various stakeholder groups are identified. Throughout the paper, several ‘policy level’ recommendations are made that could lead to the IS community being better able to manage the pressures exerted by different stakeholder groups and, consequently, being more able to address a broad range of commercial and social issues.

Development of the Internet Watershed Educational Tool (InterWET)

Watershed educational and informational efforts have largely neglected to inform one important group of decision-makers: local government officials. The Internet Watershed Educational Tool (InterWET) was developed to help inform local officials about water resources, using as a case study the Spring Creek Watershed in central Pennsylvania. Utilizing the “microworlds” concept, InterWET consists of a set of web pages that present water resource issues and components from different perspectives. Specifically, the components of surface runoff, groundwater flow, detached and delivered sediment, in-stream nutrients, and fish populations are presented from the perspectives of a researcher, a conservationist, and a local official. In addition to informing local officials, InterWET can also be used as a stand-alone informational resource or as part of larger watershed educational efforts.

Toward A Methodology For Managing Information Systems Implementation: A Social Constructivist Perspective

Suprateek Sarker
Washington State University

This paper argues that our approach to managing the implementation of information technologies is often dependent on how we frame the implementation problem. The paper first traces the dominant ways of framing the implementation problem that are evident in the literature, and through this historical analysis, identifies the Leavitt’s diamond for representing organizations as the integrative conceptual model underlying much of the current implementation literature. Next, by drawing on the notions of objective and subjective realities from the arena of sociology of knowledge, the paper further develops the diamond model and uses it as a frame for informing the implementation of code-generators in a hypothetical organization. The richer understanding enabled by the enhanced diamond model proposed in the paper leads to the formulation of some broad guidelines for managing the implementation of “interpretively flexible” information technologies. These guidelines are summarized in four steps: 1) self-understanding through self-reflection, 2) identification and understanding of all important stakeholder groups, 3) identification of stakeholders who are likely to resist, and 4) judiciously combining the two approaches outlines in steps 2 and 3.

Bringing the Farming Community Into the Internet Age: A Case Study

Despite the rapid Internet evolution in Malaysia, the farming community is not getting its full benefit due to many factors. Efforts to get the community use the Internet without the availability of proper resources and appropriate content are ineffective. TaniNet is an interactive on-line agricultural and biotechnological web site aimed at providing the agricultural community with information on the advances of planting materials and practices. The major goal of TaniNet is to get the rural farming community to use the Internet as means of accessing and sharing information and farming practices in Malaysia. In this paper we present the experience of developing and implementing TaniNet and the lessons learned.