Professor Robert Winter
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Current position:
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- Tenured Chair of Information Management at University of St Gallen (HSG) – appointed in 1996
- Director of HSG’s Institute of Information Management
- Academic Director of HSG’s Executive Master of Business Engineering programme.
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Qualifications:
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- Masters in Business Administration and Business Education
- Doctorate in Social Sciences from Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
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Research Areas: |
- Business engineering methods and models
- Information systems architectures/architecture management
- Integration management
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Other: |
- Co-editor of "BIT - Banking and Information Technology"
- Member of editorial boards of "Wirtschaftsinformatik", "Information Systems and e-Business Management" and "Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures"
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Keynote Presentation: Relevant Rigour - Rigorous Relevance
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The relevance versus rigour problem is a question of acceptable minimum standards rather than one of trade-offs or choices. While most colleagues would agree that meeting relevance standards is just as important as rigour for scientific work in the information systems field, recent analyses show that rigour has much higher acceptance than relevance.
In order to create value to the economy as well as society, research results should solve a certain range of relevant problems in a generic way and should be constructed using a rigorous process. The design research process is aimed at these goals by:
- Stating the problem and specifying desirable properties of the solution,
- Building on the existing body of knowledge (theories as well as artefacts),
- Iterative construction of a generic artefact,
- Evaluation of the instantiated artefacts with regard to the solution specifications, and
- A learning & theorize phase to add to the body of knowledge.
Relevance as well as rigour can then be achieved systematically.
Through successful examples of rigorous, relevant research in the field of information systems, we present adaptable / configurable reference process models, adaptable / configurable reference information models, and situational methods / method fragments. In their design process, the body of knowledge as well as industry practices and needs are incorporated. They constitute research results which create value, and they are created in a rigorous process.
When design research is regarded as a central paradigm for information systems research, doctoral programs should not concentrate on teaching behavioural social science methodology, but incorporate engineering and design methodology (conceptual and formal modelling, case analysis, requirements engineering, analysis of deployment situations) as well as multi-dimensional evaluation and action research.
Regarding setup and governance of IS research programmes / centres, consortia of multiple companies will become more important than 1:1 consulting style projects. Generality of artefacts can only be achieved when multiple requirements are met, and complex artefacts can only be evaluated when multiple instantiations are analysed from multiple perspectives. The range of useful artefacts (terminologies, models, methods, products / prototypes) may add variety for many IS research programmes. |
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Mr Colin Steele
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Current position: |
- Emeritus Fellow, ANU.
- Convenor of National Scholarly Communications Forum
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Qualifications:
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- MA, GradDipLib, FAHA, FLCIP, FALIA, KtCross Spain
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Previous positions:
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- Director of Scholarly Information Strategies (2002-2003)
- University Librarian ANU (1980-2002)
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Other: |
- Author/editor of 7 books, more than 300 articles & reviews
- Editorial Advisory Board – Journal of Librarianship & Information Studies; Learned Publishing;
- Australian National University E-press Publications Committee; International Journal of the Book.
- 2007 National Scholarly Communications Forum with the theme “Improving Access to Australian Publicly Funded Research – Advanced Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy”.
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Keynote Presentation: Rigour Mortis? Are Evaluative Measures and Scholarly Research Compatible?
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The digital environment of the Internet has ensured that scholarly research can be disseminated in dramatically different ways and forms, similar to the the Gutenberg print revolution of the fifteenth century.However,current methods of research appraisal are set in an historical framework of scholarly 'Rigour Mortis'
Colin Steele will examine how academic reputation is measured, both in Australia and the world, notably through University league tables and research assessment exercises and argue, in this context,that the Australian Research Quality Framework is "regressive". The issues within the context of the ACIS disciplines will be examined and suggestions offered for future iterations of the RQF and improved methods of research dissemination and measurement.
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Professor Shirley Gregor
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Current position:
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- ANU Endowed Chair in Information Systems
- Head, National Centre for Information Systems Research
- Head, School of Accounting and Business Information Systems
- Vice-President, Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems
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Qualifications: |
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Research Areas: |
- Adoption and strategic use of information & communications technologies
- Intelligent systems
- Human-computer interface issues
- Theoretical foundations of information systems
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Publications: |
- 4 edited books
- 15 book chapters
- Over 80 papers in conferences & journals
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Other: |
- Inaugural President of Australasian Assoc of Information Systems (2002-03)
- Officer of the Order of Australia – 2005 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s list for services as educator and research in the field on information systems & in the development of applications for electronic commerce in the agribusiness sector.
- Elected Fellow of the Australian Computer Society in 2005.
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Keynote Presentation: It’s not science, it’s ICT.
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This presentation will argue that science is the wrong model for research in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) disciplines, including Information Systems. Researchers have continued to draw their ideas of research and theorizing from the physical and social sciences, perhaps because of a need for legitimacy or unawareness of alternative approaches. This fixation on the scientific model has many serious consequences: a lack of cumulative theory building in ICT, inappropriate borrowing from reference disciplines, little idea of what our own theory should look like and consequent shortcomings in what we contribute to practice. Some good work has been done, including Herbert Simon’s Sciences of the Artificial, the constructive traditions in Scandinavia and the recent popularization of design science. Yet many questions need to be further addressed and these questions offer important opportunities for the future. How do design theories address the wide range of artifacts in ICT? What philosophical stances can underlie research that is concerned with interventions in the real world? How do we deal with the creativity aspect of artifact construction? How far can we go in building generalizations about design? How do we abstract theory about design from practice? |
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Mr John Minz
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Current position:
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- Chief Executive Officer, Heritage Building Society, Toowoomba.
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Previous positions held within Heritage Building Society: |
- Assistant CEO which included Contact Centre responsibilities
- General Manager, Technology & Distribution Planning, Heritage Building Society
- Head, Internal Audit, Heritage Building Society
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Qualifications from UQ & QUT:
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- BCom, GradDip Commercial Computing, CertBankFin, MAICD
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Other: |
- Heritage Building Society, Toowoomba is the largest building society in Australia
- Introduced internet banking at Heritage
- Responsible for various automated distribution channels (incl internet banking, phone banking & the ATM channel).
- Sponsored an organisation-wide business reengineering project which created opportunities for the introduction of a number of technology-based loan processing systems.
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Dr Ann Moffat
download Keynote Address
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Current position:
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- Raising awareness of the benefits that ICT offer to regional communities.
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Qualifications: |
- USQ Honorary Doctorate, awarded 2005 for contribution to the IT industry
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Work history:
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- Established and managed ICT Services company Technology Solutions 1993-2000
- Director of Institute of Information Technology, UNSW, 1989-92
- National Development Manager, Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) (1987-1989)
- IT Executive, AMP Society (1975-1987, only woman executive at AMP 1975-1986)
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Other: |
- Inducted into Australian ICT Hall of Fame in 2002
- Director of the Australian Computer Society Foundation
- Fellow of Australian Computer Society
- Fellow of British Computer Society
- Member of Wide Bay Institute of TAFE Council and the Hervey Bay TAFE College Council 2001-05
- Board Member of IT&T ITAB 1999-2000
- Board Member of NSW TAFE Commission 1998-2000
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