Information Systems DIGEST Podcast

Host Casandra Grundstrom is joined by special guest Professor Lauri Wessel. He holds the chair for Information Management and Digital Transformation at European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) since October 2020 where he serves jointly at the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS) as well as at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics. Lauri is also an adjunct professor (professor II) of Healthcare Management at the Department of Health Sciences of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Ålesund Campus). Lauri is an IS researcher who leverages organization theory in order to understand and design digital transformation.  He thinks that regardless of theory and methods, research always starts with an interest in solving concrete practical problems that arise in organizations and society at large.  His work has been published in core information systems journals such as Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, and European Journal of Information Systems.Lauri's podcast episode with 'This IS Research' dealt with inevitable failure that we all face; in this episode, we turn to inspiration and how it can be used in our research. In particular, we draw from Lauri's experience with punk music. While seemingly unrelated, we touch on several key points of punk music and research: methodology, attitude, and affecting change. But how can this inspire us? Tune in to find out.Lauri's recommended punk playlist! References:Davidson, E., Wessel, L., Winter, J. S., & Winter, S. (2023). Future directions for scholarship on data governance, digital innovation, and grand challenges. Information and Organization, 33(1), 100454.Wessel, L., Baiyere, A., Ologeanu-Taddei, R., Cha, J., & Blegind-Jensen, T. (2021). Unpacking the difference between digital transformation and IT-enabled organizational transformation. Journal of the Association for information systems, 22(1), 102-129. Links:https://communities.aisnet.org/sigdite/home 

Host Casandra Grundstrom is joined by special guest University Lecturer Arto Lanamäki from the University of Oulu in Finland. Much of his research is qualitative and phenomenon-driven research, concerning the role of information technologies in social practices. He is currently working in the Research Council of Finland (Suomen Akatemia) funded AI-REG project (2022-2026) investigating the European Act on Artificial Intelligence. While publishing mostly in the field of IS, he champions a certain research eclecticism and a boundary-breaking ethos. His research has been published in the Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), among others.In this episode, we first catch-up with Arto's research and new AI legislation, before turning our attention to paradigms in IS.  We consider the historical saturation of positivism in the IS discipline, the leaning into interpretivism before narrowing in on a paradigm gaining attention called 'critical realism'.  What is critical realism? Why is it important for IS? What does Arto think of critical realism? Tune in to find out. Also, colours.References:Barley, S. R. (2006). When I Write My Masterpiece: Thoughts on What Makes a Paper Interesting. Academy of Management Journal, 49(1), 16-20.Brock, S., & Mares, E. (2014). Realism and Anti-realism. Routledge.  Chen, W., & Hirschheim, R. (2004). A paradigmatic and methodological examination of information systems research from 1991 to 2001. Information Systems Journal, 14, 197-235.  Giere, R. N. (2010). Scientific Perspectivism. University of Chicago press.  Lanamäki, A. (2023). Agnostic Affordances: Challenging the Critical Realist Connection. In M. R. Jones, A. S. Mukherjee, D. Thapa, & Y. Zheng (Eds.), After Latour: Globalisation, Inequity and Climate Change. IFIPJWC 2023 (Vol. 696, pp. 265-279). Springer. Lanamäki, A. (in press). Questioning the Third Way Rhetoric of Critical Realism. The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371492086_Questioning_the_Third_Way_Rhetoric_of_Critical_Realism Lanamäki, A., Väyrynen, K., Laari-Salmela, S., & Kinnula, M. (2020). Examining relational digital transformation through the unfolding of local practices of the Finnish taxi industry. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 29(3), 101622.  Mason, R. (2021). Social kinds are essentially mind-dependent. Philosophical Studies, 178(12), 3975-3994.  Menand, L. (2002). The Metaphysical Club. Flamingo.  Misak, C. (2013). The American Pragmatists. Oxford University Press.  Orlikowski, W. J., & Baroudi, J. J. (1991). Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2(1), 1-28. Siponen, M., & Tsohou, A. (2018). Demystifying the Influential IS Legends of Positivism. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(7), 600-617.  Volkoff, O., & Strong, D. M. (2013). Critical Realism and Affordances: Theorizing IT-Associated Organizational Change Processes. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 819-834.Weber, R. (2004). Editor's Comments: The Rhetoric of Positivism versus Interpretivism: A Personal View. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), iii-xiiLink to all references </&l

Host Casandra Grundstrom is joined by special guest Entrepreneur  and Associate Professor Shellie Boudreau  formerly from Aalborg University, Denmark. (Note: Shellie is no longer working at Aalborg University but at the time of recording she was). Her main research interests started with biomedical engineering for pain and health technology, but through her passion of communication, a desire to move beyond traditional academic roles was found. Shellie is CEO of the research based start-up Aglance Solutions which is a result of her own pain-based research morphed into a software business called Navigate Pain. Shellie has further pushed her entrepreneurial spirit through a communication-focused company called ContentAvenue with a purpose of overcoming the academic and business gap and effectively communicate science.In this episode, we deviate from some of the expected patterns of this podcast and instead we traverse the boundaries of academia and industry. We reflect on how we can take research-based ideas and transform them into innovations, the trials and tribulations of walking the tightrope of an academic entrepreneur, and learn more about Shellie's experiences doing both all while dealing with some of the taboos of leaving academia.  Sources:Scientific Communication: https://contentavenue.com/  Blog post: https://blog.contentavenue.com/with-great-power-comes-three-reasons-why-scientists-dread-interviews/Navigate Pain Software: https://www.aglancesolutions.com/blog/categories/navigate-pain-software Muracki, J., Kumorek, M., Kisilewicz, A., Pożarowszczyk, B., Larsen, D. B., Kawczyński, A., & Boudreau, S. (2019). Practical use of the navigate pain application for the assessment of the area, location, and frequency of the pain location in young soccer goalkeepers. Journal of Human Kinetics, 69(1), 125-135. Galve Villa, M., S Palsson, T., Cid Royo, A., R Bjarkam, C., & Boudreau, S. A. (2020). Digital pain mapping and tracking in patients with chronic pain: Longitudinal study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10), e21475.NERDs - Network for Research Entrepreneur DevelopersTwitter: @contentave

Host Casandra Grundstrom is joined by special guest Assistant Professor Sam Zaza  from Middle Tennessee State University, USA. Her main research interests lie in diversity, equity, and inclusion; IT career and nature of work, and methodological approaches. She is active in AIS as the SIG Social Inclusion President, SIG Lead President, and Women College CoChair and is the recent winner of the Diversity and Inclusion Advocate of the Year (2023). Sam has published her work in various journals such as Information & Organization, and Communications of the Association for Information Systems, among other proceedings in regional and international conferences.March is women's month, and we are back for the second time to talk about women in information systems. We unravel what social inclusion is and consider social inclusion from varying perspectives applied to the information systems discipline. We explore and reflect on what are 'our' challenges for social inclusion in conferences and the IS community, ponder why there is limited gender-related research, and ways forward for change. References:Gupta, B., Loiacono, E. T., Dutchak, I. G., & Thatcher, J. B. (2019). A field-based view on gender in the information systems discipline: Preliminary evidence and an agenda for change. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 20(12), 2. Loiacono, E., Iyer, L., Ashong Elliot, M. A., & Cooper, V. A. (2021). Engaging Women in Information Systems: Where Are We Headed?. Masiero, Silvia and Aaltonen, Aleksi, "Gender Bias in Information Systems Research: A Literature Review" (2020). AISWN International Research Workshop on Women, IS and Grand Challenges 2020. 2.https://aisel.aisnet.org/aiswn2020/2 Trauth, E. M., & Howcroft, D. (2006). Social inclusion and the information systems field: why now?. In Social Inclusion: Societal and Organizational Implications for Information Systems: IFIP TC8 WG8. 2 International Working Conference, July 12–15, 2006, Limerick, Ireland (pp. 3-12). Springer US.Trauth, E. (2017). A research agenda for social inclusion in information systems. ACM SIGMIS Database: the Database for Advances in Information Systems, 48(2), 9-20.Zaza, Sam; Annabi, Hala; and Connolly, Amy J., "All you need to know about publishing Social Inclusion Research in high-quality IS Journals?" (2022). AMCIS 2022 TREOs. 25. https://aisel.aisnet.org/treos_amcis2022/25 Zhou, Shimi; Loiacono, Eleanor; Nerur, Sridhar; Randolph, Adriane B.; Lingo, Elizabeth; Iyer, Lakshmi; and Carter, Michelle, "Authorship, Collaboration, and Influence of Women IS Scholars: Using Social Network Analysis" (2022). AMCIS 2022 Proceedings. 6. https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2022/sig_si/sig_si/6 Other sources:AIS Women's Network: https://www.aiswn.org and Twitter @AISWN_AIS Women's IMPACT IT Research Grant: https://impactit.pages.wm.edu/ Check out these other women-oriented podcasts:https://www.cathymazak.com/podcast/https://theresearchher.com/ Special note: I am disgusted that I need to disclose this. Hate speech will not be tolerated and any offenders will be blocked and reported.