Co-Chaired 8th SIGPhil@ICIS Workshop on the End of Theory in IS and Analytics: Does Big Data Really Make the Scientific Method Obsolete? in Munich, Germany, Dec 15-16, 2018
This year's workshop continues the discussion on what's on every researcher's mind -- where are my IS theories? This issue becomes even more relevant with the explosion of interest in the very practical Data Analytics and Data Science area especially with most of the over 400 programs in analytics in business schools today led by IS folks. McKinsey predicts a demand of between 2-4 million business graduates in analytics. The question is, what role really do IS researchers play in this new environment beyond churning out analytics graduates? Are we expected to create the new Hadoop or clustering algorithm? If not, what exactly are we to focus on, especially in the context of our continuing efforts in developing knowledge and theory, and by extension, our contribution to business analytics practice? These are but a few of the questions that remain unanswered and our line-up of speakers and panelists that include AIS LEO Rudy Hirschheim, Fellows Alan Hevner, Shirley Gregor, Leslie Willcocks, Alan Dennis, and other experts on analytics like Ahmed Abassi, Vasant Dhar, Sumit Sarkar and Ramesh Sharda will address.

Co-Chaired 7th SIGPhil@ICIS Workshop on Advancing Information Systems Theories in San Francisco, CA, Dec 13-14, 2018
This year's lineup of speakers included AIS LEOs Kalle Lyytinen and Lynne Markus, AIS Fellows Shirley Gregor, Varun Grover, Alan Hevner and Frantz Rowe and other great authors and journal editors like Pär J. Ågerfalk, Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic, Paul Lowry, Lars Mathiassen, Fred Niederman, Jonas Sjöström, Cathy Urquhart, Olga Volkoff and Donald Wynn, all converging on the topic that's on the minds of everyone in IS -- information systems (IS) theories and how to theorize in IS. One of the goals of the workshop was to kick-off a new edited volume on "Advancing IS Theories"

Sabbatical 2017-2018. Completed Special Issue on Information Systems Philosophy and the Future of the IS field for the European Journal of Information Systems, research on information systems theorizing forthcoming at the Journal of Information Technology, and worked as a Data Scientist for the Information Management Department of Essentia Health, a large hospital in Duluth MN to collect data on ISD requirements for transforming traditional business intelligence functions to data analytics

Chaired 6th SIGPhil@ICIS Workshop on What Does Influential and Useful Research Mean to the IS Community? Time for a Paradigm Shift in Dublin, Ireland, Dec 11, 2016
Stemming from responses to Samir Chatterjee's post on AIS World to list the “most influential” IS research to date, the workshop explored what influential, useful and valuable research means to the IS community so that we can agree on some principles that can move our collective effort in a positive direction. Keynotes by Samir Chatterjee and Dennis Galletta, and panelists Niels Bjørn-Andersen, Monica Tremblay, Matti Rossi, Robert Davison, Nik Rushdi Hassan, and Jan vom Brocke on the need for a paradigm shift.

Co-Chaired 5th Concurrent SIGPhil@ICIS Workshop on Between Grand Theories and Scripted Research in Fort Worth, Texas, Dec 13-14, 2015
Full house of discussions responding to Suzanne Rivard's keynote on "Theory building is neither an art nor a science; it is a craft" and Varun Grover and Kalle Lyytinen's MISQ (2015) article that find 70% of articles in MISQ and ISR borrow directly from theories of reference disciplines, with minor or no change. Panelists featured M. Lynne Markus, Frantz Rowe and second evening with Abbas Tashakkori, co-author of Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social & Behavioral Research

Visiting Professor at University of South Africa
Two months as Visiting Professor at the School of Computing, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Florida Campus in South Africa. Presented seminars on Theories, Theorizing and IS Complexity. Visited University of Capetown, University of Pretoria, University of Witswatersrand (WITS), Tshwane University of Technology and Rhodes University

Co-Chaired 4th Concurrent SIGPhil@ICIS Workshop on IS Theory 2014: Whence Cometh, Whither Goeth? in Auckland, New Zealand, Dec 14-15, 2014
Another record attendance at SIGPhil on the controversial topic of theories and theorizing in IS, revolving around David Avison and Julien Malaurent's article in the Journal of Information Technology "Is theory king?: Questioning the theory fetish in Information Systems". Keynotes and panel included Shirley Gregor, Leslie Willcocks, Allen Lee, Ola Hendfridsson, and Samir Chatterjee.

Co-Chaired 3rd Concurrent SIGPhil-ICIS Workshop on Sociomateriality and Critical Realism: A Nexus? in Milan, Italy, Dec 15-16, 2013
Great workshop with record attendance on the first evening (60+) and exciting panel featuring Alistair Mutch, Ulrike Schultze, Kai Riemer and Karlheinz Klaus. Second evening featured John Mingers talking to a packed room and exciting panel featuring Alistair Mutch, Ulrike Schultze, Kai Riemer and Karlheinz Klaus. Second evening featured John Mingers discussing Critical Realism to a packed room

Published in the Journal of Business Analytics (2019) this essay on the "The origins of business analytics and implications for the information systems field"
takes a step back from the rush to exploit the popularity of analytics to examine how analytics is relevant to IS. It traces the complex origins and philosophy of analytics to Luhn’s text analytics in the late 1950s, Naur’s Computing as a Human Activity and his datalogy, Tukey’s Future of Data Analysis of the 1960s, and Codd’s relational database schema in the 1970s, and offers several implications how those different discourses impact future IS research and practice.

Published in the Journal of Information Technology (2019) (ABDC A*-ranked journal) this essay "The process of information systems theorizing as a discursive practice" co-authored with Lars Mathiassen and Paul Benjamin Lowry
addresses a major problem in the IS field--its theorizing practices. It proposes a discursive form of theorizing practice that will take the field away from its traditional borrowing-from-others approach towards more exciting theorizing and creative approach

Published in the Journal of Documentation (2019) (ABDC A-ranked journal) this essay "Patterns of citations for the growth of knowledge: a Foucauldian perspective" co-authored with Alexander Serenko
creates a link between original research and the growth of knowledge with citation behavior. It demonstrates how certain patterns of citing behavior can be associated with good or bad research

Published in the European Journal of Information Systems (2018) (ABDC A*-ranked journal) this editorial "Philosophy and Information Systems: Where Are We and Where Should We Go?" to the Special Issue on Philosophy and the Future of the IS Field co-authored and co-edited with John Mingers and Bernd Stahl
lays out the relevance and importance of philosophy as a guiding light for and in reinvigorating IS research. The IS community has only touched on the potential of philosophy in taking IS research out of its doldrums. In the new world where information is used as a weapon against democracies instead of its originally envisioned roles, it is even more critical for IS research to reframe and reexamine their research in light of philosophical foundations

Published in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems (2018) (ABDC A*-ranked journal) this article "Reinterpreting the Kuhnian Paradigm in Information Systems" co-authored with John Mingers
is among the first to seriously challenge the Banville and Landry dogma of the Kuhnian paradigm that is generally accepted by the IS community. It describes the negative impacts of a research community’s preoccupation with the epistemological sense of paradigm (i.e. positivism/interpretivism as paradigm), which ignited decades of unnecessary “paradigm wars” and a misplaced focus on methodology. We show how this epistemological rendering of paradigm, which is adopted by the IS field, differs from the opinions of well-known critics of Kuhn and how this view obscures the Kuhnian paradigm’s potential for innovative research.

Published in the Information Systems Journal (2018) (ABDC A*-ranked journal) and co-authored with Lars Mathiassen the article "Distilling a Body of Knowledge for Information Systems Development"
is among the first to propose a model for an IS development (ISD) body of knowledge. Based on a pool of over 6,500 articles published in the IS Senior Scholars’ Basket of Journals, this study finds 940 IS citation classics, and from that list, 466 ISD articles that offer canonical ISD knowledge distinctive to IS and complementary to other disciplines such as software engineering and project management.

Published in the Communications of the Association for Information Systems (2017) (ABDC A-ranked journal) the editorial on "The History and Philosophy Department" introduces the new History and Philosophy department of the journal designed for research that analyze historic events and past successes and failures and to encourage new philosophical thinking for the present and the future. This department seeks to encourage a shift towards writing more historical and philosophical research which are distinct from the hypothetico-deductive research that crowds the pages of our journals.

Published in the Journal of Information Technology (2017) (ABDC A*-ranked journal) and co-authored with Claudia Loebbecke the article "Engaging scientometrics in information systems"
is one of few surveys of scientometric and bibliographic research in IS, how IS researchers view citations and citation analysis and what implications they have on how IS researchers build knowledge and enhance conceptual development

Senior Editor for Special Issue on Sociomateriality in the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems (2016) (ABDC A-ranked journal). "Editorial: A Brief History of the Material in Sociomateriality"
This special issue explores the recent interest in IS for sociomateriality from the perpective of philosophy, beginning with an editorical that covers the history of what is meant by the social and the material, and ultimately, how technology is perceived.

Published in the Communications of the Association for Information Systems (2014) (ABDC A-ranked journal) "Value of IS Research-A Response to the Rejoinders"
A response to rejoinders by Michel Avital, Ulrich Frank, Fred Niederman, Varun Grover, Mike Chiasson, Robert Johnston and Kai Riemer to the earlier Value of IS Research article

Published in the Communications of the Association for Information Systems (2014) (ABDC A-ranked journal) "Value of IS Research: Is There a Crisis?"
Subsequent to my AIS Listserv posting after ICIS 2012, I received numerous replies from both senior and younger researchers who were equally concerned about the value of our research.

Published in the European Journal of Information Systems (2014) (ABDC A*-ranked journal)"Paradigm Lost … Paradigm Gained: A Hermeneutical Rejoinder to Banville and Landry’s “Can the Field of MIS Be Disciplined?"
Probably the only article that critically examines one of IS's classics on the direction of the IS field as a discipline

Published in the European Journal of Information Systems (2011) (ABDC A*-ranked journal)"Is information systems a discipline? Foucauldian and Toulminian insights"
this study takes a critical view of the existing orthodoxy within information systems (IS) and reframes the ongoing discussion concerning the intellectual core, identity and disciplinary status of IS using the disciplinary analysis of Michel Foucault and Stephen Toulmin.

How Blockchain can change the world

A recent World Economic Forum report predicts that by 2025 10% of GDP will be stored on blockchains or blockchain related technology. This means it’s probably something which everyone involved in business should take notice of. However, there’s still a lack of understanding about what it is, and what it does.

Hacking the Election

With Russia already meddling in 2016, a ragtag group of obsessive tech experts is warning that stealing the ultimate prize—victory on Nov. 8—would be child’s play

Fintech - Shaking up the financial industry

One sector of our economy after the next is being disrupted by new apps and websites, like bookstores, travel agents, taxis, hotels. Tonight, we're going to explore whether the banking industry is next on the list. Thousands of startups are challenging many aspects of banking, the newcomers argue that this important sector is too set in its ways. It's being called the financial technology -- or fintech -- revolution.

Bitcoin

BITCOIN, the world’s “first decentralised digital currency”, was launched in 2009 by a mysterious person known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity is still unknown. Since then, the value of a single Bitcoin has fluctuated wildly, reaching a high of around $1,000 in late 2013 before falling to less than half that level, and then rebounding in 2016. What exactly is Bitcoin, and how does it work?

Value of IS Debate

The Communications of the Association for Information Systems journal started a new "Debate" section and my article "Value of IS Research: Is There a Crisis?" is the inaugural article of the section! Seven very accomplished IS scholars: Fred Niederman, Varun Grover, Michael Avital, Mike Chiasson, Ulrich Frank, Kai Riemer and Robert Johnston, wrote responses to that article, followed by my rejoinder to the responses