[Air-L] Fwd: 3rd Workshop on Critical Research in IS, in conjunction with ECIS, 08 June 2008, Galway, Ireland

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

>
> [Apologies for multiple postings]
>
> Quo Vadis CRIS?
> The 3rd International Workshop on Critical Research in Information  
> Systems
> to be held on 8th June 2008, prior to the ECIS Conference in Galway,
> Ireland.
>
> Critical Research in Information Systems (CRIS) has been relatively
> successful in gaining legitimacy as a research approach in IS. A  
> number of
> special issues, tracks and book publications bear witness to this.   
> Critical
> research can now be published in most major IS outlets. The most  
> recent
> examples of this are the special issues in Information Technology &  
> People
> (issue 19:3, 2006)  and a distributed special issue to be published  
> by the
> Information Systems Journal in 2008.
>
> There has been much debate about what constitutes a critical  
> approach and
> who or what should be counted as critical. A comprehensive  
> definition is not
> to be expected anytime soon, but the body of CRIS literature is now
> sufficiently extensive and coherent to allow for the identification of
> critical work.
>
> This workshop aims to ask questions about what could or should come  
> next in
> the development of CRIS. How will CRIS position itself with regards  
> to other
> critical disciplines (e.g. critical management studies, critical
> ethnography)? What will its role be in the field of IS? Will it be the
> alternative to positivist and interpretivist research in IS  
> departments?
> Would this mean the development of a canon of criticality in IS?  
> Does/will
> CRIS share the radical underpinnings of critical social research?  
> How will
> CRIS respond to criticism from postmodernists? Would it aspire to  
> become
> 'post-postmodern critical'? Will it transcend academic discipline and
> inspire further activities, e.g. a political movement, professional
> association and regulations, an academic teaching platform?
>
> These and many other questions will be asked about the future of  
> CRIS. The
> workshop therefore invites contributions that will help us  seek  
> out the
> answers and engage in creating CRIS' future.
>
> Workshop Chairs are currently in negotiation with publishers  
> concerning a
> publication of the workshop contributions. Further details will be  
> discussed
> at the workshop.
> Call for Papers
>
> The one-day workshop will consist of a mixture of keynote speaker,  
> full and
> positional refereed papers and opinion pieces in an Open Forum. We  
> invite
> researchers from around the world who are interested Critical  
> Research in IS
> to join us in progressing the debate and critically reflecting on the
> enactment of a Critical Research tradition in IS.  The following  
> list is
> indicative but not exhaustive of workshop topics:
>
> .         Future agendas for CRIS in terms of focus, concerns,
> methodologies, actions and implications:
> .         In search of meaning of being critical in IS research -
> reflections, reactions and redirections
> .         Raising the critical voice in the IS discipline - how,  
> where, with
> whom?
> .         Concerns for IS practice and practical consequences of CRIS
> research
> .         Experiences, practical and self-reflective accounts of CRIS
> scholars in their line of work
> .         The relationship of CRIS and other disciplines - how do  
> we see the
> critical project in the future within and beyond disciplinary  
> boundaries?
> .         Possibilities of networking, widening reach, contributing  
> to the
> establishment of CRIS as a valuable and legitimate approach
> .         Examples of current CRIS research, empirical or conceptual
>
> We are asking contributors to submit full papers that broadly focus  
> on the
> workshop theme and topics, or shorter positional papers that  
> address the
> questions raised in the introduction to the workshop call for  
> papers. If you
> would like to deliver a 3 minute opinion piece to the Open Forum  
> please
> submit a brief outline of the issue you would like to raise.
>
>
> Timeline
>
> Launch of cfp                                                 01  
> November
> 2007
>
> Expression of intention to submit:                   15 January 2008
>
> Deadline for submission:                                15  
> February2008
>
> Notification of acceptance:                              1 April 2008
>
> Final papers due:                                           1 May 2008
>
> Date of workshop:                                          8 June 2008
>
>
> Submission of intentions and papers to be made to the workshop  
> chairs at
> bstahl at dmu.ac.uk
> Organisation of the workshop:
>
> Chairs
> Programme Chairs:
> B. Stahl, D. Cecez-Kecmanovic
>
> Workshop Organizing Chairs:
> Rachel McLean
>
> Updated information will be provided on the following website:
> http://groups.google.co.uk/group/cris-2008/web/call-for-papers- 
> cris-2008
>
> I hope to see you in Galway.
> Bernd
>
> Dr. Bernd Carsten Stahl
> http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~bstahl/

Jeremy Hunsinger
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,  
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  
(www.cipr.uwm.edu)

Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a  
thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions,  
think. --Byron