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SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues - the story behind the work

SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues - the story behind the work

By Mijalche Santa

The purpose of the SIGPhil's podcasts "Philosophical dialogues: the story behind the work" is to go behind the published work and seek answers to why philosophy, how philosophy, when philosophy and with whom. Together with the guests talking about their experience we will explore the history, the ideas, the reasoning, the process, the challenges and the funny things that happened and made contribution to what they published. We will also discuss what did not got published and the future of their philosophical work. All that in 45 to 60 minutes.
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Jan Recker - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues - the story behind the workJan 11, 2021

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53:46
Steven Alter - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Steven Alter - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with dr. Steven Alter, Professor Emeritus at University of San Francisco. Prof. Alter is the author of seven published books and many journal articles. His work is published in some of the top journals in the IS field. Over the course of many years of research he developed a systems analysis method for business professionals called the Work System Method. His published work describes work system theory and useful extensions related to work system principles, work system design spaces, workarounds, system interactions, and tools for establishing more effective communication between business and IT professionals. Through his work prof. Alter is recognized for creating an integrated conceptual basis for understanding and analyzing IT-reliant systems from a business viewpoint.

Today with professor Alter we discuss research motivated by philosophical pragmatism. We discuss the need for clear concepts, the quest to be pragmatic, the problem of method in IS field and  the issue of whether the wider world would care if the IS academic field stops existing. With this I bring you prof. Alter.

Mar 29, 202201:10:50
Blair Wang - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Blair Wang - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Blair Wang. Blair is a lecturer in Business Information Systems at the University of Sydney Business School. His research takes a critical-theoretic perspective on emerging digital practices, such as digital nomadism and the digital futures of work. His research has been disseminated in top IS journals and conferences.

Today with Blair I talk about his journey in philosophy and how he combines it with his research. We talk about how to make people aware about the idea, how to come to the idea, about the need of making the click and much more. With this it is my pleasure to bring you our colleague Blair Wang.

Feb 07, 202201:02:12
Nixon Muganda Ochara - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Nixon Muganda Ochara - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with prof. Nixon Muganda Ochara. He is a Research Professor at the University of Venda, South Africa. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has held visiting positions at Southern University A & M, USA, Mandume ya Ndemufayo University, Angola, ICT University, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany among others. Prof. Ochara has a PhD in Information Systems from University of Cape Town, South Africa. Prior to joining academia, he held various positions in the private sector like Africa Online, a Pan-African Internet Service Provider and Symphony, an IBM Distributor. He has forged research programs in Open Development Innovations, Business Analytics, Digital Government, Digital Governance, National Information Infrastructures, ICT Governance and E-Business. He has published in leading Information Systems journals such as Government Information Quarterly, Information Technology & People, Information Technology for Development, among others. He has also published a paper on the logic of theoretical argument in research.

Today with prof. Ochara we talk about how in philosophy you start from the social problem,  how you express your beliefs through philosophy, the need for IS emancipation (contextual, scientific, philosophical), that each voice needs to be heard and much more. With this it is my pleasure to bring you prof. Muganda Ochara.

Jan 12, 202201:07:41
Leona Chandra Kruse - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Leona Chandra Kruse - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Leona Chandra Kruse. She is an assistant professor at the Chair of Information Systems and Innovation at University of Liechtenstein. Leona's research is motivated by two alluring contradictions: the bright side and the dark side of digital transformation and the known and the unknown in designing for digital transformation. She is passionate about topics that lie at the intersection of Entrepreneurship, Information Systems, and Psychology, such as leadership, design approaches to management, venture creation, and building digital applications to tackle societal challenges. She has published in journals Journal of the Association for Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems. She is an Associate Editor of European Journal of Information Systems and member of the executive committee of the Special Interest Group on Pragmatism (SIGPrag) of the Association for Information Systems (AIS). 


It is design, pragmatism, philosophy and wine we talk today with dr. Chandra Kruse. We talk about the importance of "why" question, about philosophical sensing, how you need to go deep in philosophy, but you also need to come back to surface and communicate it, about show and tell approach and about much more. With this it is my pleasure to bring you dr. Leona Chandra Kruse.


Dec 09, 202101:04:35
Nik Rushdi Hassan SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Nik Rushdi Hassan SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with prof. Nik Rushdi Hassan. Nik Rushdi Hassan is associate professor of Management Information Systems (MIS) at the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE), University of Minnesota Duluth. With his 10 years of experience in the industry he began his academic career in two areas: investigating the philosophical foundations of the information systems (IS) field, and information technology (IT)-enabled business process innovations and modeling (BPM). Nik's research on the philosophical foundations of the IS field inspires studies on the field's disciplinarity, conceptual development and intellectual structures, core concepts of IS development (ISD), scientometric practices in IS, and more recently theorizing and theory building in IS. He has published extensively on philosophical aspects in IS in top journals. He has served as President of the Association of Information Systems (AIS) Special Interest Group on Philosophy in Information Systems (SIGPhil)  and is currently Senior Editor of the Journal of Information Technology and the Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, and Associate Editor for the History and Philosophy Department of the Communications of the AIS. Nik is recognised as moving force behind the philosophical discourse in IS field and here we talk about his experience. 

Today with prof. Hassan we talk about how philosophy can improve IS offering to the world, why we have not answered the same questions, how philosophy can provide a perspective to better perform your research and why the rapid changes of the field are not an excuse and much more. With this it is my pleasure to bring you prof. Hassan.

Sep 14, 202101:09:04
Devinder Bahadur Thapa SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Devinder Bahadur Thapa SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with prof. Devinder Thapa. He is a Professor at the University of Agder, Norway. He has completed his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering in 2008 from Ajou University, South Korea and completed his second Ph.D. in Information Systems in 2012 from the University of Agder, Norway. His research interest is Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D). He has published in international journals such as Information Systems Journal (ISJ), International Journal of Information Management (IJIM). He is currently on the Editorial Board of Information Systems Journal, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, and International Journal of Information Management  data insights. He is also interested in the Philosophy of Science and Technology. Especially, to explore the harmony between eastern and western philosophy and their application in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) research. 

Today with him I talk about the confusion you feel when you start the philosophical journey, the need for philosophical education, how we should be philosophically minded and how to bring it in your work, exploring is it now the time when philosophy is needed in IS and much more. With this it is my pleasure to bring you prof. Thapa.

Jun 29, 202152:17
Mikko Siponen SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Mikko Siponen SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with prof. Mikko Siponen. He is a Professor of Information Systems at the University of Jyväskylä. His research interests include IS security, IS development, computer ethics, and philosophical aspects of IS. He has published extensively in top IS journals like MISQ, ISR, JAIS, EJIS and others. He has been guest SE and AE for the MISQ and held editorial positions at JAIS, EJIS, I&M, and CAIS.  Prof. Siponen has unique mix of education (Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Joensuu, Finland, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems From the University of Oulu, Finland), proven track of publications covering IS and Philosophy in IS. He has supervised 25 Ph.D. and more than 100 Master's theses to the completion. It is based on this unique background and experience that he shares with us his view on philosophy in IS. He is so far the only Information Systems scholar invited to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Today with prof. Siponen we talk how you engage in philosophy by giving very practical suggestions, how you should think about philosophy, how philosophy can help you in your argumentation process and much more. It is my pleasure to bring you prof. Siponen.

Jun 08, 202144:25
Amir Haj-Bolouri SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Amir Haj-Bolouri SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Amir Haj-Bolouri, an assistant professor at University West, Trollhättan, Sweden.  Doctor Haj-Bolouri research is mainly within the field of Information Systems with a focus on questions and phenomena conerning design, immersive technologies (e.g., Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality), philosophy, and learning.

Amir's research has contributed to the domains of Design Science Research, Action Design Research, E-Learning, theory and theorizing in Information Systems and philosophy in Information Systems. Amir cooperates with leading scholars and has recently published the paper "Revitalizing Thoughts on Theory, Theorizing, and Philosophizing in Information Systems" in the "Advancing Information Systems Theories Rationale and Processes" series edited by Nik Rushdi Hassan and Leslie P. Willcocks, and "Wickedness in Designing IT for Integration Work: A Phenomenological Account" as an upcoming publication in Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems. 

Today we explore those thoughts from the perspective of younger scholar and talk about so what and what it adds philosophy to your paper, the importance of iteration , the need to be pragmatical and at the end we talk about the Eastern philosophies. With this I bring you Amir.

Apr 28, 202154:18
Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic, currently Emeritus Professor at University of New South Wales, Sydney. Dubravka started her academic career at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, ex-Yugoslavia, where she was elected a professor of Information Systems (IS) in 1990 in the Informatics Department.   Since 1993 she has continued her academic career in Australia, first as professor of Information Systems at Griffith University, Brisbane, then at UWS, Sydney, before joining University of New South Wales in 2002. Among many roles she held, she served as the Head of School of Information Systems, Technology and Management and as the Presiding Member of the UNSW Business School. She has published in the top IS journals and conferences, co-edited special issues published in MIS Quarterly and Information System Journal. She is currently a Senior Editor of Journal of Association of Information Systems and Information and Organization. 

Dubravka's intellectual journey, her research interests and publications reflect criticality, pluralism and concerns for social social implications of IT and IS. Her research has spanned a wide range from studies of social systems of information and government information systems, to ethnographies of digital work, collaboration and decision-making, to exploring electronic commerce and the transformative role of IS in economies in transition. Majority of these studies were informed by Critical Social Theory, involving fieldwork and theorizing grounded in empirical data, that led to theoretical and methodological contributions to the critical approach to IS research. More recently she has engaged in developing and applying a processual sociomaterial approach to understanding and researching IS and organizing, that overcomes the entrenched dichotomy between the technological and the social.

Today we talk about her philosophical pursuits that informed or underpinned her studies. I asked her how she chose particular approaches and philosophical foundations when studying different IS phenomena;  how she recognized that different times and different phenomena require change to dominant understanding of reality. We also talk about core and boundaries of the IS discipline. We discuss examples how her PhD students relate sometimes abstract philosophical thought to empirical observations in order to provide better explanation and much more. And with this brief introduction I bring you prof. Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic.

Mar 15, 202101:02:49
John Mingers - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

John Mingers - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with prof. John Mingers. He is Professor of Operational Research and Information Systems at Kent Business School, University of Kent. He is an Academician of the Academy of the Social Sciences, and has been an Associate Editor for MIS Quarterly. His research interests include research metrics; the nature of information, meaning and knowledge; the use of systems methodologies in problem situations - multimethodology, and the philosophy of critical realism. Prof. Mingers has published extensively in top journals in the different fields and it is is in top 2% of world scientists in IS and OR field and one of the highest cited British scholars. Thus philosophy does have an impact.

In this podcast we talk about the development of philosophical interest, and how the quest to answers inspires exploration of philosophical streams, about scholarly innovation and creating the future, how PhD students should meet the challenges of philosophy and much more. It is my pleasure to bring you prof. Mingers.

Feb 17, 202149:00
Jan Recker - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Jan Recker - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Jan Recker. Prof. Recker is an AIS fellow, Alexander-von-Humboldt fellow, chaired professor of Information Systems and Systems Development at the University of Cologne, Germany and adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. 

His research focuses on systems analysis and design, digital innovation and entrepreneurship, and digital solutions for sustainability challenges. He explores the intersection of technology, people and work with focus on how technology and/or work are designed, and in which processes they come together. Prof. Recker has published in the top journals of our field and is one of most cited scholars in our field. He is a Senior Editor for the MIS Quarterly. From 2015 to 2020 he was editor-in-chief of Communications of Association for Information Systems journal, where he introduced the "History and Philosophy of IS" department and in this podcast we talk about philosophy. 

We talk about his encounters with philosophy, about the option to choose, epistemological pluralism, transparency, the beauty and future of the IS field and we end with Jan's message to young scholars. It is my pleasure to bring you prof. Recker. 

Jan 11, 202153:46
Shirley Gregor - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Shirley Gregor - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Today I talk with Shirley Gregor. She is a Professor Emerita at the Australian National University. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction and the philosophy of science and technology.

Her research has appeared in outlets including MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association of Information Systems, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, European Journal of Information Systems and Information Technology & People. 

In her career prof. Gregor was a Senior Editor for MIS Quarterly and was Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of the Association of Information Systems. She has led several large applied research projects.

Prof. Gregor is Fellow of the Australian Computer Society and a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems. She was given a DESRIST Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 for contributions to design science research in information systems and technology.

And Design Science is the ongoing topic of our discussion. With prof. Gregor I talk about how she was drawn to the fundamental questions and why she wants to answer them. How she participated and made contribution to the ongoing development of design science research in IS. We also discuss the interesting court case related to design science, discuss the possible contribution of abduction, Simon's artificial science, the future of IS and much more. With this I welcome prof. Gregor.

Nov 16, 202051:42
Bo Dahlbom - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Bo Dahlbom - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Bo Dahlbom is a professor of information systems at the University of Gothenburg and research director at Sustainable Innovation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. 

Prof. Bo Dahlbom has contributed to the development of the discipline information systems in Scandinavia, to the Nordic cooperation as the initiator of the IRIS Association, as editor of the Scandinavian journal, as conference organizer, and as the initiator of large Nordic collaborative research projects.

He became associate professor in theoretical philosophy in 1983, full professor of information systems in 1994. 

It is this unique experience of Bo Dahlbom that provides a unique insight in our discussion while we discuss the past, present and the future of philosophy and information systems, the relation of empirical research and philosophical awareness and much more.

Sep 24, 202057:11
Brian Butler - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Brian Butler - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

In this "SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues: the story behind the work" podcast I talk with prof. Brian Butler. Dr. Brian Butler is a Professor and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland. Dr. Butler has published over 100 refereed articles in journals, conference proceedings, and edited books. His recent scholarly work has been published in Archival Science, Journal of the Association of Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, and Organization Science. His research interests include the development and modeling of online communities and social media systems, the interplay of power and information technology in organizations, and techniques for deploying complex information systems to support reliable organizational and individual performance. His recent work examined the role of local information institutions and infrastructures in community resilience.  

In this podcast we talk about his eclectic approach towards usage of philosophical streams, his opinion on how to communicate your philosophical intuitions in research papers, the philosophical obligations of IS scholars and much more.

Sep 24, 202053:03
Allen S Lee - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

Allen S Lee - SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues

The first "SIGPhil's Philosophical dialogues: the story behind the work" podcast with prof. Allen S Lee, Professor Emeritus of Information Systems at Virginia Commonwealth University. We talk about his experience and work on philosophy in IS, how he started, how he progressed and his contribution to IS discourse.

Feb 17, 202051:06