Track 5: Current Topics in ISD

Current information systems development takes place and has to respond to an environment where digital technologies and innovations such as social media, big data, the Internet of things, mobile and cloud computing are the enablers and drivers of digitalisation and digital transformation, the fundamental sociotechnical transformation of business and society. Digital technologies significantly influence processes, products, services, and business models and strategies, by connecting machines, things, and individuals and by enabling new ways of working, collaboration, and automation. The smart fusion of the physical and digital world, data-driven services, smart products, product-service hybrids, and digital platforms reinforce that information systems are not just technical artifacts applied by some individual users, employees, workers or customers but are part of sociotechnical and sociomaterial systems which are based on digital ecosystems and involve larger parts of business and society. In such an environment citizens, customers and business partner are and have to be engaged as participants and co-designers in the information systems development process as they are a major source of any value generation in an environment which is changing from a goods-dominant to a service dominant logic. Comprehensive information systems such as enterprise systems are only rarely developed from scratch, application and service development becomes more the rule than the exception. This context for information systems development is characterized fast change; it is dynamic and at times turbulent. In a disruptive climate entrepreneurs and start-up challenges incumbent information systems providers. Onshoring is contesting the still popular trend to offshore development. In this setting agile information systems development in combination with other methodical approaches such as co-design, open source, crowdsourced, and community-based development has achieved credibility as an approach for dealing with adjustments, alterations, modifications, and the unpredictable and hardly controllable elements of the development process. Beyond traditional text- and paper-based scholarly submissions in line with the conference topic of ‘Information Systems beyond 2020’ we also explicitly encourage submissions presented in an alternative genre to the orthodox format. Such unconventional forms of communicating research work allow for reframing the prevailing boundaries and a broader and inclusive view of information systems development scholarship. This may include the application of other literary forms such as storytelling, drama, confessional accounts, or comics or other visual media based representations and illustrations instead or in addition to text to convey high quality results of current topics in information systems development scholarship.