Information System Concepts: An Integrated Discipline Emerging IFIP TC8/WG8.1 International Conference on Information System Concepts: An Integrated Discipline Emerging (ISCO-4)September 20–22, 1999, University of Leiden, The Netherlands

This volume contains the invited paper, the reviewed research papers, the discussants' comments on the latter, and the workshop memoranda of the fourth IFIP WG 8. 1 International Working Conference on "Information System Concepts", with the subtitle "An Integrated Discipline Emerging" (ISC04). It was held in Leiden, The Netherlands, 20-22 September 1999. The previous three ISCO conferences were subtitled "An In-depth Analysis", "Improving the Understanding", and "Towards a Consolidation of Views". Their proceedings were published in 1989, 1992, and 1995, respectively. The ISCO conferences were instigated by the former Task Group FRISCO (an acronym for "FRamework of Information System Concepts"), charged by the IFIP Working Group 8. 1 with the task of proposing a conceptual framework for the information system field. Its report, entitled "A Framework of Information System Concepts" (the "FRISCO Report" for short), is available on the World Wide Web via the address: http://www. wi. leidenuniv. nl/~verrynstlfrisco. html or may be downloaded directly as a condensed Word-6 file from: ftp://ftp. leidenuniv. nl/pub/rullfri-full. zip The FRISCO Report forms a significant contribution to the long-lasting quest of our community towards developing a scientific outlook on the field of information systems. Clarifying the varied nature of many diverging views - some of which may not easily be reconciled - the report does propose a coherent, consistent and partially formalised framework of concepts.

Information Systems as a Social Science: An Alternative to the FRISCO Formalism.- Comments on “Information Systems as a Social Science” by R.K. Stamper.- Comments on “Information Systems as a Social Science” by R.K. Stamper.- Conceptions are Social Constructs — towards a Solid Foundation of the FRISCO Approach.- Comments on “Conceptions are Social Constructs” by H. v. Braun, W. Hesse, U. Andelfinger, H.-B. Kittlaus, and G. Scheschonk.- An Organisational Theory of Information.- Comments on “An Organisational Theory of Information” by A.W. Holt and F. Cardone.- A Semiotic Approach to the Design of Agent-mediated E-commerce Systems.- Comments on “A Semiotic Approach to the Design of Agent-mediated E-commerce Systems” by S. Chong and K. Liu.- The Quality of Business Process Modelling Methods: Illustration of a Framework for Understanding Modelling Quality.- Comments on “The Quality of Business Process Modelling Methods” by B.-J. Hommes and V. van Reijswoud.- Modelling Concurrent Process Coordination in Workflow Specifications.- Comments on “Modelling Concurrent Process Coordination in Workflow Specifications” by A.P. Barros and A.H.M. ter Hofstede.- An Autopoietic View of the Concept ‘Information System’.- Comments on “An Autopoietic View of the Concept ‘Information System’” by E.-S. Abou-Zeid.- Failure, Identity Loss and Living Information Systems.- Comments on “Failure, Identity Loss and Living Information Systems” by P. Kanellis, M. Lycett and R.J. Paul.- An Ontological Evaluation of the OML Metamodel.- Comments on “An Ontological Evaluation of the OML Metamodel” by A.L. Opdahl, B. Henderson-Sellers and F. Barbier.- Overviews of Models Defined with Charts of Concepts.- Comments on “Overviews of Models Defined withCharts of Concepts” by X. Castellani.- Information System? Which One Do you Mean?.- Comments on “Information System? Which One Do you Mean?” by J.A. Carvalho.- The ‘Information’ Concept in FRISCO Compared to Empirical Studies of Information in Decision Making.- Comments on “The ‘Information’ Concept in FRISCO Compared to Empirical Studies of Information in Decision Making” by J. Kaasbøll.- Keynote Address: Formal and Informal Aspects of Intelligent Agent-based Systems.- Conceptual Foundations of Information Systems: Report on Workshop 1.- Innovation and Standardization in the Information Systems Field: Report on Workshop 2.- Information System Concepts in Practice: Report on Workshop 3.- Index of Contributors.- Keyword Index.

Eckhard Falkenberg is Professor Emeritus of Information Systems and lives in Germany Kalle Lyytinen is Professor of Information Systems at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland Alex Verrijn-Stuart is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Leiden University, The Netherlands