Provincial designer design: A creative mix of hard restrictions and soft visions of an information systems educational program

Abstract

This paper presents a brief historical account of the unorthodox design of an educational program for information systems development. The design and development of this program was initiated in 1977 at the University College of Ostersund, today the Mid Sweden University. The presented account provides a description of the somewhat unusual context of this initiative, which was regarded as a weakness by conventional standards, but became an opportunity in this particular situation. The intellectual inspirations and sources for the design of this program are characterized and followed by a presentation of the very content and operating mode of the educational program. The final part presents the various outcomes that the program gave rise to, in terms of students' professional careers observed.