Reflections on computer science and information systems research

Abstract

Computer and related information and communication technologies have profoundly affected the shape of modern society. Shepherding the creation and utilization of effective and efficient computational technologies are the joint tasks of Computer Science and Information Systems researchers. Their realm is to understand and explicate the nature of those technologies and how and why they come into existence. This knowledge forms the foundation of theories to explain and, hopefully, to predict their impacts on individuals, groups, organizations, and society as a whole. The very creation of an innovative technology focused on a specific problem in a specific context can have far reaching effects, completely unpredicted and unintended by the innovator. We argue that researchers in Computer Science and Information Systems must be cognizant of the broader implications of their work and encourage their interaction with practitioners and researchers in a variety of disciplines to identify fruitful areas of scientific inquiry.