The information systems discipline in Australia's capital

Shirley Gregor, Edward Lewis, Craig McDonald

    Research output: A Conference proceeding or a Chapter in BookChapter

    Abstract

    The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is the seat of Australia’s federal
    government. The three universities studied—the University of New
    South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW@ADFA),
    The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of
    Canberra (UC)—are all located in the nation’s capital city, Canberra.
    Each group has a distinctive background that reflects this setting. The
    UNSW@ADFA is essentially a private university for the Australian
    Defence Organisation; the ANU was set up to be a national research
    institution; and the UC group for many years focused on meeting the
    training needs for computing professionals for the federal government.
    Despite these distinguishing characteristics, the information systems
    (IS) groups studied have some commonalities. Pedagogical approaches,
    epistemological approaches and research topics are all recognisably
    within the bounds of what is regarded as legitimate for the IS discipline.
    There is also a degree of commonality in the core knowledge topics
    offered to students. There are, however, also aspects that detract from
    the degree to which IS has developed as a discipline. Our field is not
    regarded as socially prestigious and there are few signs of mechanisms
    of control. A unique symbol set does not exist to exclude outsiders.
    The placement of the organisational units within the universities is a
    result of local contingencies, as is, to some extent, the nature of research
    undertaken.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Information Systems Academic Discipline in Australia
    EditorsGuy Cable
    Place of PublicationAustralia
    PublisherANU E Press
    Pages151-171
    Number of pages21
    Edition1
    ISBN (Electronic)9781921313943
    ISBN (Print)9781921313936
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

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