Open IS: The IS Discipline as an Open Community Ecosystem

The collective intelligence and collective action of “open” communities have produced a variety of complex knowledge goods and radical social change. The Information Systems (IS) community has invested significant effort into researching open communities and the ecosystems in which they operate, seeking to better understand these emerging forms of organization, production, innovation, knowledge, and value creation. Ironically, the IS discipline itself has, on the whole, failed to embrace the principles that its own research has repeatedly identified as generative and powerful. This panel therefore seeks to stimulate a thoughtful and dynamic discussion around the proposition that becoming a more open community will enhance the IS discipline’s scholarly inquiry and global impact.