Call for papers

The Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (MCIS-2008) focuses on the distinctive characteristics and goals of Mediterranean countries concerning the applications of information technologies and information systems. A key objective of this conference is to develop a network of IS researchers interested in topics associated with the Mediterranean region.

The 2008 Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems will take place from October 23 to 26 in the beautiful and unique setting of Hammamet, Tunisia.
The program chairs, Mokhtar Amami, Par Agerfalk, Carlo Batini and Johnathan Wareham invite you to join us and contribute to this special conference via seven different avenues:

.  Tourism, Cultural Heritage and Diversity 
   track chair: Marianna Sigala, Jamie Murphy and Oleg Missikof

.  Networks of SMEs 
   track chair: Barbara Pernici and Alice Guilhon du Hellen

.  Creativity and Innovation 
   track chairs: Joan Rodon and Feliciano Sese

.  Strategic planning and requirement engineering in eGovernment
   track chairs: Carlo Batini and Henda Hajjami Ben Ghezala

.  Global Software Development 
   track chairs: Samir Tata and Faiez Gargouri

.  Flexible IS development
   track chairs: Jolita Ralyte

.  General track
   track chair: Mohkthar Amami

Tourism and Cultural Heritage (Track chair: Marianna Sigala Jamie Murphy and Oleg Missikof)
Mediterranean countries rely on tourism and travel, which represented the 3rd largest (7.3%) worldwide export of goods and services in 2002 (World Tourism Organization). The distinction is the willingness of governments to base this tourism on cultural heritage, especially city tourism. According to the European Commission (2001), Europe's cultural
heritage is a "unique public asset" that provides a foundation for "the development of our content industry in a sustainable knowledge society". European cultural tourism is an important industry commanding a larger market share of international tourism arrivals than North America. However, Europe's revenue per arrival lag North America's. Even though France, Spain and Italy were the world's 1st, 2d and 4th cultural tourism destinations in 2003, their tourism receipts also lag the USA (World Tourism Organization, 2004). Have Americans emphasized interpretive services versus Europeans who emphasized academic functions of museums and other cultural assets? Will new information technologies such as broadband and always-on wireless IT be an enabler for reaping the benefits -- economic, political and cultural -- of Europe's cultural heritage as a tourism and historical-socio-political asset?

Networks of SMEs (Track chairs: Barbara Pernici and Alice Guilhon du Hellen)
European and Mediterranean countries rely extensively on networks of SMEs. This is the basis of the theory of "industrial district" especially developed in the UK and in Italy. The challenges of managing Networks of SMEs require the development of inter-organizational information systems such as EDI over the Internet (EOI), Extranet with their B2B electronic marketplaces and any information systems that are developed to ensure visibility, integration and synchronization of the supply chain. Major issues: 1) Role of IT in connecting people, isolated SMEs and universities research groups to form networks and foster entrepreneurship and innovation; 2) Development of websites to develop weak ties networks among Mediterranean countries that are useful for entrepreneurship and innovation; 3) Information Technology and changes in information and physical flows, cost structures and market forces that IT causes throughout the traditional value chain of SMEs particularly in developing countries; and finally 4) Open Innovation & IT Based Entrepreneurship.

Creativity and Innovation (Track chairs: Joan Rodon and Feliciano Sese)
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) bring new opportunities for creativity and innovation in the limits of human interaction and social enterprise. Some practitioners have emphasized the need to invest in business innovation rather than simply on ICT. On the other hand, others have emphasized that the implementation of rationalized systems, the case of ERP and CRM, quite often reduces the opportunity of end users to innovate. This track encourages both theoretical and empirical papers that 1) explore the use of ICT in processes of innovation and creativity in teams, organizations and business networks, 2) explore the limits of creativity and innovation that new rationalized ICT systems pose to social actors, 3) examine different forms of innovation in the adoption and use of ICT applications, as well as papers that 4) conceptualize the concepts of creativity and innovation in the context of organizations and business networks from the perspective of information systems.

Strategic planning and requirement engineering in eGovernment (Track chairs: Carlo Batini Henda Hajjami Ben Ghezala)  
What are the consequences of the fact that European and Mediterranean countries have active public sectors for e-Government, e-Health Care, and e-Learning? What are the consequences of the European policies on IS management in our countries, especially the European requests for proposals, like the Information Society technologies? Furthermore, what is the impact on IS development? What are the existing methodology for the planning and design of value added eGovernment initiatives? As software development has a relevant role in enabling the change enacted by eGovernment in the public sector, requirements engineering is strategic for the development of Information Systems that aims to understand and translate users’ needs into effective solutions; in particular, requirements have to reflect cultures and languages and local needs in the context of Mediterranean Countries. On the basis of requirements that align social and IT perspectives, the planning of value added initiatives and the development of sustainable solutions becomes a collaborative activity across different countries.

Global Software Development (Track chairs: Samir Tata and Faiez Gargouri)
Mediterranean countries include Developing Countries are facing the globalization and the commoditization phenomenon. This track will be devoted to study the consequences of these phenomenon on IS management in the Mediterranean countries. Particularly the track will focus on the impacts of Global Software Development (GSD), IS Risk Management and Cross-National IS Project Management. Major issues: 1) cultural and communication differences and challenges of managing functionality, cost, duration and risk of GSD; 2) commoditization of hardware, bandwidth and software and migration of value to proprietary applications on commodity systems; 3) approaches, methods, tools, best practices and GSD; 4) the role of Free and Open Software in GSD; 5) Open and non-organizational software development; 6) artifact, use, global software development and reality construction; and finally 7) how does global software development may benefit Mediterranean developing countries?

Flexible IS development (Track chairs: Jolita Ralyte)
Information systems engineering situations vary considerably from project to project. Application domain, project objectives (e.g. IS evolution, interoperability), product features (e.g. web-based, mobile, service-oriented), licence form (open source v. proprietary), stakeholders involved, team structure (distributed v. co-located), and various
technological conditions and constraints all have a significant impact on the IS development process. To deal with such a variability of situations ISD methods are evolving from rigid and monolithic to flexible, modular and configurable ones. Besides, it is recognized within the area of situational method engineering that each ISD project requires tailored or specific methods and tools. This track will be dedicated to study flexibility of ISD processes, methods and tools and their adaptability to the characteristics
of ISD projects in the European and Mediterranean countries. Major issues: 1) Requirements for flexibility in ISD projects, 2) ISD project situation assessment and modelling, 3) Method engineering techniques for situation-specific ISD method construction, 3) Domain-specific ISD processes,  4) Agile methods for ISD, 5) Experience and case studies of building and tailoring ISD methods, techniques and tools.

General track (Track chair: Mohkthar Amami)
to be updated

Additionally, we invite proposals for panels in all IS areas associated with the Mediterranean region and of concern to researchers in the region (Panel chair: XY).

We invite you to submit completed research papers, exploratory research papers, panel proposals, and workshops, about IS, especially Mediterranean IS, and about philosophy and epistemology in IS. Although you are welcome on relying on the distinctions noted above, we also encourage you to challenge them. Papers or panels allowing comparative points of view about IS research or with other social and design sciences will be especially welcome, particularly if they allow us to make progress in the quest for a European – possibly Mediterranean - identity in IS research.

Research Papers (extended abstracts maximum 1000 words; research papers maximum 10 pages).
Research papers should report on completed research. Research papers will be published in the official research series of AIS (e-Library).

Exploratory papers (extended abstracts maximum 1000 words; exploratory papers maximum 4 pages)
Exploratory papers should present ideas that could benefit from discussion with members of the MCIS community. These papers may include work-in-progress, experiences of reflective practitioners, and first drafts of novel concepts and approaches.

Panels (2 page proposal)
Panel proposals on topics that include methods, practices, and other areas of interest is solicited. Panels will take place at the end of the paper sessions.

Exploratory papers will be published together with Workshop and Panel descriptions.