Research as an information systems domain - Information Systems Foundations: Constructing and Criticising - page 150

someone other than specifically the practitioner, be this industry, government
or society generally; and this requirement is present from the beginning.
Batterham (2003) describes Mode 1 as 'discipline based; distinguishes between theoret-
ical core and its conversion to application' while Mode 2 is 'multidisciplinary, team
based; Constant flow between basic & applied; Discovery occurs where knowledge is
developed and put to use'. The search for integration between research and practice is
a priority.
But these are two very different worlds - human activity systems that share knowledge,
but not purpose, method or people. The relationship has normally been one of knowledge
provision on one side and adoption on the other. There are many examples of effective
interoperation projects (for example, in most of Australia's Cooperative Research Centres).
In this way of thinking, the relationship between research and practice is like that
between two organisations engaged in e-Commerce. The currency is knowledge, with
practice providing relevance and raw data to theory, and research providing economically
useful, causally based knowledge and interventions to practice. Figure 12.2 shows two
information systems planes, one for research, the other for practice, with the suggestion
of a third interoperation system in between.
Figure 12.2. Traditional interoperation of research and practice systems.
E-Commerce, like interoperation between systems, has become a significant part of IS.
Recent work in terms of ontologies and the Web (Moody, 2000) and in object orientation,
agents, XML, and so on, is accelerating the field. So patterns to support this kind of re-
lationship between research and practice already exist.
But the KMS described earlier implies a different view. It concentrates not on the trading
between systems but on sharing what they have in common. It suggests a deeper associ-
ation of human activity systems, not just ICT mediated communication.
Conclusion
From an IS research perspective the research domain presents an opportunity to develop
and test new ideas in IS. Our challenge is to make a serious effort to create systems ar-
chitectures, define and mobilise technologies and specify processes that address e-Re-
search.
ICT does not work effectively in human activity systems without IS. It can work at the
individual and social levels, but not at the organisational or societal levels. So there is
a demand and supply relationship between ICT and IS. From the IS perspective, new
ICT offers opportunities for building new types of systems, and it can be argued that IS
has been slow to adopt some of these technologies. However, IS has certainly been slow
in demanding that ICT produce tools for solving new types of problem. Looking at re-
search as an IS domain challenges us to think of, and to start driving, the next steps in
informatics development.