The Birth of Information Systems - History of Computing: Learning from the Past - page 206

The Birth of Information Systems
Audra Lukaitis, Stas Lukaitis, and Bill Davey
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
{Audra.Lukaitis,stas,Bill.Davey}@rmit.edu.au
Abstract. This paper traces the history of the development of information sys-
tems degrees in one of the largest Australian universities. A synthesis of docu-
ments and transcripts of interviews with the participants shows that information
systems grew from an amalgam of existing business courses. The shape of the
degrees was initially forged by politics and personality, with a stable and robust
curriculum in place after a number of years. This historical narrative shows that
university curriculum reflected the significant impact of information technolo-
gies in business.
Keywords: information systems curriculum, information systems history,
information systems.
1 Introduction
Australia has a long history, relatively, of computing. The CSIR Mk1 (CSIRAC -
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Automatic Computer), built in the late
1940s was Australia's first internally-stored-program computer and is acknowledged
to be the world's fourth [1]. People from this burgeoning area were recruited into
universities at a very early stage. At the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(now RMIT University) Brian O'Donahue from the Commonwealth public service
was recruited to head the Data Processing Group. People like Cliff Forrester, who had
become engaged by computers after working on EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage
Automatic Calculator) in England as a result of his aeronautical jobs at Farnborough,
drifted from some part time teaching at Caulfield Institute (one of the first Colleges to
offer formal degrees in information systems) into a full time role at Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology (RMIT).
1.1 RMIT University Beginnings
RMIT is one of the largest universities in Australia. It offers undergraduate and postgradu-
ate degrees in a number of computer-related areas, principally computer science and in-
formation systems. The first is quite old in Australian terms. The University opened for
business on 7 June, 1887, as the Working Men's College with an initial enrolment of 600
students. By 1988 The College offered classes in technical, business and arts with an em-
phasis on applied skills relevant to trades including architectural and mechanical drawing,
theoretical and applied mechanics, plumbing, carpentry and painting. Studies in arithme-
tic, algebra, bookkeeping, shorthand, physics, photography and so on.