Standing Committee of the European Conference on Information Systems

Present: Georgios Doukidis, Edgar Whitley, Karlheinz Kautz, Bob Galliers, Harald Mahrer, Martin Bichler, Joze Gricar, Stan Wrcyza, Steve Smithson, Ellen Christiannse, Reima Suomi, Kalle Kangas, Maddelena Sorrentino, Kurt Bauknecht, Hans Hansen, Bernhard Grum, Mateja Podlogar, Eph Maclean, Janice Sipior, Joze Gricar, Marcello Martinez, Andrea Caginari, John Mooney, Phil Yetton

Apologies: Leslie Willcocks, JanPries Heje, Claudio Ciborra, Kalle Lyytinen, Niels Bjorn-Andersen, Professor Mercurio

2 Minutes of the last meeting

2.1 Resolved

That the minutes be accepted

3 ECIS 2000

3.1 Reported

The following statistics about submissions were reported:

414 papers were submitted

187 were accepted (45% acceptance rate) in 15 tracks

300 research papers

55 case studies

59 practice oriented papers

13 panels

179 submissions for industry tracks

235 submissions for general tracks

72 from the UK

56 from Germany

19 from Switzerland

18 from Austria

707 participants had registered so far, with an expectation of 750

162 from Austria

160 from Germany

27 from Switzerland

74 from the UK

42 from the US

3.2 Noted

The excellent job that had been done by the reviewers.

That the review process was delegated down to the stream organisers.

That two cases of submissions to 2 tracks were spotted.

That the assumption at HICSS that people will stay within one stream probably does not apply at ECIS.

4 Forthcoming conferences

ECIS 2001

4.1 Reported

That two leaflets had been produced: The call for papers for the conference and the call for the doctoral consortium

That a number of sponsors had been found and were listed on the call.

That the organisers were stimulated by the Vienna approach and had developed their collaboration with IS professionals:

• IT providers at the executive level who had been invited to come to conference
• Meeting of directors of IS associations, especially those from Central Europe
• Projects financed by the EU

That particular attention was given to advertising the PhD consortium, especially in Central Europe where the awareness of the consortium was limited.

Thanks were given to the Copenhagen and Vienna committees for sharing their experiences and it was hoped that the same support could be offered to Gdansk.

That Vienna had given them the best booth, in the main lobby. Booth was co-sponsored by the Bled Municipality

That AIS and ACM had provided sponsorship for the doctoral consortium

That it is a challenge to make the conference happen, but it will happen, it will have a good programme and will be good for the country, informing people in Slovenia about IS

4.2 Noted

That there was some question about the relationship between research chairs, associate chairs and programme committee. It was not clear if this is a matrix organisation or not? In particular, it was not clear who organizes the reviewing process.

That every country should have its own logo - including stars

4.3 Resolved

That the question of the relationship between the research chairs, associate chairs and programme committee be finalised before the reviewing process begins

ECIS 2002

4.4 Reported

That stars and a local icon would be added to the call

That the theme was: Expanding the digital economy (originally towards a digital economy--things have developed so quickly).

That the conference would revert to the traditional model, with additional industry tracks

That the brochure for 2001 includes reference to 2002.

That promotion for the conference starts in Bled, and ICIS 2001

That 3 new conference centres had recently been built close to the city centre.

That chairs would be organised at the February 2001 meeting

That there would be a gala dinner with an organ concert after the conference

That Gdansk was expecting between 300-450 participants

4.5 Noted

A suggestion that the organising of the stream chairs begin in Vienna.

ECIS 2003

4.6 Reported

That Professor Mercurio arrives tomorrow

That the doctoral consortium will take place 3 days beforehand on Capri, where the University of Naples has a villa

That new conference facilities were being built in Naples

That there would be a meeting in Autumn to finalise the structure

That sponsorship was being sought

That there were currently no stars on the logo, but that these would be added

That the castle would be the site for the welcome party

5 Proposal for new conference

5.1 Reported

That a proposal had been received to host ECIS 2004 in Turku, Finland. The proposal had the full support of Tapio Reponen, the Rector for the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration.

That the proposed theme be "The European IS profession in the global networking environment"

That Finland had organised ICIS 1998 so this conference was coming 6 years after ICIS.

That Turku is the 3^rd largest city in Finland. It has 170,000 inhabitants and direct flights to Helsinki and Stockholm. There are 17 Universities in Finland, 3 in Turku and the Finnish Universities support the proposal.

That the conference be held 21-23 June with a welcome party on the 20^th. The Midsummer weekend takes place after the conference. It is planned to hold the conference dinner on 22nd June. The conference hotel would be the Caribia (www.caribia.fi) which can host 300 delegates

That the expected fee would be 350 Euro for academics, 450 Euro for others

That there would be no equipment costs (equipment would be borrowed from the University)

Reima Suomi and Malin Brännback local organizing chairs

5.2 Noted

That the title was not attractive to some. Is there a European IS profession? What is the relationship between the profession and academics?

5.3 Resolved

That the proposal be accepted and Turku be invited to host ECIS 2004

5.4 Noted

That ECIS had now become a successful brand which needed marketing to maintain its image. Marketing expenses are therefore for the conference and for the brand

5.5 Resolved

That all future proposals include a marketing plan (costing and timescales)

5.6 Resolved

That IS journals be asked if one-page adverts about the conference be included

5.7 Noted

That paper proceedings form a large part of the cost of the conference

5.8 Resolved

That there be a fuller discussion about paper versus CD-only proceedings at the next meeting

5.9 Noted

That the standing committee may wish to consider a more focussed strategy for soliciting future proposals and may wish to think about returning to locations (countries) that have already hosted ECIS conferences and also to be more proactive in soliciting conference proposals.

5.10 Resolved

That there be a fuller discussion at the next meeting, with supporting information about which IS communities have hosted an ECIS conference and which haven't.

6 ECIS and AIS links

6.1 Noted

That the proposed merger between ICIS and AIS was now in the hands of lawyers

That AIS has always been an international community

1700 members

1200 US

500 rest of the world

That there were 5 European journals and 4 US journals available to AIS members

It is a non-profit organisation but is currently making money and as a result AIS might be able to assist in ways it hasn't done in the past

That ECIS was part of AIS's mission and there was continued support from AIS to ECIS. In order to claim the support for the doctoral consortium, simply "send the bill to AIS".

That the support for the doctoral consortium had been renewed, along the terms of the previous agreement but with no end date.

Everyone is willing to cooperate, it is now necessary to start doing things and the forthcoming Bled and Gdansk conferences can be used as levers to develop this further

That AIS was offering the central reviewing system used by ICIS for conference organisers

That ICIS stays in December but may become more weekend friendly.

6.2 Resolved

That there be a fixed agenda item on how AIS can help ECIS

7 Date of next meeting

As ICIS is being held at Brisbane, it may not be possible for all standing committee members to attend. There would therefore be an informal meeting at the January meeting Bled with the next formal meeting in at ECIS in Bled, Summer 2001

8 Any other business

There was no other business

05/12/2000