Information Resources Management

Workshop #2

 Building IS Research Scholarship with relevance to the Caribbean and Latin American Regions
 
Workshop Coordinator: Dr. Gerald Grant, Carleton University, Canada
Workshop Presenters: Dr.Yolande Chan, Queens University, Canada; Dr. Evan Duggan, University of the West Indies, Jamaica; Dr. Felix Tan, AUT University.
 
 
The purpose of this workshop is to develop an agenda for IS research that is relevant to the Caribbean and Latin American regions. These regions have many unique features, and as such, research from other domains is less relevant to them. Very little is known about the effects of IS factors on business outcomes in these regions for two main reasons: i) there is a paucity of research in these regions on such effects ii) there is hardly a connection between research studies  that occur in these regions and those that occur elsewhere. A consequence is the lack of guiding principles on, for example, how to use ICT in business and government. Some theories from other domains might help to define such principles, but others are likely to be less useful. A research agenda for the regions can help us to know them differently. Such an agenda will also create an opportunity for us to advance research in a broader context and bridge what gap exists in research in and outside the regions.
 
Countries in the Caribbean and Latin America are to a large extent (with some exceptions) mainly independent small developing states with limited natural resources.  Many of the countries have similar histories, cultures, governance structures and demographics.  Their economies, however, tend to be fragile and highly dependent on one or two resources as well as services such as tourism. 
 
ICTs are often regarded as having significant developmental potential.  It is therefore incumbent on the IS research community to apply its unique investigative and analytical competence to help to shape the discourse  and policy directions relating to the acquisition, deployment, and application of information and communication technologies in pursuit of greater economic and social development.
 
The main points for discussions have been identified as:
 
1.    How can IS research be made relevant to the region?
2.    How can we understand and evaluate the impact of ICTs in the Caribbean and Latin America?
3.    How can excellent IS research emanating from the Caribbean and Latin America gain greater prominence in leading IS outlets?
 
Challenges to be addressed
 
In light of the unique challenges faced by the region, the discussion will address ways in which ICTs can be employed to help individual countries and the region as a whole, respond to challenges related to the following:

• Political: Can ICTs be used to enhance or facilitate any type of political or economic unity among the territories?  
• Governance: What governance structures are needed for any alliances for shared IT services among countries?
• Economic development: what IT platforms, support services, regulations, can be provided to attract foreign investors, local entrepreneurs?
• Human Resource Development: Can distance learning initiatives be used to reduce costs of tertiary education? 
• Research: How can the skills of retired IS faculty from outside the region be leveraged to help build a research community in the region?
• Education:  How can the education system benefit from, and create opportunities for the advancement of ICT use
• Crime: detection and prevention of domestic crime, as well as uncontrolled migration of criminals between the islands
• Climate change: implications for severe weather and disaster preparedness and the economic effects of global environmental agreements such as “Cap and Trade”.
• Tourism: how can the islands develop a brand and market themselves as a region, while still promoting the individual islands. Can some online alliance be formed to allow them to share marketing opportunities, web presence, and infrastructure for bookings, among other services?

 
The outcome of this workshop is to produce a research agenda that has the following components.

• A description of major topics and direction for IS research in the regions
• A description of ways that the skills of IS researchers from within and outside of the regions can be leveraged to advance IS research scholarship. This description should be centered on how to match international IS scholars with their counterparts in the region. This would foster a synergistic exchange of theoretical, empirical, methodological understanding to enable research rooted in the Caribbean and Latin America to gain stature and reputation in the larger IS community.
• A description of ways that doctoral students can be involved in research. The description could focus on how local students can work with local and foreign faculty members on a variety of projects. These projects could be drawn from either the local or foreign domain or from both. The description should also cover ways that local students can have access to foreign scholars for support with their dissertations.