Ten Questions for Blake Ives

This week’s Ten Questions comes from Blake Ives, Professor Emeritus at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. Blake played a major leadership role in the development of electronic infrastructure for the information systems academic discipline. This involvement includes founding MISQ Discovery, founding the AIS ListServ known as ISWorld, helping to establish both JAIS and CAIS,  and playing an advisory role in the development of the field's electronic faculty directory, which later became the AIS Faculty Directory, advising on the development of the AIS eLibrary, and advising the development of the online version of the Management Information Systems Quarterly. Black served as the seventh president of the association.

1. You were part of the early conversations surrounding the formation of AIS. What do you remember about those early days of the organization?

Our founders were drawn from several fields (accounting, management science, engineering, computer science, economics, management)  and had allegiances to professional organizations in those fields. At that time we were not the 4,000+ member strong community we are today - more like a few hundred, so there was not a compelling perceived need for an organization - and some perceived value in having these other organizations particularly TIMS/ORSA (now INFORMS) as an umbrella over us.

Bill King, the second Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of MISQ, had a different idea and championed the idea of a professional organization. As the fifth EIC of MISQ, I solicited an editorial from Bill on the notion of having our own professional field and asked all the past editors to join us as co-authors. As Gordon Davis had been one of those who felt we didn’t need an organization, having this published in a Minnesota-based journal, I think may have influenced him to get on board - or maybe he just felt it was time.

I later played a role in helping to link up AIS and ICIS and AIS and IS World and, to some extent AIS and MISQ.

2. You are the founder of ISWorld, which launched in 1994, the same year as the founding of AIS. What was your initial vision for ISWorld and how do you think it has grown and changed over time?

I had a very broad, outlandish, view of the role the Internet would play in our field. I saw ISWorld as eventually largely replacing the need for a professional association and similarly that the WWW would displace our journals. I felt our discipline, not, for example  physics, should be the leaders in this revolution. My enthusiasm, while infectious for some, was way over the top. ISWorld merged with AIS and so too the faculty directory and the listserv.  It became a not very significant element of AIS and no longer a threat to AIS.

3. In 1998 you joined the AIS Council as the Vice President of Advanced Technology. It was during this time that ISWorld formed an alliance with AIS to be operated through the organization rather than independently. Would you share a bit about what went behind that decision and what obstacles might have been presented?

I think I am a better visionary than an executive.  It was by then apparent to me that my grand vision for ISWorld was not viable.  It did not fit the participating faculty's reward system so participation was low and we had no resources. The merger with AIS got me (and others) out from under it and allowed some degree of claiming victory and moving on. Plus, AIS had financial resources that we did not.

4. As seventh president of AIS, what were some of the biggest challenges you tackled during your tenure? 

My vision at that point was to get all the golden eggs into a single basket. That helped lead to the merger of ICIS and AIS as well as the relationship with MISQ and, as noted above, ISWorld.  As I was within a short time frame President of AIS. A founder of ISWorld, EIC of MISQ and chair of the ICIS Executive committee, I had the opportunity to help gather the eggs - some efforts (e.g., ICIS, the listserv, the faculty directory), were more successful than others (MISQ). I still regret that we did not succeed in landing MISQ as an AIS journal.  Most of this happened maybe over a three or four year time frame, - maybe longer - and involved many people. I was just a fortuitously placed player.

5. What was the most rewarding part of your time as an AIS volunteer? Are there any programs or initiatives that stand out that you were especially proud to be involved in?

I think the merger with ICIS, an organization that for a time I was very involved with.

6. What is your favorite memory at an AIS event (ICIS/AMCIS) or affiliated conference (ECIS/PAIS/etc.)?  

AIS and ICIS merged near the time of the ICIS conference in New Orleans for which I was co-chair. I am not sure if it was at that conference or the preceding spring planning meeting, but we had dinner at Antoines, a 150 year old  restaurant in New Orleans (founded by my wife Mimi’s great, great, great.. grandfather) with the officers of AIS and ICIS to celebrate the merger.  I arranged with the restaurant to prepare a giant baked Alaska dessert, as you might for a rehearsal dinner (My own rehearsal dinner having some years before been in that very room) with ICIS & AIS written in frosting on the  side of the dessert.  A marriage of sorts!

7. What do you think the next big area of focus will be for IS? How can AIS support it?

I would like to see AIS work far more closely with SIM. These two 4,000+ member organizations - one serving practitioners and the other academics -  share a field, but not much else.  This is a big missed opportunity.

8. What are some of the most important research areas with the potential for lasting global impact that IS researchers should focus on more?

Those that matter to practitioners or those where we can impact policy, including AI and security.

9. What is the one trend you are most excited about for the future of IS?

The first on the list above - AI. Excited and scared.  AI and its impact on work, employment, education, society…  This is moving at light speed and lots of stuff has already emerged that are threatening- some of it still bottled up, but that won’t last . 

10. Now that you’ve retired from the daily work of academia, what do you miss most?

As an unpaid quasi-member of faculty at the College of Charleston I still do the things I enjoy. Working with younger faculty, working with the MISQ Executive, playing a liaison role with SIM, having the time to stay current with technology - sort of, mentoring a bit. What I don’t miss are tenure committee meetings, publishing things that have no impact, assessing colleagues and students. Those were the things I was paid to do. I am happy to have been given the opportunity to do the others for a dollar

For more articles related to AIS History and the AIS 30th Anniversary please visit HERE.