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This paper reports on a workshop hosted at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in September, 2018. The workshop, called “Giving Voice to the Voiceless: The Use of Digital Technologies by Marginalized Groups”, focused on discussing how marginalized groups use digital technologies to raise their voices. At the workshop, a diverse group of scholars and doctoral students presented research projects and perspectives on the role that digital technologies have in activist projects that represent marginalized groups that have gained momentum in the last few years. The studies and viewpoints presented shed light on four areas in which IS research can expand our understanding about how marginalized groups use digital technologies to address societal challenges: 1) the rise of cyberactivism, 2) resource mobilization for cyberactivism, 3) cyberactivism by and with marginalized groups, and 4) research methods for examining how marginalized groups use digital technologies.

A new reflexive discourse is emerging in the IS research community concerning how we, as academic scholars in the information systems field, set and pursue our research agendas. How should we choose our research topics, how should we conduct our research, and how should we communicate our research results? This panel will present and debate the merits of three distinct perspectives concerning the setting of our research agendas in information systems. There will be three short rounds of presentations by the three panelists: Richard Baskerville, Grandon Gill and Neil Ramiller. Following these presentations, Michael Myers (panel chair) will briefly summarize the discussion so far and give his own views with respect to the merits of the three arguments. After suggesting some key points for debate, he will then facilitate what promises to be an interesting and lively discussion with the audience.

This paper reports on a panel held during the 2006 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). The panel titled, “Social Activism in IS Research: Making the World a Better Place,” was organized to question whether and how Information System (IS) research is making tangible impacts to our society. More specifically, each panelist was asked to address: (1) How can IS research, and researchers, make contributions to underdeveloped societies and underserved communities?; and (2) How can IS researchers learn from the particularities of these communities to inform better research, teaching, and service? While each panel member had different perspectives to offer in relation to these two questions, all agreed that IS academe needs to raise its awareness and efforts considerably with a view to address the needs of underserved communities.

The topic of “IS research relevance” is receiving increasing attention from the IS research community. In this article, based on a panel discussion at the 2001 International Conference on Information Systems, three arguments are explored in connection with IS research relevance. The first argument, called “subtle accomplishment”, suggests that IS research is relevant, but in a subtle way. The second argument, called “unfulfilled promise”, maintains that the promise of conducting relevant research is still unfulfilled. The third argument, called “serial hypocrisy”, argues that, while “relevance to practice” is frequently proclaimed as a virtue in public, in reality practical relevance does not matter in IS research.

Ethnographic research is one of the most in-depth research methods possible. Because the researcher is at a research site for a long time and sees what people are doing as well as what they say they are doing – an ethnographer obtains a deep understanding of the people, the organization, and the broader context within which they work. Ethnographic research is thus well suited to providing information systems researchers with rich insights into the human, social, and organizational aspects of information systems. This article discusses the potential of ethnographic research for IS researchers, and outlines the most important issues that need to be considered in selecting this method.