About Me

I research and teach in organizational aspects of information systems, focusing on the design and management of systems of information technology and people. I specialize in investigating how we may provide effective support for collaborative business I received an M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Information Systems from Warwick Business School (UK) in 1991 and 1998, respectively.

Prior to becoming an academic, I pursued a successful career in information systems development, management, and consulting. I have performed most software engineering industry job functions: firmware designer, operating system debugger, real-time systems developer, software architecture integration specialist (integrating cross-platform datacomms architectures and standards), project manager, IS business group manager, and systems architecture consultant. I worked with many large corporations in the United Kingdom, including British Telecom, Bell Northern Research and ICL (now Fujitsu). I specialized in the area of systems software architectures and data communications, advising on systems integration and compatibility problems, working on early implementations of standards and implementation languages for object-oriented system design (implementing ASN.1), OSN network protocols, and developing architectures for co-resident network protocols and office system document access standards (the precursor to XML). During this time, I discovered that many projects failed because of an inability to integrate multiple sets of (often incompatible) system requirements, originating from different stakeholder groups. This formed the basis for my research agenda as an academic: how we manage boundary-spanning design for complex organizational innovation.

I am a member of the ACM, the AIS and IFIP WG 8.2 (Organizational Aspects of IS). I serve on the editorial board of the International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, I am a member of the program committee of three major IS conferences, and a regular reviewer for major journals. I chair the ABET accreditation committee, serve on the Faculty Search and Curriculum committees in the College of IS&T, and serve on the Computer Advisory Committee and the Faculty Senate for Drexel University.

 Academic resume

Quote of the page

It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," he said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?" (Terry Pratchett - Mort)

 

 

Faculty Q & A

What book is on your nightstand right now?
Thud! by Terry Pratchett, my favorite author. I love how pTerry draws you into a totally subversive view of reality in his ruminations on an alternate universe.

What is your favorite pastime?
I love playing with web design and page layout. One of my obsessions is designing for intuitive use. I also maintain the website for the Sweetpea animal rescue organization.

Do you program? Do you build systems?
I try not to spend too much time doing this stuff, as I would never get any "real" work done. I try to limit my programming now to web stuff such as CSS.

What is your favorite software application or website?
I'd have to say that my current favorite is Metafilter. But I also love technorati and feel really empowered by kicking monster butt in Sherwood Dungeon.

What gadget is indispensible to you?
A Creative Zen Xtra and a Palm T|X - don't know how I lived without them. I love tech-toys (although I'm still trying to figure out how to get into the menu of my husband's iPod).

What one technology could you NOT live without?
mp3 - I don't get to sleep without an audiobook "reading me a bedtime story."

What one technology do you wish were available now?
A star trek transporter. Then I wouldn't have to spend so much time flying to conferences and back ...

What book or article are you recommending to your students right now?
Norbert Schwartz (1999) Self-Reports: How The Questions Shape The Answers. American Pychologist 54(2), 93-105. This paper is a must-read for students diving unreflectively into research design.

What surprises you the most about the field of information systems?
That people still think that AI is a good idea ... yes, I know, I'm going to get flamed ... see my email sig ... :-)

What have your students taught you?
Social networking! I'm English - we're supposed to be eccentric and antisocial ...

What is the most exciting thing about your research?
The potential to change the world. Hopefully, we can get to a point when people use design methods that support how we think, instead of trying to retro-fit human understanding into a von Neumann model of information processing.