Special issue on “interpretive” approaches to information systems and computing

This special issue is published as part of the continuing debate – and argument – on the topic of “interpretive” approaches. Grounded by the discussions that took place during the first international workshop on “interpretive” approaches in July 2002 (Bhattacharjee & Paul, 2002), these papers together present one emerging focus on the range and depth of issues at hand.

The 2002 workshop was organised around a series of two-hour sessions based on a number of “interpretive” topics. Each session began with an hour of paired discussion between an IS/computer scientist and a respected academic from the “interpretive” disciplines. This was followed by a period of round-table discussions comprising other workshop participants in small groups. The workshop participants themselves had been invited on the basis of short position papers, primarily describing how they considered their own research approach to be regarded as “interpretive” or not – hence the speech marked punctuation of the term in question.

Proceedings of the 2002 workshop have been published and recordings of the paired discussions that took place during the event are in the process of being catalogued and made available through the National Sound Archive of the British Library. A second workshop of the Special Interest Group “interpretive” Approaches & Methods (SIG-IAM) is planned for summer 2005.

The papers presented in this Special Issue, therefore, are a result of reflecting on both the intensive discussions that took place during the 2002 workshop and of the review process of any paper submitted to EJIS. The intellectual debate inherent in an author revising a paper and responding to a reviewer – and then vice versa – is usually sufficient to determine publication acceptance. But we have added an opening synopsis paper in order to address some of the points that have been raised in the reviewing process in general, and to introduce the papers in the order in which they appear.

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution made by all workshop participants, authors and reviewers in bringing about this collaborative endeavour. Our thanks also go to Carolyn Bailey who kept the special issue on track.