Peter Baloh :>> Cyber Home

AMCIS 2008 papers - done reviewing

I have just finished off reviewing papers for my track at AMCIS 2008. Knowledge management and knowledge management systems topic is hot as ever and many interesting papers have been submitted. Not a single one could be ruled out as irrelevant or substandard so the work of me and my co-chairs has not been easy. Notifications to authors are due to be sent out tommorrow…

The Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) is an annual conference for Information Systems and Information Technology academics and professionals sponsored by the AIS-Association for Information Systems. AMCIS is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious conferences for IS/IT in the Western Hemisphere, and provides a platform for panel discussions and the presentation of peer-reviewed information systems research papers, over  700 of which are submitted each year.

Renewed OCIS Student website launched

The 2007-08 Student Website Committee has been hard at work updating the website. The major enhancements include:
 
– A new design with easier navigation and even more informative content.
 
– A special section with a Call for Papers (CFP) calendar that lists current CFPs for conferences and journals.
 
– A new “Meet the Stars” feature where we interview noted OCIS scholars and practitioners. Coming soon are interviews with Varun Grover, Eric van Heck, and M. Lynne Markus. Future “star” interviews will be built upon questions posed by you on our website. This is your opportunity to ask senior scholars and practitioners any burning questions you have about the field, practice, research, or other areas!
 
If you’re new to the AOM.OCIS Student Networking Site, it’s a group blog for, by, and about doctoral students interested in organizational communication and information systems. The site has three primary objectives:
 
1) to provide an interactive location for students to share and discuss helpful resources with one another,
 
2) to facilitate student interactions during the long stretch between Academy of Management conferences, and
 
3) to help each other navigate the trials and tribulations of entry into an academic career, including how to maximize the benefit of involvement with AOM in general and, more specifically, the OCIS division. Recent management graduates, those thinking about doctoral studies in management, and students in related fields are all welcome to join the conversation.
 
In short, it’s a website just for you!
 
Finally, please join me in thanking the website committee for all their diligent efforts with the website renovations. Well done!  The committee includes Yukika Awazu (Bentley College, Mass., USA), Steven L Johnson (Temple University, PA), Nick Roberts (Clemson University, S. Carolina, USA), Vinay Tiwari (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands), and myself.

http://ocis.wordpress.com/

Call for papers - 42nd HICSS

I am glad to invite submissions for the 42nd HICSS 2008 conference, where I am acting as the co-chair of the “KM Implementations and Other Issues” track (along with David Croasdell of UNR and Ronald Freeze of ESU).

Since 1968 HICSS has become a respected forum for substantive exchange of ideas in all areas of IS and IT. It is a conference with rigor, rated in the rank of ECIS, IFIP and CHI: a conference with carefully structured format, and extensive double-blind review process performed by distinguished scholars in each of the areas. Did I mention unique environment?

Deadline for submissions: June 15, 2008

My students at KNU

My students here at KNU are awesome. Even though the subject matter we are discussing at Knowledge management and Knowledge Management Systems course is highly complex and requires constant interplay between strategic vs. operational, organizational vs. individual, and organizational vs. technological mindset, not to mention the language barrier, my students have been doing great. The results of each assignment and homework are better, and I am very pleasantly surprised by just how complex and deep-thought their group assignments, in which they needed to design a KM solution for a chosen (real life!) business context, were.

Over the 4 weeks they have demonstrated interest, eagerness to learn, and a lot of effort was invested in learning. This is the way to go, my dear students - no wonder you are perceived as one of the best in the country. Thank you for this opportunity, it was a steep learning curve for me, too.

A 3-day getaway to Seoul

I am still in Korea at KNU in Daegu and the teaching, grading, coordinating the course and students, while also trying to do things for back home, take 120% of my time. Anyway I just had a 3-day escape to the capital, Seoul, and had a blast. If you want to know why, read all about it in my short photo report…

Great “joint” publishing opportunities at ISOneWorld 2008

I am happy to announce that besides having distinguished Larry Prusak (keynote) and Bill King (special session) as speakers for the forthcoming ISOneWorld 2008, the relevant papers accepted and presented in its KM track which I am co-chairing will also be considered for potential publication in 1) IJKM-International Journal of Knowledge Management, and 2) the “KM Technology special issue” of »Knowledge Management Research & Practice« journal.

Great opportunity for getting out the research, I’d say ;)

And the second volume of the special issue is out…

Also the second the second volume of the Journal of Organizational and End User Computing special issue on Knowledge Management Systems that I co-guest edited with Yukika Awazu (Bentley College) and Vincent Ribiere (NY Institute of Technology) has now appeared in press. There are 5 interesting papers in it, 2 from the States, 1 from Canada, 1 from UK and 1 from Australia. I hope we did a good job selecting those papers from a competitive bunch that we have received. As a co-editor, I would like to wish our readers a good and thoughtful read ;)

Interested in publishing in the Journal of Organizational and End User Computing? As ranked by the AIS, it holds the 36th place among the worlds’ top 50 IS journals. See more information about the journal here.

Blogging from KNU, Daegu, Korea (1)

January 2, 2008 - An exciting first day of the classes. 44 students of my Knowledge management and Knowledge Management Systems course greeted me warmly and expressed their interest both in the subject matter and in the multicultural experience. I would expect nothing less from them, as KNU has been ranked among top 3 national universities in Korea and top 500 in the World. They are getting ready for the best positions in world’s top companies such as Samsung and LG (both originally coming from the Daegu area) — KNU’s graduates outnumbered all the other university graduates in Samsung Electronics, in example — and the positive and ‘learning’ vibe could be felt in my class and can be felt all around the campus. The campus and my hosts here are amazing. The older buildings are being replaced by hi-tech ones and the support from the staff is excellent. The office of international affairs, especially dr. Jae Kee Song, Mrs Lorne Hwang, and Ms Heejoung Woo, are taking care for all the details of my and my 7 other colleagues’ stay here. The highlight of theses pampering details was the reception by the vice presidents for int affairs at the beginning of our term, which was followed by an excellent dinner.

December 31, 2007 - the travel from Ljubljana through Paris to Seoul went smoothly. I especially enjoyed Adria’s business class ride (thanks for the upgrade, whoever is to blame for that ;)). After a snowy 4-hour drive on the limo-bus, I end up in Daegu. First impression: syberian cold wind will drive me nuts. Jinyeong Kim, my student assistant here at KNU, took me to a coffee place first, to get myself together, and this was exactly what I needed. A warm caffeine fix and a local-expert-briefing on what’s hot and what’s not - knowledge sharing/learning par excellence… An hour of beauty sleep and I was ready to celebrate the (western) New Year - Koreans take it easy and celebrate it twice, on Dec 31st and the Lunar one (around February). Nice attitute, and a nice /though bitterly cold/ evening on the streets of Daegu. Shot some photos & a video.

Off to The Land of the Morning Calm

After a busy winter term at alma mater Faculty of Economics @ University of Ljubljana, I am off to Korea for a visiting position at Kyungpook National University, one of the best Korea’s national universities. I will be giving a Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems course to 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students of College of Economics and Business Administration.

I am more than looking forward to the experience. According to Wikipedia, Republic of Korea is one of the world’s most technologically and scientifically advanced countries; it is the only country in the world having nationwide 100Mbit/s broadband internet access, full HDTV broadcasting, DMB, WiBro and 3G HSDPA. Couple of days ago, Samsung SDI introduced a world’s first 31-inch organic LED display which is only 4,3mm thick and consumes less than half the power needed for regular LCD. Korea is currently the most wired nation in the world, with 90% of homes connected to broadband internet. Korea is a global leader in electronics, computers, digital displays, mobile phones and hightech gadgets, headed by the two chaebols, Samsung and LG. It is world’s largest shipbuilder, has the 3rd biggest steel producer (POSCO), and is the 5th biggest automobile manufacturer. The world’s first cloned dog, SNUppy, comes from Korea, too. Besides the cultural experience, all this will definitely make up an exciting visit.

The IT-supported Project Management Handbook is out

My new book entitled “With practical examples through MS Project 2007 and MS Groove 2007” has been released yesterday.  It has been coauthored with Peter Vre?ar and published by Pasadena in our “With practical examples…” series.  

This is a book for everyone that takes part in projects, both project managers and project team members. Supposably, “It is the only handbook you will ever need for MS Project and MS Groove”. We add that it is not only the only such ”software hands-on guide” written in Slovene language, but also a concise revision of project management methodology from the ‘project initiation’ to the ‘project closure’ phases (incl. topics such as CPM-planing, organizing and closing a project in a manner to ensure organizational learning, reporting and control, role of project management offices, etc…)

In a very concise form, through a running case of a project of organizational change, the reader learns 1) how to better manage a project from start to finish and 2) how to be more productive as a team member, both with help of latest Microsoft Office Project 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007 and some of the MS Project Server-based components, and 3) how to break down a business process change-project.

Interested? Read it? Would love to hear your thoughts and comments…