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SERIES EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION xi
such as service-oriented architecture (SOA). All of these enhance our ability to dynamically align
an organization’s IS with its capabilities and business processes.
Research in the SA&D domain continues apace. New modeling approaches are being devel-
oped with service orientation to support the highly dynamic business environment, sometimes
dubbed “on-demand business,” with the modular definition of business components supported by
IS components (Cherbakov et al., 2005). The elicitation of requirements, a key part of systems
analysis, is being studied in a generalized way, to tighten the mapping between what the users want
and what the system delivers (Hickey and Davis, 2004). The effectiveness of various prototyping
strategies is being investigated empirically (Hardgrave, Wilson, and Eastman, 1999). Cost–benefit
analysis of the use of unified modeling language (UML) documentation during the maintenance of
object-oriented software is being performed through controlled experiments with actual develop-
ers (Dzidek, Arisholm, and Briand, 2008). As evidenced by the contents of the present volume,
agent-oriented architectures are of the particular moment with the advent of ubiquitous comput-
ing; design with autonomous agents leads to new approaches being grafted onto object-oriented
development (Garcia and Lucena, 2008). Work continues on developing quantitative methods of
predicting the characteristics of the system development process at its inception (Curtis et al.,
2008). The means of alignment between corporate software development processes and strategic
initiatives are being studied (Slaughter et al., 2006). The empirics of the cognitive transition of
developers to new development methodologies surface the tactics for success (Armstrong and
Hardgrave, 2007).
Within the IS research area, the development of software artifacts is being studied in a disciplined
manner, using the precepts of design science. The aims of this research stream were articulated
about two decades ago (Nunamaker, Chen, and Purdin, 1990–91). Viewing IS as a discipline of
applied research, design science aims to empirically surface the principles undergirding the pro-
cesses of development and implementation of successful organizational IS (Hevner et al., 2004;
Peffers et al., 2007–2008). The work on design science is part of a more general interdisciplinary
project of “designing the design” (Baldwin and Clark, 2006).
The ability to actively create systems is, without a doubt, a vital subject of IS research, practice,
and teaching. The volume editors, authors, and I fully expect that the appearance of this AMIS
volume, addressing the foundations of these efforts, will stimulate further work that will lead to
more creative, resilient, and organizationally fit IS.
REFERENCES

Armstrong, D.J., and Hardgrave, B.C. 2007. Understanding mindshift learning: the transition to object-
oriented methodologies. MIS Quarterly, 31, 3 (September), 453–474.
Baldwin, C.Y., and Clark, K.B. 2006. Between “knowledge” and “the economy”: notes on the scientific
study of designs. In B. Kahin and D. Foray (eds.), Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 299–328.
Cherbakov, L.; Galambos, G.; Harishankar, R.; Kalyana, S.; and Rackham, G. 2005. Impact of service ori-
entation at the business level. IBM Systems Journal, 44, 4, 653–668.
Curtis, B.; Seshagiri, G.V.; Reifer, D.; Hirmanpour, I.; and Keeni, G. 2008. The case for quantitative process
management. IEEE Software, May/June, 24–28.
De Cesare, S.; Lycett, M.; and Macredie, R.D. (eds.). 2006. Development of Component-Based Information
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Twenty-fourth International Conference on Software Engineering. New York: ACM Press, 177–184.
Dzidek, W.J.; Arisholm, E.; and Briand, L.C. 2008. A realistic empirical evaluation of the costs and ben-
efits of UML in software maintenance. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 34, 3 (May/June),
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