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Leo Award Winner - Börje Langefors |  |
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Börje Langefors No one has had a greater impact on information systems research and practice in Scandinavia than Börje Langefors. Much of his work was devoted to developing a general information systems theory defining the discipline independent of a changing technology. His seminal book, Theoretical Analysis of Information Systems (4 th ed., Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden, and Auerbach, Philadelphia, PA, 1973), known by many students as THAIS, provided the theoretical foundation of the discipline. His influence has not been limited to Scandinavia. He was active internationally, including being an organizer and the first chair of Technical Committee 8 (Information Systems) of the International Federation for Information Processing. Börje was appointed in 1965 as professor to the first chair in Sweden in a new subject called Information Processing, with special emphasis on Administrative Data Processing. This field was introduced into the academic curriculum the same year. Börje's position was a joint chair at the Royal Institute of Technology and the University of Stockholm, combining work with a technical faculty and a faculty of social sciences. He held this position until he retired in 1981. Many of the existing information system theories have their roots in research that Börje initiated in the sixties. He understood the important role that theories and methods play in building information systems to meet the needs of business activities and users. He believed that information technology systems involve organizational, human, and technical phenomena. He had the vision that information systems must be built on a deep understanding of the special character of each of these areas and their interactions. Börje introduced the concept of "Information Systems" at the third International Conference on Information Processing and Computer Science in New York in 1965. As chairman of the scientific program committee, he proposed that one of the five major subject areas of the congress be "Information Systems." This was a new concept at that time. He used the term "information system" to refer to a system of information. Börje pioneered the infological approach, building on his distinction between information and data. The approach distinguishes between infological and datalogical work areas. The infological problem is how to define the information to be provided by the system in order to satisfy user needs. The datalogical problem is how to organize the set of data and the hardware in order to implement the information system. In his inaugural address as professor, Börje presented four method areas in information systems development: 1. Object system analysis and design Börje's famous infological equation I = i (D, S, t) where I is the information produced from the data, D, and the recipient prior knowledge, S, by the interpretation process, i, during the time, t. In the general case, S in the equation is the result of the life experience of the individual. Hence, not every individual will receive the intended information even from simple data. The infological equation has far-reaching implications for the development of information systems and issues of knowledge, information, language, and human interpretation. Börje was a prolific writer. He has written on a wide range of subjects from engineering and numerical analysis to information systems theory to control and business administration. Essays on Infology (Studentlitterature, 1995) contains a bibliography of his publications. It lists 13 books, 82 articles, and 41 reports. Iivari and Lyytinen ("Research on Information Systems Development in ScandinaviaUnity in Plurality," Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (10:1/2), 1998) give a detailed description of how Börje has influenced the evolution of Scandinavian approaches to information systems development. |
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