ISCAP Conference 2023

Welcome from

Paul Witman
California Lutheran University

ISCAP Conference Chair

Welcome to the 2023 ISCAP conference for 2023! (formerly EDSIGCON and CONISAR)

“The only constant is change” – so say tens of thousands of technology professionals, every day.

In the past several years we have all had to deal with many variables and changes – many of them have seemingly appeared from nowhere and have had great influence and effect on our lives. Whether it be the pandemic or a hurricane, or even shifts in leadership at our colleges and universities, there really does seem to be one constant, change. In Information Systems, we expect that as technology continues to evolve.

ISCAP, as an organization, also does not stand still. In the past year, we have made several strides in growing and improving the conference, starting by merging the former EDSIGCON and CONISAR conferences into the single, renamed ISCAP Conference. The number of submissions to the conference continues to grow, with well over 135 submissions. We are particularly excited about the broad representation from almost 80 schools, from many states and countries, and over 150 registered. We have 10 technical workshops on tap as well, and we have a featured speaker in AI, Dr. Sharena Rice, and will honor Susan Brown and Scott Hunsinger for their lifetime achievements. With more authors and researchers contributing, the overall quality has also risen, and we continue to raise the bar through our review cycle for both the Conference and the journals.

We are in year two of publication of our newest journal, Cybersecurity Pedagogy and Practice Journal. Many conference papers will be invited to be revised based on Conference feedback, subject to a revise and resubmit cycle, in our Information Systems Education Journal, and Journal of Information Systems Applied Research. Finally, we continue our long-established flagship, Journal of Information Systems Education, under the leadership of Dr. Paul Zhang. Best paper awardees will be invited to submit there.

And speaking of awards, change sometimes involves experimenting! Two new award categories appear this year. The first is for outstanding presentations, based on feedback you will provide through the QR codes that will be posted at each meeting room. Thanks to Mark Frydenberg for that suggestion! The second new award is for best reviewer. Reviews are a vital part of the research quality that we strive for, and we want to recognize reviewers who invest time to give substantive, meaningful, constructive feedback to the paper authors. Best wishes for those new recognitions!

The growth of the organization and the conference happens solely through the contribution of a myriad of volunteers. Each year this event is organized and run by a team of professors and industry professionals who step up and devote time, effort, and skill to make sure everyone has the opportunity to produce a quality submission, and to share their research and ideas. This year there are several who have made major contributions and deserve recognition. David Woods and Kevin Mentzer continued their collaboration for the Pedagogy focus area, handily managing our largest group of papers (over 40!). David Yates and Arthur Reams have taken on Cybersecurity papers, and James Pomykalski and I collaborated on Analytics papers. Daniel Rush and Dana Schwieger, a new team, took on Applied Research papers. Handling teaching cases with alacrity has been Ira Goldstein and Michelle Louch. Victor Berardi worked through a record number of abstracts. Mark Frydenberg and Greg Blundell have done terrific work in bringing new workshops and vendors to the program. Amy Connolly and Jason Ferguson have also played a significant role in expanding our communication efforts and platform presence. I’d like to also recognize Mike Smith for his extra efforts in making sure that our expanded program of virtual presentations is able to continue and grow. Thank you to Jeff Cummings for his leadership as ISCAP-EDSIG president, and to Tom Janicki, the logistics and tech master who keeps things working!

Finally, an enormous Thank You! to everyone who has trusted us as a community with your work, research, collaboration, and writing. Please consider expanding your role in our community – by volunteering with the conference or as an ISCAP board member. Change happens best when good people lead – help us continue to change for the better with your leadership. Watch for opportunities at the Conference!

Until Albuquerque,
Paul Witman
ISCAP Conference Chair, 2023