HICSS 59 CfP: "Futuring and Future Epistemologies in IS" (Organizational Systems and Technology track)

[Dirk Hovorka]

[cid:19c59846-8e6d-44e7-a922-e07d722f20e9]
HICSS-59 2026 Mini-track
Futuring and Future Epistemologies in IS
(Organizational Systems and Technology track)


The “Futuring and Future Epistemologies in IS” mini-track invites submissions which explore future and possible worlds rather than provide analysis of what is or has been. We are looking for contributions that break with well-trodden empirical and conceptual conventions to help academic and practice build novel concepts, instruments and designs by focusing on digital futures.

This objective is anchored in the Information Systems discipline’s increasing interest in the processes and implications of global, societal, economic, and individual digitalization which will have enormous impact in futures which have not been well considered. We particularly think of this challenge as one where analyses and extrapolation from the present fails to provide meaningful insights beyond projecting the status quo into the future, albeit in a more technicised version of itself. Rather, we seek ways for science to become more insightful, informative, and instructive in critiquing present action with and through future digital worlds – or actively shaping them.

We hope to see exciting submissions that approach the challenge by addressing one of two distinct directions: Futuring (applied approaches) and Future Epistemologies (theoretical perspectives).

(1) Futuring contributions may focus on a) the implications of current theorizing using futures-studies approaches to IS and related topics or b) the development of forward-looking methods, tools, and frameworks for engaging with possible futures. Submissions may explore speculative and scenario-based methodologies, technology foresight, and participatory approaches for involving stakeholders in future-oriented IS research. Moreover, futuring contributions may also engage with design science, the creation of speculative future worlds, and the role of design in shaping alternative futures. Current future-studies approaches (e.g., scenarios, Delphi studies, and technology foresight) can be expanded through innovative methodological frameworks, speculative experimentation, and creative techniques for re-imagining the techno-cultural landscape we inhabit—while envisioning the futures we aspire to create.

(2) Future Epistemologies contributions will advance conceptual discussions on how knowledge about the future is constructed, assessed, and debated. This includes theoretical explorations of how IS can contribute to the epistemology of futures, how speculation challenges existing paradigms of IS knowledge production, and how alternative ways of knowing (e.g., posthumanist or speculative epistemologies) shape our understanding of future technological systems and societal transformations.

We welcome both empirical and theoretical submissions that address one of these two directions or bridge them, offering novel insights into the intersection of applied futuring and future epistemologies in IS research. We continue our mini-track’s mission to challenge scholars to focus attention on “new phenomena, disclose new perspectives on phenomena, and illuminate new research agendas and programs” against the background of, and pushing past existing methods and establish theories. We encourage interested contributors to review the mini-track’s calls for papers from previous years to further illuminate the thinking which will guide our review and editorial decision processes.

Prospective authors are advised that the track does not look for topical contributions which are best submitted to one of the conference’s other (mini-)tracks. Papers in this mini-track must explicitly provide the basis for more speculative future-leaning conceptualizations of phenomena or provide insight on how to provide such concepts.

For further conference details, schedules and submission guidelines please see:
http://www.hicss.org/
We hope to see you on Maui in January 2026!
Mahalo!
Mini-track Co-Chairs:
Dirk S. Hovorka
dirk.hovorka at sydney.edu.au

Katja Thoring
katja.thoring at tum.de

Benjamin Mueller
muellerb at uni-bremen.de


-----------------------------------

Dirk S. Hovorka

Professor of Systems and Design

University of Sydney

NSW, 2006 AU

T +61 2 9351 2949

Senior Editor/Research Perspectives

Journal of the Association of Information Systems (JAIS)

2018 BGS Professor of the Year

http://sydney.edu.au/business/staff/dirkho<https://webmail.sydney.edu.au/owa/redir.aspx?C=ih8ggEa0AvdCkhgiAZ4-qvl2q3lNSZ3RGfXpphUpWUR02iAlS8DTCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fsydney.edu.au%2fbusiness%2fstaff%2fdirkho>
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