In the foreword to this volume of conference proceedings for IFIP Working Group 8.4, it is appropriate to review the wider organization to which the Working Group belongs. The International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing that was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO. IFIP's mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organization which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of Information Technology for the benefit of all people. At the heart of IFIP lie its Technical Committees that, between them, count on the active participation of some two thousand people world-wide. These Groups work in a variety of ways to share experience and to develop their specialised knowledge. Technical Committees include: TC 1. Foundations of Computer Science; TC 2: Software: Theory and Practice; TC 3: Education; TC 6: Communication Systems; TC 7: System Modelling and Optimization; TC 9: Relationship between Computers and Society; TC 11: Security and Protection in Information Processing Systems; TC 12: Artificial Intelligence and TC 13: Human-Computer Interaction. The IFIP website www.ifip.org) has further details. Technical Committee 8 (TC8) is concerned with Information Systems in organisations. Within TC8 there are different Working Groups focusing on particular aspects of Information Systems.

The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing. It was founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO. It is organized into several technical committees. This book represents the proceedings of the 2006 conference of technical committee 8 (TC8), which covers the field of information systems. This conference formed part of IFIP's World Computer Congress in Chile. The occasion celebrated the 30th anniversary of IFIP TC8 by looking at the past, present and future of information systems. The proceedings reflect not only the breadth and depth of the work of TC8, but also the international nature of the group, with authors from 18 countries being represented in the 21 papers (including two invited papers) and 2 panels. All submissions were rigorously refereed by at least two reviewers and an associate editor and following the review and resubmission process nearly 50% of submissions were accepted. This paper introduces the papers and panels presented at the conference and published in this volume. It is never straightforward to classify a set of papers but we have made an attempt and this classification is also reflected in the sessions of the conference itself. The classification for the papers is as follows: the world of information systems - early pioneers; developing improved information systems; information systems in their domains of application; the discipline of information systems; issues of production; IT impacts on the organization; tools and modeling and new directions.

In the foreword to this volume of conference proceedings for IFIP Working Group 8.4, it is appropriate to review the wider organization to which the Working Group belongs. The International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing that was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO. IFIP's mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organization which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of Information Technology for the benefit of all people. At the heart of IFIP lie its Technical Committees that, between them, count on the active participation of some two thousand people world-wide. These Groups work in a variety of ways to share experience and to develop their specialised knowledge. Technical Committees include: TC 1. Foundations of Computer Science; TC 2: Software: Theory and Practice; TC 3: Education; TC 6: Communication Systems; TC 7: System Modelling and Optimization; TC 9: Relationship between Computers and Society; TC 11: Security and Protection in Information Processing Systems; TC 12: Artificial Intelligence and TC 13: Human-Computer Interaction. The IFIP website www.ifip.org) has further details. Technical Committee 8 (TC8) is concerned with Information Systems in organisations. Within TC8 there are different Working Groups focusing on particular aspects of Information Systems.

The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing. It was founded in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO. It is organized into several technical committees. This book represents the proceedings of the 2006 conference of technical committee 8 (TC8), which covers the field of information systems. This conference formed part of IFIP's World Computer Congress in Chile. The occasion celebrated the 30th anniversary of IFIP TC8 by looking at the past, present and future of information systems. The proceedings reflect not only the breadth and depth of the work of TC8, but also the international nature of the group, with authors from 18 countries being represented in the 21 papers (including two invited papers) and 2 panels. All submissions were rigorously refereed by at least two reviewers and an associate editor and following the review and resubmission process nearly 50% of submissions were accepted. This paper introduces the papers and panels presented at the conference and published in this volume. It is never straightforward to classify a set of papers but we have made an attempt and this classification is also reflected in the sessions of the conference itself. The classification for the papers is as follows: the world of information systems - early pioneers; developing improved information systems; information systems in their domains of application; the discipline of information systems; issues of production; IT impacts on the organization; tools and modeling and new directions.