SIGGreen+Purpose

Environmental issues present enormous challenges that are of global concern and therefore are now the responsibility of everyone. As a consequence of this, those of us in the field of Information Systems (IS) have a role to play in meeting these challenges. The field of Information Systems has the understanding and expertise to be central to a broad range of climate change solutions and over recent months there has been growing emergence of ‘Green IS’ activities. As members of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), we aim to provide a focus for environmentally responsible activities where IS can really make a difference.

Through SIGGreen, we are interested in studying the use of virtual collaboration tools, both for the purpose of supporting Green initiatives, and for discovering best practices for virtual collaboration. We are currently exploring partnerships with providers of virtual collaboration technology to support SIGGreen's access to these tools.

We are looking for support in the form of access to videoconferencing/web streaming tools that will allow us to conduct virtual SIGGreen meetings to coincide with established information systems conferences. These will include the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), The America’s Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), the Asia Pacific Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) and the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) where we have run Tracks related to the Green IS theme.

We anticipate that in future at these meetings, members attending the conference will gather locally and connect virtually with other members of SIGGreen. We therefore envision virtual collaboration as both a tool for developing global initiatives for SIGGreen, as well as a way for SIGGreen to model methods to minimize carbon impacts through technology.