ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a potted history of the discipline of information systems. The reason for doing so is that an historical account can provide insight into the present and future. This account of the history of the discipline of information systems is intended to help explain and contextualize the current challenges of the discipline, in terms of (i) the nature and raison d’être of the discipline, (ii) how the discipline has emerged to date, (iii) the nature of the discipline as it currently serves the fi eld of practice, and (iv) the future of the fi eld of practice, and the way the discipline will be required to change in serving practice.
