Fostering Active User Involvement in the Specification of Network Information Systems

In this paper we propose a strict separation between the information system specification and implementation stage. In order to allow for more active user participation in the information system specification process we also advocate a strong connection between the information use and specification stage. Some deficiencies of current approaches are criticized. A specification method aimed at research networks, RENISYS, is introduced that is being constructed on the basis of the proposed ideas. Its application is shown by analyzing a case on an Internet-based research network experimenting with writing group reports.