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Reprise: the parable of the golf balls.

Article Excerpt
When I was as at Dartmouth, they had this summer home in Maine



that some wealthy alumni had donated to the school for faculty vacationing. Each summer, and the summers are short in Maine, they drew out of a hat the names of 12 faculty members who had expressed an interest in staying at the house--each got one week, free of charge, in Booth Bay Harbor--a lovely posting. There was but one requirement, or in the vernacular of Dartmouth, one "tradition"--you had to leave the cottage nicer than it was when you got there. The first year I took cousin Ralph with me, and every day or two we played a round of golf on the nearby public course. We both like to walk in the rough as we go from shot to shot--looking for golf balls (usually our own). We found quite a number, including some of those phosphorescent ones. At the end of the week, there were a dozen shiny and nearly unblemished orange and yellow golf balls in the egg compartment in the refrigerator--a pleasant surprise for any golfer or kid who showed up the next week. (Blake Ives, Personal Communication, 2001)

My first editorial as Editor-in-Chief of the MIS Quarterly was published in the March 2002 issue of the journal. Previously, I had described my apprehensions at taking on the role of Editor-in-Chief to Blake Ives. Blake had been a past Editor-in-Chief and a fellow Ph.D. student, colleague, friend, and confidant over many years. I questioned my abilities to discharge the very demanding responsibilities associated with the role. I was also mindful of the wonderful contributions made by those colleagues who had preceded me as Editor-in-Chief of the MIS Quarterly, including Blake himself. Blake's "gift" to me was "the parable of the golf balls." In a quiet and insightful way, he was reminding me that I needed to walk my own path with the journal. I should be circumspect about trying to walk down the paths of my predecessors.

In this my last editorial as Editor-in-Chief of the MIS Quarterly, I would like to reflect briefly on my three years as caretaker of the "summer home in Maine." As I prepare to leave the home, I continue to experience many different feelings--joy, relief, gratitude, frustration, self-disappointment, sadness. I also have many poignant memories. My stay in the home has changed my life and who I am irrevocably. I am acutely aware of the privilege that has been afforded to me over these last three years.

A Day in the Life

Daily life in the home was always hectic and often frenetic, but inevitably it was rich, rewarding, and challenging. At times, however, the number of visitors and the workload they generated around the home became overwhelming. The home became untidy, and many members of the family began to show signs of exhaustion. Somehow they dug deep. They persevered until life in the home again approached normality. As the old maxim goes: when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Over the last few years, the number of submissions to the MIS Quarterly has increased significantly. In part, I believe this increase reflects the increase in the number of academics entering the information systems discipline in the boom times of the Year-2000 and dot-com eras. In part, I believe it reflects the growing maturity of the information systems discipline and the fact that new Ph.D. graduates have better research training. In part, I believe it reflects that the MIS Quarterly continues to be regarded as a high-quality publication outlet.

The increased number of submissions has been both "good news" and "bad news." The good news is that the journal is receiving a larger number of high-quality papers that cover a more-diverse range of topics than it received in the past. In this regard, I am grateful to and indebted to the many colleagues who have supported the MIS Quarterly during my time as Editor-in-Chief through submission of their papers to the journal....

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