Jaana Porra

Associate Professor

Jaana Porra

Bio

Bio Currently Jaana Porra, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the department of Decision and Information Sciences at the University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business in Houston, Texas, USA. Jaana Porra holds a Ph.D. in Economics (Information systems) from the Jyvaskyla Graduate School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (COMAS), University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. She has an M.Sc. in Economics (Information Systems and Computer Science) and an MBA from the University of Jyvaskyla, College of Political Sciences, Department of Computer Science. Jaana Porra has a long, distinguished career in the field of information systems. Prior to joining the faculty of Bauer College of Business, she has served on the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas at Austin. While at the University of Southern California, she worked at the Annenberg Center Internet business incubator as the technical co-ordinator and Visiting Annenberg Fellow. While at the University of California, Berkeley, she worked as a Research Fellow of the Haas School of Business, Fisher Center for Information Technology and Management. Before she joined academia and while still in college, Jaana Porra then a partner in a Finnish fine glove manufacturing firm, wrote her master's thesis on how to improve information systems of a small firm. Over her career, she worked for several private and public sector firms as a systems analyst, senior analyst, IT project manager, strategic IT consultant and as a CEO prior to starting her own IT consulting firm in her native FInland. Jaana Porra has published in journals such as Information Systems Research, Management Information Systems Quarterly, Journal of the Association for the Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, and Information Systems Journal to name a few of her academic publishing outlets. She received the Journal of the Association for Information Systems Best Paper Award in 2015 for her paper on advancing the historical method for the IS research field. Jaana Porra's research interests include studying the impact of information technology on humanity, its organizations, humanness, human-likeness, and artificial intelligence. Methodologically, she applies and develops qualitative research methods. Jaana Porra is an IS historian. She has written IS history and about IS history. She has developed a historical research method for the IS research field. Jaana Porra has served on the council of the Association for Information Systems as an Americas representative. While on the council, she initiated a Latin American IS program outreach project. She has served on the editorial boards of journals such as the Journal for the Association of Information Systems. She has received an Executive Service Corps of Houston (ESCH) Community Service Award for completing over 100 experiential learning information systems development projects with her students for non-profit organizations in the Houston metropolitan area. In her classes students have completed experiential learning information systems development projects also for Houston metropolitan area for profit companies. Jaana Porra is a University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award in the category of Community Engagement. She has served as trustee of a prominent private high school in Houston. During her business career, Jaana Porra was a popular public speaker and was featured in many television and radio interviews as well as magazine and newspaper articles in her native Finland. Over her business career, she was a regular participant in the international information systems standardization efforts in the area of open systems and also served as the chair of the Finnish UNIX user group responsible for managing parts of the Internet backbone network in Finland.

Research Interests

  • Systems analysis and design methodologies
  • Humanness, artificial intelligence
  • human-likeness
  • realistic digital humans
  • Information systems history
  • information systems research field history, the history of the IS profession
  • Qualitative research methods (including the historical research method)
  • The very long term impact of information technology on humanity

Areas of Expertise

  • Information systems strategy, organizational strategy, business strategy
  • IT governance, organizational governance
  • Information systems management
  • IT project management
  • Strategic IT consulting
  • Developing information systems for non-profit and for-profit sectors
  • Small business management and IT
  • IT business start ups
  • IT in education
  • Organizational policy, risk management, management control systems

Publications

  • Lanamaki, A., Porra, J. and R. Hirchheim, A Call to Write the Nordic Information Systems Research Field History - Viewing the Scandinavian way through a career restrospectives lens, Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 2017, 29 (1), pp. 3-18.
  • Porra, J. The Power of a Good Story or The Great Potential of Information Systems History or Some Lessons from A Heroic Journey, The Proceedings of The Sixth Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems, August 9-12, 2015, Oulu, Finland, pp. 3-10.
  • 2015 Journal of the Association for Information Systems Best Paper Award for Porra, J., Hirschheim, R. and M.S. Parks, The Historical Research Method and Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2014, 15, 9, pp. 536-576.
  • Porra, J., Hirschheim, R. and M.S. Parks, The Historical Research Method and Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2014, 15, 9, pp. 536-576.
  • Yan, A., Solomon, S., Mirchandani, D., Lacity, M. and J.Porra, The Role of Service Agent, Service Quality, and User Satisfaction in Self-Service Technology, Proceedings of the Thirty Fourth International Conference on Information Systems, Milan, 2013.
  • Tony A. Bryant, Alistair Black, Frank Land and Jaana Porra, What is History? What is IS History? What IS History?...and why even bother with history? - Prologue and preamble, Journal of Information Technology special issue on Information Systems History (T. Bryant, A. Black, F. Land and J. Porra Eds.), 2013, 28, 1-17.
  • Jaana Porra (2010). 'Group level evolution and information system: What can we learn from animal colonies in nature?" In E. Kock (Ed.). 'Evolutionary Psychology and Information Systems research: A New Approach to Studying the Effects of Modern Technologies on Human Behavior". Springer.
  • Jaana Porra and Rudy Hirschheim (2007): 'Enid Mumford's contribution to information systems theory and theoretical thinking - Introduction to the special issue". Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 8, 9, September 2007, 463-466.
  • Jaana Porra and Rudy Hirschheim (2007): 'A Lifetime of Ethical use of Computers - A Dialogue with Enid Mumford", Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 8, 9, pp. 467-479, September 2007.
  • Douglas J. Steel, Jaana Porra and Michael Parks (2007): 'Ten Years of The Philosophical Foundations Mini-Track at AMCIS - Some Patterns", Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, Keystone, Colorado, August 9-12, 2007.
  • Avison, D., Bjorn-Andersen, N., Coakes, E., Davis, G.B, Earl, M.J., Elbanna, A., Fitzgerald, G., Galliers, R.D., Hirschheim, R., Iivari, J. Klein, H.K., Land, F., de Marco, M., Pettigrew, A.M., Porra, J., Carsten Stahl, B., Sorensen, C., Wood, B. and T. Wood-Harper (2006). 'Enid Mumford: A Tribute", Information Systems Journal, October 2006, 16, 4, 317-342.
  • Goel L. and Porra, J. (2006). The Importance of Power in The Implementation Process of a Successful Knowledge Management System - A Case Study. Abstract. The Proceedings of the Decision and Information Sciences conference, San Antonio, Texas, November 2006.
  • Porra, J. and M.S. Parks (2006). 'Sustaining Virtual Communities: Suggestions from the Colonial Model", Information Systems and e-Business Management, 4, pp. 309-341.
  • Porra, J., Hirschheim, R. and M.S. Parks (2006) 'Forty Years of Corporate Information Technology Function at Texaco Inc. - A History", Information and Organization, 16, pp. 82-107.
  • Porra, J., Hirschheim, R. and M.S. Parks (2005). 'The History of Texaco's Corporate IT Function - A General Systems Theoretical Interpretation", MIS Quarterly, 29, 4 I(December, 2005) pp. 721-746.
  • Ives, B., Parks, M.S., Porra, J. and L. Silva (2004). 'Phylogeny and Power in the IS Domain: A Response to Benbasat and Zmud's Call for Returning to the IT Artifact" Journal of Association for Information Systems, 5, 3, pp. 108-124.
  • Hirschheim, R., Porra J. and M.S. Parks (2003) 'The Evolution of the Corporate IT Function and the Role of the CIO at Texaco - How do Perceptions of IT's Performance Get Formed?, Data Base, 34, 4(Fall), pp. 8-27.
  • Porra, J. (2002).'Supporting the Information Systems Field in Latin American Countries", A progress report to the Association for Information Systems Council, Barcelona, Spain, December.
  • Porra, J. (2001). 'A Dialogue with C. West Churchman," Information Systems Frontiers, 3, 1, pp. 19-27.
  • Porra, J. (2000). 'Electronic Commerce Internet Strategies and Business Models - A Survey," Information Systems Frontiers, 1, 4, pp. 389-399.
  • Porra J. (2000). 'When the World Was Overcome by Internet Commerce" Sonera Sound, 3 (September), 2000. p. 17. (a column in a Finnish telecommunications industry magazine in Finnish).
  • Porra, J. (1999). 'Colonial Systems," Information Systems Research, 10, 1 (March), pp. 38-69.
  • Porra, J. (1999). 'A Strategic Framework for Electronic Commerce: The Digital Production Cycle" (Chapter 29). In Handbook on Electronic Commerce edited by M. J. Shaw, R. Blanning, T. Strader and A. Whinston, Springer Verlag.
  • Porra, J. (1999). 'Electronic Commerce on Digital Content" Proceedings of ENABLE99, An International Conference on Enabling Network-Based Learning, International Conference, Espoo, Finland, June 2-5, pp. 405-413.
  • Porra, J. (1999). 'Electronic Mass Hallucination," Tietoverkko (A Finnish Magazine for information systems professionals), 2 (February), p. 10 (in Finnish).
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and R. Roldan (1999). 'Internet Security and the Case of Bank of America" Intraware Inc. Knowledge Center. (electronic reprint of Communications of the ACM article).
  • Porra, J. (1999). 'Confusing Times for E-Business" Tietoviikko (A leading weekly publication for IS professionals in Finland), 11 (March), p. 2. (in Finnish).
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1998). 'Internet Security The Case of Bank of America". Communications of the ACM, Vol. 41, No. 10 (October), pp. 81-87.
  • Hirschheim, R. and J. Porra (1998). 'CIO and IT functions How do Perceptions Form at the Senior Executive level". In W. Chin, T. Goles, R. Hirschheim, J. Porra and P. Todd. Managing People in the Information Technology Organization. University of Houston, College of Business Administration, Information Systems Research Center, White Paper, June.
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1997). 'Internet-based EDI strategy", Decision Support Systems, 617, 21, 3, 1997, p. 157-170.
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1997). 'Internet-Based Financial EDI: The Bank of America Pilot", EDI Forum, 10, 2, 1997, pp. 40-50.
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1997). 'Internet-Based Financial EDI: The Bank of America Pilot", The Journal of Electronic Commerce, 10,2, pp.40-4 5. (electronic journal, reprint of the EDI Forum article directly above).
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1997). 'Internet-Based Financial EDI: The Case of Bank of America and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Pilot", Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 2, 1 (January), (electronic journal, reprint of the Journal of Electronic Commerce article directly above, shortened).
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and M. Roldan (1997). 'Contrasting Approaches to Implementing an Evolving Technology: Internet-EDI", Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, Indianapolis, Indiana, August 15-17, pp. 260-262.
  • Courtney, J.F., Porra, J. and M. Parks, (1997). 'Incubating Foundations of Information Systems (FIS) Issues in Creating an Electronic Journal", Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, Indianapolis, Indiana, August 15-17, pp. 396-398.
  • Porra, J. (1997). 'The Pioneers of the Virtual Future" (a column). MikroPC (A leading PC enthusiasts' magazine in Finland), 11 (6.11.), p.96 (in Finnish).
  • Porra, J. (1996). 'Colonial Systems, Information Colonies and Punctuated Prototyping". Jyvaskyla Studies in Computer Science, Economics and Statistics, 33, University of Jyvaskyla Press, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
  • Porra, J. (1996). Critique of the book Information Systems Development and Data ModelingConceptual and Philosophical Foundations by Hirschheim, R., Klein, H., and Lyytinen, K. (Cambridge University Press, 1996): Volume I: Chapters 2,3,4 and 5 (205 pages) Volume II: Chapters 1,6,7,8, and 9 (42 pages).
  • Segev, A., Porra, J. and Roldan, M. (1996). 'Financial EDI Over the Internet: Case Study II", Proceedings of the 2nd USENIX Workshop on Electronic Commerce, Claremont Resort and Conference Center, Oakland, California, November 18-21, pp. 173-190.
  • Porra, J. (1996). 'Humanness as Colonial Systems" Association for Information Systems, Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, Phoenix, Arizona, August 16-18, pp. 401-403.
  • Porra, J. (1996). 'Colonizing Electronic Markets - Multimedia Production through Punctuated Prototyping". Arttu (The Journal of the University of Industrial Design and Arts in Helsinki, Finland), 3, pp. 27-29.
  • Segev, A., Porra, J., and M. Roldan (1996). 'Internet-Based Financial EDI: The Case of the Bank of America and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Pilot", The Fisher Center for Information Technology & Management, Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CITM-WP 1018, December. http://haas.berkeley.edu/~citm/EDI-proj.html
  • Porra, J. (1996). 'Electronic Software Commerce". The Fisher Center for Information Technology and Management, Walter A. Haas Schools of Business, University of California, Berkeley, CITM Briefing Paper 96-BP-003, October, 1996.
  • Hartman, A. and J. Porra (1996). 'Toward A Digital Economy Through Electronic Commerce", with Amir Hartman. CITM Working Paper, The Fisher Center for Information Technology and Management, Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
  • Porra, J. (1994). 'The Exposition of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence on the Systems Continuum The Phylogeny". 1994 Proceedings, Decision Sciences Institute, 1994 Annual Meeting, November 20-22, Honolulu Hawaii, Vol. 2, pp. 650-653.
  • Porra, J. (1993). 'The Open Computer Systems Movement". EDISTY (A Finnish professional magazine), (August), pp. 40-44 (in Finnish).
  • Porra, J. (1992). 'Socio Technical Information Systems Design and The Tavistock School". In K. Lyytinen, and M. Nurminen (eds.), Organization Theories and Information Systems Technology, Publications in Computer Science, University of Jyvaskyla Publication Series TU-13, (in Finnish).
  • Porra, J. and J. Helsingius (1990). 'Why Open Systems are Important to the Research Community," Proceedings of the 1990 EurOpen Autumn Conference, Nice, France, October.
  • Savaspuro, T, and J. Porra (1990). 'Open Systems in Municipal Administration" Kunnallislehti (The leading Municipal Magazine in Finland), (March) (in Finnish).
  • Kukko, T., Myllyla, E., Pallas, K., Porra, J., Saastamoinen, P., et al. T90-Project Publication series, Valtionvarainministerio (Finnish Ministry of Treasury) ja Valtion Tietokonekeskus (Finnish Government Computer Center) (in Finnish):

    1/1988: 'Finnish Government - Office System Framework"
    2/1988: 'Regulation Preparation Information Sharing Experiment"
    3/1988: 'Budgeting Information Sharing"
    4/1988: 'Guide to Purchasing Open Office Systems for Finnish Government Agencies"
    5/1988: 'FOSIP - Telecommunications profile for the Finnish Government"
    6/1988: 'Open Operating System Environment"
    7/1988: 'Electronic Mail in Government Document transfer"
    8/1988: 'Office Systems Architecture for the Finnish Government"

Contact Info

Phone:
713-743-4583 
Email:
jaana@uh.edu
Room:
MH 280G
Website:
No Web Site Currently

Courses

  • Administration of Computer Based Management Information Systems (undergraduate)
  • Advanced Qualitative Research Methods (doctoral)
  • Advanced Research in Information Systems (doctoral)
  • Information Systems (graduate)
  • IT project Management (undergraduate)
  • Systems Analysis and Design (undergraduate, graduate)
  • Computer networks (undergraduate)

Education

Jaana Porra holds a Ph.D. in Economics (Information systems) from the Jyvaskyla Graduate School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (COMAS), University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
She has an M.Sc. in Economics (Information Systems and Computer Science)
She also holds an MBA from the University of Jyvaskyla, College of Political Sciences, Department of Computer Science.