From an IS research perspective the research domain presents an opportunity to develop and test new ideas in IS. Our challenge is to make a serious effort to create systems architectures, define and mobilise technologies and specify processes that address e-Research.

ICT does not work effectively in human activity systems without IS. It can work at the individual and social levels, but not at the organisational or societal levels. So there is a demand and supply relationship between ICT and IS. From the IS perspective, new ICT offers opportunities for building new types of systems, and it can be argued that IS has been slow to adopt some of these technologies. However, IS has certainly been slow in demanding that ICT produce tools for solving new types of problem. Looking at research as an IS domain challenges us to think of, and to start driving, the next steps in informatics development.

This paper has looked at IS and its application to the research domain. Some IS foundations this review has exposed are: ICT as tools verses ICT as instruments in systems; aspects of human activity systems as they present in research; the need for integration of systems that address data, information and knowledge; and an approach to integrating research and practice.

The way forward would be to select a small research area, see it as a human activity system and knowledge domain, look to understanding and formalising it in IS terms, and developing IT-based systems that responsibly intervene in it for the benefit of all stakeholders.