In Memory of Claudio Ciborra 1951 - 2005

Tributes to Claudio Ciborra

index to tributes

Page 4

Rudy Hirschheim
Louisiana State University
It was a great shock to hear of Claudio's death. We in the IS community lost a dear friend and colleague in Claudio. I first met Claudio in Pisa at a Crest workship in 1979. He was hanging out with Pelle Ehn, Ulrich Briefs, and others who were pushing for a marxist orientation toward systems development. I found their view very different and challenging from the one typically held in North America. In speaking with Claudio, I was impressed by his insight, his candor and his desire to challenge the commonly held beliefs. He was not afraid to take a contrarian position then, nor throughout his career. In fact, that was one of Claudio's supreme strengths - never to take anything for granted, but to look beneath the covers so to speak to uncover the underlying meaning. He was always way ahead of the rest of the community in terms of new ideas; ideas that he thought were or would be important once the rest of the field caught up with him. The only trouble is by the time we did catch up with Claudio, he was on to the next challenging idea. Whether it was transaction cost economics, his notion of 'bricolage', or whatever, he was always 'out in front'. And it wasn't confined to academic thought. He was the first to introduce the IS field to everything from smart Italian dressing to short hair. He was one of the first to spend his time as a visiting scholar on just about every corner of the globe. I always felt that Claudio could never settle down at any one geographic place for fear he would become stale. Perhaps, he was was the academic that all of us aspire to be: smart, resourceful, worldly, creative and innovative. We as a field will miss him; I as a friend will sorely miss him.

Mary Blair
Director of Development and Alumni Relations, LSE
I am overcome with sadness at the loss of this gracious, intelligent and witty man. I met him when I came to LSE in 2000 as an American here to help the fund raising office do its work. His friendship has meant a great deal to me, as I was in London without knowing many people here when I arrived.

On Feb 12 I went to Milan to visit him in hospital, knowing he was ill, but not how very ill he was. We could talk for a while until he tired so I sat for some 2 hours while he slept. He was very thin and the cancer alarmingly large. Carlo, his brother and family, included me in their discussions and took me to dinner. Friend Anna met me the next day for breakfast and took me to a special musical programme that night. On Saturday he required oxygen to breathe and it was hard to communicate anything beyond the fact that I was present for a while. On Sunday he was sedated and sleeping when I left and he died while I was on the plane on the way back to London. Maybe I was fortunate to get there "in time" to tell him how loved he was. His picture here is so alive and direct. I like remembering him that way. He has an astounding number of friends from so many places around the world. There is little comfort in such a death, except that it makes us value each other all the more.

Duane P. Truex III
Department of Computer Information Systems, Georgia State University
Like others I had heard he was ill, but never guessed it was cancer that would claim this energetic and athletic colleague.

Claudio was a bit of an enigma. He was a respected scholar (his early work on Williamson and transaction cost theory in IS was wonderful and personally inspirational), an influential insider who liked to rail at the system with his regular polemics and a challenge to anyone who liked a tad of stability. He was a boat-rocker; he raised important issues, and at times hurt people's feelings in the process. But it can never be said that he did not hold strong beliefs or that he was afraid of making those know to others. Thus he had many loyal friends counterbalancing people who were less supportive. But all, friend or foe, respected his intellect and his passion if not his style in expressing those positions.

Yet, in my experience, privately he was a fair and generous friend. I, for one, will miss him. His death is a loss to our community of scholars.

Menelaos Tzouris
Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics
I first met Claudio in 2001 when I was doing my MSc at the IS department. He became my dissertation advisor and although I didn't have the opportunity to speak to him very often, his comments on my work always kept me motivated and inspired. When I came back to the department in 2004 I was really sorry to find out that he was on a sick leave. People here deeply believed that he would make it and that soon we would all see him again.

Since yesterday I have kept on watching the video of his speech that took place on the 2 June 2004, which is available from the IS web site [but only from inside LSE for the time being]. I am sure that in his new place close to God he still inspires, motivates, and stands out!

Luke Jackson
Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics
Claudio ceaselessly identified and tackled the major issues in the Information Systems field with dedication and rigour, often resulting in surprising and unique insights into organisational life, while all the time maintaining a simple sense of fascination and an irrepressible humour. A true loss.

Anzela Huq
School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London
Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to meet the late Professor Ciborra. I have, though, read much of his published work and have been inspired by his stimulating contributions to the field of IS. I hope, that as the future of the field, we may uphold the standard to which he he worked and continue to be as challenging and brave as he was. Sincerest and deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Marc Berg
Department of Social Medical Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam
It is with great shock that we heard about Claudio's death. He has been an inspiration to many of us who are trying to bridge the 'great divide' between the social sciences and the worlds of IT. Hard to classify, always innovative. We will miss him.

Sergio Mariotti
Professor of Industrial Economics, Polytechnic of Milan, Italy

I personally met Claudio in 1969 when we were students at the Polytechnic of Milan. Claudio was a friend and a colleague. I remember his talent and originality. I will miss Claudio greatly. Ciao Claudio.

Yves Goulnik
Sigale, France
To me, Claudio embodies the very idea of Theseus : creative, subversive, stimulating. A flamboyant intellectual, he remained a constant source of inspiration over the past fifteen years, where I was lucky enough to regularly bump into him. His unfinished teaching goes on, with moods and emotions, always in great style.

Sarah Emery
Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics
I am devastated to hear that Claudio has left us. Claudio hired me as Departmental Manager in early 2002 and was totally supportive throughout our years together. He was a unique person, kind and very thoughtful in his own special way. He gave the administrative staff a chance to attend conferences around Europe which were great fun, and he had a very special style and way. Claudio was particularly supportive when I became pregnant and stayed in touch once April was born, sending such touching and thoughtful emails. I can't believe I will not see him again. I will miss you Claudio,

Lars Mathiassen
J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
Claudio and I shared the mentorship of late Kristen Nygaard. Kristen was always busy. If he had more than one visitor he made them socialize so he could engage in other missions. This is how Claudio and I ended up in a small office together at University of Oslo in 1977. That became the start of a long friendship and collaboration.

Claudio was looking for a home throughout his life and he found several. One of them was Scandinavia where he visited often, did some of his research, and interacted with students and colleagues. Claudio had, in that way, a severe and long-lasting influence on many research environments in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. He became a frequent participant in the annual IRIS conferences, and he held visiting positions at several institutions.

Always engaged, helpful, and provocative, Claudio was really most at ease when relationships were challenged and pushed to the limit. He would always question the establishment and support those outside the center of events. Sometimes, he would even go so far that he appeared hostile to those with whom he debated. Given his commitment to change and innovate our thinking that was probably just a dysfunctional side-effect.

He was a great researcher and contributor to our field, he inspired me enormously, and he was a very good friend. How sad to miss him already at this point.

Kristin Braa
Telenor Research & Development, and University of Oslo
With shock, sorrow and pain I heard that Claudio lost his last battle. Unbelievable. We have experienced so much together - from inspiring academic collaborative work to underground pubs, via Stromboli, Naples, skiing and never ending discussions about life. In addition to the loss of a great inspirator for the academic community, we are many that now have lost a dear, dear friend.

Claudio, I can’t imagine how the life will be without you.

Ole Hanseth
Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
I remember I saw Claudio for the first time around 1980. He stayed at the University of Oslo for a period doing research in Norway at the time I was a student. In 1996 Claudio visited Scandinavia for a period again - this time in Gothenburg. We met and soon discovered our shared interests and attitudes regarding research. Since then we have collaborated closely and developed a deep friendship. He became a close friend of the whole family and the children loved "uncle" Claudio.

Claudio was appointed Visiting Professor in Oslo. He visited us for several weeks every term. He has been an fantastic stimulation for the whole IS group. He invited me to become visiting professor and spend a year at LSE, which I enjoyed enormously - for many reasons. For me personally both his friendship and collaboration have been extremely enjoyable, stimulating, and rewarding. We both enjoyed the mix of contrasts and harmony between our Italian and Norwegian styles and characters and between Italian and Norwegian landscape, culture, politics, and history. For me the most memorable moment illustrating this was when Claudio took me to Ferrara to listen to the Oslo Philharmonic.

Claudio was widely known to be very honest - which often meant critical - when commenting on others' work. In our collaboration he was the exact opposite; when we were writing together he NEVER criticized what I had written - even though he very often had the best reasons for doing so. He was extremely polite and careful and gave only positive comments. He even asked if it was OK that he corrected some of my mis-spellings (and they were numerous!).
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Thank You, Claudio! I'm extremely grateful for your stimulating collaboration and caring friendship. I miss you enormously. As you always ended our conversations: "Ha det bra!"

Shirin Madon
Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics
Claudio was a source of great intellectual inspiration to so many of us. Personally speaking, I will always remember with gratitude the support, encouragement and interest Claudio showed in the field of IT & Development. With fond memories, I will also remember how terrible he thought my Italian was! We will miss him terribly in the Department.

John L. King
Dean School of Information University of Michigan
What a terrible loss for us all. Claudio was that most precious of the academic breed: a worthy adversary. I never had a discussion with him in which I came away settled in my mind. He had a way of upending things that I thought I understood. He was brilliant, maddening, humane, and hilarious: an unusual combination, and an endearing one. To lose both Rob Kling and Claudio in such a short period of time... It strains the soul of our field.

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Page last updated 18 February, 2005