In Memory of Claudio Ciborra 1951 - 2005

Tributes to Claudio Ciborra

index to tributes

Page 13

Shoshana Zuboff
Harvard Business School, USA
Claudio would have loved this page. Our collected tenderness, grief, affection. But also, the fact of it—pasted up, situated, communal, expressive. In this virtual place resides the potential he always saw: the deeper truths beyond the reach of templates and hierarchies.

I am coming to terms only slowly with this page. My relationship with Claudio has been a virtual one for the last eight months. Each night before I went to bed on the east coast of the US I wrote him a note. The mornings began with sitting down to read his reply. In this way I have kept track of his illness and his, famous, moods. I have exhorted, cheered, scolded, persuaded, pleaded, prayed, and most of all tried to let him know how much I loved him. I expect to be getting a note back from him in the morning, even now.

My memories of Claudio stretch back to the beginning of my own career, but I can't recall how we first met. I can see him standing in my little assistant professor's office at Harvard back in 82?, 83? recounting Unger's latest lecture at the Law School, when Claudio was in Boston as a fellow at MIT, I think. I remember him making pasta at his rented flat, while on the phone with a friend in Italy who was reading him the recipe: ricotta, eggplant.... Later we had lots of adventures working together: Venice, London, Milan, both Cambridges, Nice, Naples, and on and on. Funnily, my most vivid recollection of him is right here in my home. I came down to the kitchen one summer morning and he was sitting at the counter. He looked at me with the widest, silliest grin I had ever seen. Then I realized my two young children were bustling around him, making bacon and eggs and smoothies and serving "Uncle Claudio" in grand style. "I am surrounded by intelligent agents," he said, giggling wildly. It seems like Claudio has been there by my side more or less always.

Claudio was the only one who really understood my relationship to my work. That will never happen again. We could have a fierce discussion about Heidegger then prowl the Cap d'Antibes for the best bouillabaisse. Saying goodbye to him is too painful.

Claudio was a big human being. I adored his irony and elegance and the way it gently cloaked a mischievous ardour, commitment, and need. I adored his mind, his clarity and playfulness and the way he reveled in subtlety. We didn't have to see each other all the time, but we made sure we knew the other was there. Ah, the cell phone. When we were together, we were never bored; there was always too much to discuss and not enough time. Not enough time. Now I feel a tear in the universe and it's hard to breathe. I miss him terribly. How could he go ?

It helps a great deal to read the loving words of so many friends, colleagues, admirers. That was Claudio.

Edgar Whitley
on behalf of the ECIS Standing Committee
Claudio was involved with the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) at many levels. Few will forget the enchanting keynote presentation on the nature and limits of models and methods in the IS discipline he gave in Cork in 1997. Less widely appreciated, however, was all the work he did behind the scenes to develop and strengthen the European IS community. Following on from his book in 1994 with Tawfik Jelassi that presented a European perspective on strategic information systems, Claudio accepted the role as international programme chair for ECIS 1999 in Copenhagen where he was instrumental in shaping the nature of the contributions to be presented at that conference. More recently, he helped bring ECIS to Naples in 2003. This memorable conference also played a significant role in creating a growing, dynamic information systems community in Italy.

In recognition of all of Claudio’s works for the ECIS community, the ECIS standing committee is pleased to announce the creation of a special award for the most innovative research paper at ECIS, to be awarded every year in Claudio’s honour.

Sebastiano Bagnara
Università degli Studi di Siena, Italia
I met Claudio in the early eighties. I had heard of him as a brilliant intelligence. The conversation was short (he was preparing a Conference in Tuscany for trade unions and socially concerned researchers on designing computer systems with and for users), but enough to confirm the voices about his brightness. The meeting was the beginning of a friendship.

We did not see each other very frequently, but, once we met, we were as we had seen few days before only. A curious and rare experience. Maybe due to that I continuously came across and made reference to his works; maybe it depended on the mutual understanding grounded in common values; maybe both.

In last summer, Claudio came to Ivrea to deliver an invited lecture at the graduation ceremony at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. The talk was simply marvellous. I asked Claudio for permission to publish it in a book I was preparing. The reply was positive. I felt a sense of intellectual pleasure.

A few weeks later, a common friend, the mythical Luisella, informed me that Claudio was ill. From then on, I had frequent conversations with Claudio. I was impressed by his energy: he continued to work even during heavy therapy. I visited him at the end of January: We talked about politics, philosophy, his disease, the side effects if the therapy, about common friends. A usual conversation with Claudio that was enriched by the calm presence of Anna Maria. This is Claudio I remember: sitting and brilliantly talking even if the disease manifested itself with its brutality.

Later, we kept in touch several times by email because some doubts emerged about the English translation of some Heidegger's concepts in editing his contribution. The last email was on 2nd February, where he announced to have "found a better and definitive solution". With such a message, Claudio confirmed until the last the impression I had of him when I firstly met: Claudio was fond of the research and looking for better solutions, both intellectual and social.

Francis Bidault
Dean, Theseus MBA
Claudio Ciborra was one the founding Faculty of the Theseus Institute. He joined Theseus at the very beginning of the life of the institute in the early 90s and was instrumental in giving it its reputation as a school not just interested in management and technology, but also as a place dedicated to reflection on the social and human impacts of IT. Claudio participated a lot in the academic life of Theseus, in terms of teaching as well as in terms of research. He involved our insitute in several European projects and introduced it to his very large network of academics in the field of IT and MIS.

I personally first met Claudio in 1991. I still remember this vividly. I participated in a conference of the Strategic Management Society in San Francisco. Claudio was presenting his research and made a few jokes about being a scholar on the "Cote d'Azur" before he went on to discuss his research! This was typical of Claudio. Then I got to know Claudio better when arrived at Theseus in 1995. I remember him as a person who was both quite serious when it came to his research and very joyful when it came to partying. A lot of us will remember him dancing on the groundfloor in Theseus in Sophia Antipolis!

Claudio kept its dual appointment at Theseus and the University of Bologna until 1996. Then he transfered to being a "Visiting Faculty" in order to be able to take another dual appointment in Scandinavia and then in London (London School of Economics). We tried to get Claudio in the MBA program or in the MBA alumni "refresher" as much as possible since we know that Claudio was very popular with the MBA participants and the alumni. But Claudio's schedule had become so busy that it became quite difficult to have him as a visitor.

We will all miss Claudio as a colleague and as friend.

Richard Baskerville
Chairman, CIS Department, Georgia State University
My most vivid recollection of Claudio was at a dinner some years ago. Much of Claudio's most recent research up to that point was centered on the unique IT management culture at Olivetti. Shortly before the particular event at which we were dining, Olivetti had collapsed and failed. Claudio was asked, more-or-less, about whether Olivetti's failure called into question Claudio's earlier research. "What will you do?" was asked. Claudio's answer? "Well, I've been lifting weights and swimming." he said, "Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, I am coming back."

The emblem of Atlanta, a city burned in the American civil war, is the Phoenix rising from the ashes. I pass this huge symbol, erected over the central square, every day to and from work...

and I always think of Claudio.

Guy G Gable
Faculty of Information Technology, Queensland University of Technology
I am much saddened to hear of Claudio Ciborra's passing. I didn't know Claudio well, having only met him several times at conferences and various Ed Board meetings, but was immediately impressed with his insight and presence. I became aware of his condition when he agreed late 2003 to examine the thesis of my PhD student Helmut Klaus, and though the news of Claudio's condition was increasingly ominous, he insisted on completing the review. Rightly or not, I felt I had been allowed a peek at his life; learning of his condition near the end; when he queried possible conversion of the honorarium "into a case or two of Oz wine to be shipped to the UK"; and through our late email exchange regarding a possible visit to Brisbane ... "a sabbatical and one or two months escape to a beachy surrounding could be an idea. Send me some tourist attraction URLs of the Coast, taking into account that I am a swimmer." He will be dearly missed. I feel most for those closest.

Ali Aziz
ADMIS 2001/2, Department of Information Systems, LSE
Professor Ciborra was an extraordinary individual; he was a legend in his own way. I had the pleasure of interacting with him during my ADMIS course. I still have fond memories of him from his lectures and seeing him in the gym, working out exhaustively. It is difficult to comprehend that this could happen to him.

I will always remember him and his family in my prayers.

Franca Cantoni
Department of Economic and Social Sciences,Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
The only law is the one that leads to freedom. Professor Ciborra, as did Jonathan Seagull, discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons why a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a fine life indeed.

Catherine Griffiths
Imperial College, London
Claudio was not daunted by problems, whether academic or personal, he brought an originality and inventiveness to their solution. He broke with formula and tradition, but the reward was inspiration and insight. I will always remember seeing many facets of his unique personality when accompanying him to the El Greco exhibition in London. As always, he was the expert and it was a great pleasure to be the student. His life has been cut short brutally and unfairly, but his influence will be long felt and he will be greatly missed.

Basma H. Abu-Hassan
ADMIS 1999/2000, Department of Information Systems, LSE
I am most fortunate to have known a great Professor, supervisor and later on my friend and mentor for life. Our loss is so immense it is beyond description. LSE was the turning point in my life, an incomparable experience to which I owe the most considerable evolvement of my analytical skills. Professor Ciborra, in particular, was the light that guided me through a challenging, yet significantly constructive, educational path. He has taught me never to be mediocre in my arguments, to strongly argue for my viewpoints and to support them. I was most lucky to have him supervise my dissertation, although I was warned of how difficult, demanding and critical he was; how I would have to work a hundred-or-more percent to ensure a passing grade. I believe that in his own way he was simply trying to push his students towards their potential. After graduating from LSE, Professor Ciborra became my connection to the vibrant world of academia, for which I have a passion. He was my link to the most recent publications and research.

I was always mesmerised by Professor Ciborra’s ideas and notions and the unique way in which he communicated them, be it the elegance and sophistication in his choice of terminology and expressions, or the clever allegories that he invented. His publications bedazzled me and I always made sure to read them twice, thrice and often more. He is the master of bricolage, tinkering, improvisation; he never underestimated the grassroots levels in this respect. His ‘moody’ paper was most interesting; I remember spending more than nine hours on it and thinking where from does Professor Ciborra get such inspiring ideas and metaphors! I could go on and on writing about all those special - as he used to describe them - and greatly inspiring publications.

I will always, and above all, remember Professor Ciborra’s visit to Jordan and the light he shed on the Jordanian e-Government endeavour. On this visit, I took pride in introducing him to my family and my colleagues at work. It goes without saying that Professor Ciborra made a great impression. He promised to visit the Middle East again in spring time; thinking about it all pains me deeply.

Dear Professor, until now, I strongly feel your presence and always will. I am incredibly lucky to have known you. Thank you so much for everything. I will miss you a lot. May God bless your soul.

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Page last updated 6 March, 2005