Building a Contemplative IS Workforce through Promoting Mindfulness in IS Design-A Case Study

Incorporating mindfulness in the information systems (IS) development process is not new, but educating an IS workforce to promote the design for a contemplative user experience is. Building a contemplative IS workforce is critical for promoting contemplative societies as social interactions nowadays have been increasingly structured by IS infrastructures and capabilities. This research examines the definitions of mindfulness in IS literature and in Buddhism. It qualitatively studies the IS students’ learning outcome on mindfulness. Students in a Systems Analysis and Design course were exposed to mindfulness literature, asked to design websites for a contemplative community of practice, and challenged to exercise and reflect on mindfulness when designing for spiritual information services. A majority of the students have recognized the importance of mindfulness in IS design, suggested approaches of reaching system outcome of promoting mindful user experience, and reported the incorporation of mindfulness in their daily attitudes and behaviors.