Grafting: Balancing Control and Cultivation in Information Infrastructure Innovation

This paper proposes grafting as a new perspective on information infrastructure (II) innovation. We introduce the organic notion of grafting to help explore innovation processes in settings where control is distributed and episodic. Our case study follows the implementation of mobile phone-based reporting of routine data from sub-district health facilities in Malawi. Initial grafting work entails the careful alignment of available resources, capacities, and interests through the proposition of an information system (IS) innovation (e.g., mobile phone-based reporting). The nurturing of the implementation involves collaborative efforts spanning technological, professional, geographical, and organizational boundaries. This work is taken forward by the identification of opportunities for merging an innovation with existing socio-technical arrangements (e.g., health management information systems in Malawi) in such a way that the parts continue to grow

Unfolding the convergence paradox: The case of mobile voice-over-IP in the UK.

The notion of digital and in particular Information and Communication Technology (ICT) convergence has, over the past 40 years, been in the centre of many technological discourses in different functional systems of society: from the economic and mass media to the legal and political systems. Recently, a new convergence discourse has emerged around next-generation wireless infrastructures and services. One manifestation can be seen in discussion of the mobile Internet, and in particular of new converging services connecting mobile telephony networks to the Internet. Contrary to the prominence of the topic in other domains, the Information Systems community has relegated the notion of ICT convergence to the sidelines. Only recently have there been calls to include convergence as one of the drivers for the design of new mobile infrastructures and services. However, a systematic analysis of the idea of ICT convergence is still missing. Thus, based on an extensive literature review, this dissertation aims firstly to understand if there is space for a more theoretical development of this concept in the information infrastructure literature. Secondly, it provides an initial conceptual clarification of the ICT convergence discourse. Thirdly, it suggests a systems-theoretical unfolding of the identified core distinction between convergence and divergence, namely the convergence paradox. Finally, the role of technology in these discourses is examined. This dissertation analyses the notion of convergence and provides a systems-theoretical understanding of its dynamics from a second-order cybernetics perspective. The theoretical framework of this study is based on Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Social Systems. More specifically, it uses analytical strategies based on the work by Nils A. Andersen to understand the characteristics of convergence, eventually to unfold the convergence paradox. The empirical study investigates the convergence discourses around mobile Voice-over-IP in the UK from 2000-2009. The corpus of data encompasses 39 semi-structured interviews with telecommunications experts in the field of mobile VoIP, a wide range of documents, and direct observations from practitioners' conferences. The empirical study has been part of the EPSRC / Mobile VCE Core-5 Flexible Networks Project. This dissertation contributes to the broad multi-disciplinary literature of studies dealing with the phenomenon of ICT convergence, more specifically to that on information infrastructures. It develops a conceptual clarification of the notion of convergence. The findings of this dissertation suggest seeing convergence as a difference-reduction programme. This conceptualisation has the following consequences. Firstly, it suggests that convergence is observer-dependent. Secondly, it suggests that its counter-concept is not divergence or fragmentation but rather the maintenance of difference, i.e. control. Thirdly, it suggests that convergence has to deal with the typical unintended consequences inherent in difference-reduction programmes. Furthermore, while ICT convergence treated as difference-reduction programme challenges the existing identity of the infrastructure, the primary role of control is to maintain this difference. The dynamics between these two operations seem to lead to the emergence of further fragmentation

Coopetition in an open-source way : lessons from mobile and cloud computing infrastructures

An increasing amount of technology is no longer developed in-house. Instead, we are in a new age where technology is developed by a networked community of individuals and organizations, who base their relations to each other on mutual interest. Advances arising from research in platforms, ecosystems, and infrastructures can provide valuable knowledge for better understanding and explaining technology development among a network of firms. More surprisingly, recent research suggests that technology can be jointly developed by rival competing firms in an open-source way. For instance, it is known that the mobile device makers Apple and Samsung continued collaborating in open-source projects while running expensive patent wars in the courts. On top of multidisciplinary theory in open-source software, cooperation among competitors (aka coopetition) and digital infrastructures, I (and my coauthors) explored how rival firms cooperate in the joint development of open-source infrastructures. While assimilating a wide variety of paradigms and analytical approaches, this doctoral research combined the qualitative analysis of naturally occurring data (QA) with the mining of software repositories (MSR) and social network analysis (SNA) within a set of case studies. By turning to the mobile and cloud computing industries in general, and the WebKit and OpenStack opensource infrastructures in particular, we found out that qualitative ethnographic materials, combined with social network visualizations, provide a rich medium that enables a better understanding of competitive and cooperative issues that are simultaneously present and interconnected in open-source infrastructures. Our research contributes back to managerial literature in coopetition strategy, but more importantly to Information Systems by addressing both cooperation and competition within the development of high-networked open-source infrastructures.Yhä suurempaa osaa teknologiasta ei enää kehitetä organisaatioiden omasta toimesta. Sen sijaan, olemme uudella aikakaudella jossa teknologiaa kehitetään verkostoituneessa yksilöiden ja organisaatioiden yhteisössä, missä toimitaan perustuen yhteiseen tavoitteeseen. Alustojen, ekosysteemien ja infrastruktuurien tutkimuksen tulokset voivat tuottaa arvokasta tietämystä teknologian kehittämisestä yritysten verkostossa. Erityisesti tuore tutkimustieto osoittaa että kilpailevat yritykset voivat yhdessä kehittää teknologiaa avoimeen lähdekoodiin perustuvilla käytännöillä. Esimerkiksi tiedetään että mobiililaitteiden valmistajat Apple ja Samsung tekivät yhteistyötä avoimen lähdekoodin projekteissa ja kävivät samaan aikaan kalliita patenttitaistoja eri oikeusfoorumeissa. Perustuen monitieteiseen teoriaan avoimen lähdekoodin ohjelmistoista, yhteistyöstä kilpailijoiden kesken (coopetition) sekä digitaalisista infrastruktuureista, minä (ja kanssakirjoittajani) tutkimme miten kilpailevat yritykset tekevät yhteistyötä avoimen lähdekoodin infrastruktuurien kehityksessä. Sulauttaessaan runsaan joukon paradigmoja ja analyyttisiä lähestymistapoja case-joukon puitteissa, tämä väitöskirjatutkimus yhdisti luonnollisesti esiintyvän datan kvantitatiivisen analyysin ohjelmapakettivarastojen louhintaan ja sosiaalisten verkostojen analyysiin. Tutkiessamme mobiili- ja pilvipalveluiden teollisuudenaloja yleisesti, ja WebKit ja OpenStack avoimen lähdekoodin infrastruktuureja erityisesti, havaitsimme että kvalitatiiviset etnografiset materiaalit yhdistettyinä sosiaalisten verkostojen visualisointiin tuottavat rikkaan aineiston joka mahdollistaa avoimen lähdekoodin infrastruktuuriin samanaikaisesti liittyvien kilpailullisten ja yhteistyökuvioiden hyvän ymmärtämisen. Tutkimuksemme antaa oman panoksensa johdon kirjallisuuteen coopetition strategy -alueella, mutta sitäkin enemmän tietojärjestelmätieteeseen, läpikäymällä sekä yhteistyötä että kilpailua tiiviisti verkostoituneessa avoimen lähdekoodin infrastruktuurien kehitystoiminnassaUma crescente quantidade de tecnologia não é desenvolvida internamente por uma só organização. Em vez disso, estamos em uma nova era em que a tecnologia é desenvolvida por uma comunidade de indivíduos e organizações que baseiam suas relações umas com as outras numa rede de interesse mútuo. Os avanços teórico decorrentes da pesquisa em plataformas computacionais, ecossistemas e infraestruturas digitais fornecem conhecimentos valiosos para uma melhor compreensão e explicação do desenvolvimento tecnológico por uma rede de multiplas empresas. Mais surpreendentemente, pesquisas recentes sugerem que tecnologia pode ser desenvolvida conjuntamente por empresas rivais concorrentes e de uma forma aberta (em código aberto). Por exemplo, sabe-se que os fabricantes de dispositivos móveis Apple e Samsung continuam a colaborar em projetos de código aberto ao mesmo tempo que se confrontam em caras guerras de patentes nos tribunais. Baseados no conhecimento científico de software de código aberto, de cooperação entre concorrentes (também conhecida como coopetição) e de infraestruturas digitais, eu e os meus co-autores exploramos como empresas concorrentes cooperam no desenvolvimento conjunto de infraestruturas de código aberto. Ao utilizar uma variedade de paradigmas e abordagens analíticas, esta pesquisa de doutoramento combinou a análise qualitativa de dados de ocorrência natural (QA) com a análise de repositórios de softwares (MSR) e a análise de redes sociais (SNA) dentro de um conjunto de estudos de casos. Ao investigar as industrias de technologias móveis e de computação em nuvem em geral, e as infraestruturas em código aberto WebKit e OpenStack, em particular, descobrimos que o material etnográfico qualitativo, combinado com visualizações de redes sociais, fornece um meio rico que permite uma melhor compreensão das problemas competitivos e cooperativos que estão simultaneamente presentes e interligados em infraestruturas de código aberto. A nossa pesquisa contribui para a literatura em gestão estratégica e coompetição, mas mais importante para literatura em Sistemas de Informação, abordando a cooperação e concorrência no desenvolvimento de infraestruturas de código aberto por uma rede the indivíduos e organizações em interesse mútuo

The dynamics of digital platform innovation: unfolding the paradox of control and generativity in Apple's iOS

Mobile digital platforms provide an architectural basis for third party innovation of platform complements. Platform owners have property rights, enabling them to establish a boundary of permissible innovation demarcating the permitted from the prohibited. This allows for the curation of complements, which provides a means of controlling for value creation. Consequently, platform innovationthe innovation of platform complements is occasionally refused by platform owners. When this occurs tensions may arise between the two parties over where the boundary of permissible innovation should lie. Tussles may break out, embodied in complex interactions, as each party attempts to get its way. Eventually an outcome is achieved, and a platform innovation is either allowed or prohibited. A body of platform innovation literature is emerging from fields including information systems. Whilst this literature considers many aspects of platform innovation, the dynamics concerning the control of the innovation of platform innovation complements is overlooked. This research attempts to address that gap. Its relevance to information systems concerns the digitalisation of platforms as systemsdigital infrastructures, which affects their capacity for innovation and regulation. This research uses the method of narrative networks to analyse 45 examples of contested platform innovation. This approach, informed by empirical data sourced from over 4500 blog entries, identifies patterned sequences of actions across the examples. These sequences describe how tension builds, how control is asserted, and how control is then resisted. A theory of formal managerial control is used to explain how mechanisms of control are applied by platform owners as well as how developers respond to control. The principle contribution of this research is to theory. It develops and presents a theory to describe and explain the dynamics of contested innovation of complements on curated digital platforms. In doing so, iIt challenges the understanding that the platform owner alone controls platform design rules and concerning which platform complements are allowed, and which are notthe boundary of permissible innovation. Furthermore, tThe study indicates opens up the possibility that the forces of digitalisation provide third parties with the power to affect influence platform architecture, but at the cost of additional means of being controlled

A TRANSDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS OF JUST TRANSITION PATHWAYS TO 100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY

The transition to using clean, affordable, and reliable electrical energy is critical for enhancing human opportunities and capabilities. In the United States, many states and localities are engaging in this transition despite the lack of ambitious federal policy support. This research builds on the theoretical framework of the multilevel perspective (MLP) of sociotechnical transitions as well as the concept of energy justice to investigate potential pathways to 100 percent renewable energy (RE) for electricity provision in the U.S. This research seeks to answer the question: what are the technical, policy, and perceptual pathways, barriers, and opportunities for just transition to 100% renewable electricity in the U.S., at a state and local levels? In this dissertation, an analysis of factors contributing to RE transition in communities across the country is developed. Results from this are used to make further analysis and recommendations to research undertaken specifically in the context of Michigan’s Western Upper Peninsula (WUP). This dissertation demonstrates that research on achieving a just energy transition requires transdisciplinary approaches that integrate social sciences, engineering, and natural sciences and multiple ways of knowing from scientists, practitioners, and diverse community perspectives. This research provides tools for decision makers at all levels of government, local stakeholders, citizens, and the academic world in understanding what matters for success in a just transition to 100% RE in the U.S