Steps Toward a Socio-Technical Categorization Scheme for Communication and Information Standards

Socio-technical systems continue to grow larger and more complex, comprising increasingly significant portions of contemporary society. Yet systematic understanding of interrelationships between social and technological elements remains elusive, even as computers and information systems proliferate. In this paper, we draw on ethnomethodology to distinguish several different kinds of processes through which communication and information are constituted. We discuss the distinctive properties of each in an effort to develop systematic understanding of basic elements of socio-technical systems. In particular, we offer a basic categorization of communication and information standards, noting the constitutive importance of their accompanying social practices. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

The practice of e-science and e-social science: method, theory, and matter

Grid technologies are widely regarded as important innovations for drawing together distributed knowledge workers into virtual communities. After reviewing the developments in e-science, we examine the emergence of e-social science and its implications for information systems research practice. We consider what is new about this phenomenon and discuss the issues raised by this particular approach to the virtualization of research practices. Our analysis is organized into three sub-sections that focus on: developments in e-social science research methods; the theoretical issues involved in pursuing an e-social science agenda; as well as the status and nature of the research materials that it gives ruse to in information systems