Dissection of Dependency A Crossdisciplinary Review

Life in the modern societies, principally in the Western world, has been demystified. This demystification process has caused the social structures like technology, to lose some of the charm they had during the early Industrialisation period. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become integral parts of our identity in the context of organizational and personal life; the dependence on technology blurs the line between real and virtual worlds. This paper attempts to bridge the gap in understanding our dependence on modern technology. An attempt has been made to dissect the humantechnology dependency to find out how technology is interpreted, it’s meaning in the modern world, and what are the working mechanisms that are feeding this dependency as it grows with the growth of ICTs. The paper concludes that there is neither a single source of dependency nor a root cause. Instead the answer lies deep within the mesh of social patterns and structure and how we interact with them. The dependency in question is much more a function of the properties people attribute to ICTs than of what an ICT can or cannot actually be made to do

How Aesthetic Engagement with IT is Shaping Digital Society: An Ethnographic Example

In this paper, we discuss an empirical example of the everyday aesthetics of engagement with information systems work practices. Drawing on an ethnographic study, we suggest that the information systems phenomena can be seen as a form of artwork in the practices of a new generation of IT professionals. Using the aesthetic ontology of art, an artwork is conceptualised as something that manifests, articulates, and reconfigures the human practices in a digital society. This paper is intended as an empirical contribution towards advancing the discussion of the aesthetics of engagement in the information systems literature

ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD RESEARCH: INTERPRETING ONE\u27S ENTRANCE INTO THE FIELD AS THROWNNESS

The field is where an ethnographer does the fieldwork, yet a discussion of one´s entrance into the field is essentially overlooked in the IS research literature. This paper suggests that entrance into the field can be seen as a rite of passage into a practice world. Using phenomenological hermeneutics, we direct the focus to everyday being-in-the-world to develop a practical understanding of the field as a fusion of horizons where an ethnographer is thrown. The concept of thrownness suggests including one´s historicity and prejudices as one enters the field. We provide some empirical evidence from an ethnographic field study at a large scale IT services organization. This paper is intended as a contribution to the discussion about qualitative research methods in information systems

Resistance and sexuality in virtual worlds: An LGBT perspective

Virtual worlds can provide a safe place for social movements of marginal and oppressed groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). When the virtual safe places are under threat, the inhabitants of a virtual world register protests, which have critical implications for the real-world issues. The nature of emancipatory practices such as virtual protests in the digital realm research remains somewhat under-explored. Specifically, it remains to be seen how the oppressed communities such as LGBT take radical actions in virtual worlds in order to restore the imbalance of power. We conducted a 35-month netnographic study of an LGBT social movement in World of Warcraft. The lead researcher joined the LGBT social movement and data was captured through participant observations, discussion forums, and chat logs. Drawing on the critical theory of Michel Foucault, we present empirical evidence that illuminates emancipatory social movement practices in an online virtual world. The findings suggest that there are complex power relations in a virtual world and, when power balance is disrupted, LGBT players form complex ways to register protests, which invoke strategies to restore order in the virtual fields

Cancer in Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib, Pakistan: 2017-2019; an Observational study

Introduction: The Punjab Cancer Registry's catchment area includes the districts of Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib. It is an observational, descriptive study that covers the three years from 2017 to 2019, evaluating the distribution of cancer in these two districts. Material and Methods: Data on incident cancer cases diagnosed between 2017 and 2019 among residents of Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, reported by the participating centers of the Registry, were reviewed retrospectively. Figures and proportions for adults, children, and adolescents were computed. Results: During 2017 and 2019, 5,678 cases were reported from Faisalabad and 390 from Nankana Sahib, with over 50% seen in females. In both districts combined, among adult females, cancers of the breast, reproductive system, and hepatobiliary system were commonly diagnosed, while cancer of the lip/oral cavity/pharynx, hepatobiliary system, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were the leading diagnoses among adult males. In children and young adults (0-19 years), acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were the most common diagnoses. Conclusion: The cancer distribution reported from Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib is of utmost importance. However, the underreporting of cancer cases cannot be ruled out. More input from the collaborators is needed to ensure the completeness of cancer surveillance in the region

Demarginalizing Interdisciplinarity in IS Research: Interdisciplinary Research in Marginalization

This paper reports on the second Workshop of a World University Network (WUN) Research Development Funded project on “The trans-nationalization of Indigenous movements: The role of digital technologies” at the University of Southampton, UK. The workshop explored interdisciplinarity and how interdisciplinary collaboration can help scholars study complex social phenomenon, such as the ways in which marginalized Indigenous communities use and shape digital technologies (such as social media) to enhance their cause. The workshop brought together scholars from diverse disciplines to engage in a critical debate. In addition to scholars from information systems, scholars from history, political science, geography, literature, arts, and anthropology came together to discuss how marginalized Indigenous communities can use digital media. The workshop highlighted the need for more interdisciplinary research and called for more critical approaches to bring such marginalized topics to the forefront of research in information systems. We consider three broad areas of inquiry in this paper: demarginalizing methodology for interdisciplinary research, interdisciplinary perspectives for demarginalization, and interdisciplinary contexts for demarginalization

Giving Voice to the Voiceless: The Use of Digital Technologies by Marginalized Groups

This paper reports on a workshop hosted at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in September, 2018. The workshop, called “Giving Voice to the Voiceless: The Use of Digital Technologies by Marginalized Groups”, focused on discussing how marginalized groups use digital technologies to raise their voices. At the workshop, a diverse group of scholars and doctoral students presented research projects and perspectives on the role that digital technologies have in activist projects that represent marginalized groups that have gained momentum in the last few years. The studies and viewpoints presented shed light on four areas in which IS research can expand our understanding about how marginalized groups use digital technologies to address societal challenges: 1) the rise of cyberactivism, 2) resource mobilization for cyberactivism, 3) cyberactivism by and with marginalized groups, and 4) research methods for examining how marginalized groups use digital technologies

Dissection of dependency:a crossdisciplinary review

Life in the modern societies, principally in the Western world, has been demystified. This demystification process has caused the social structures like technology, to lose some of the charm they had during the early Industrialisation period. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become integral parts of our identity in the context of organizational and personal life; the dependence on technology blurs the line between real and virtual worlds. This paper attempts to bridge the gap in understanding our dependence on modern technology. An attempt has been made to dissect the human-technology dependency to find out how technology is interpreted, it’s meaning in the modern world, and what are the working mechanisms that are feeding this dependency as it grows with the growth of ICTs. The paper concludes that there is neither a single source of dependency nor a root cause. Instead the answer lies deep within the mesh of social patterns and structure and how we interact with them. The dependency in question is much more a function of the properties people attribute to ICTs than of what an ICT can or cannot actually be made to do

Instrumental aspects of play at work in information technology organisations

Conventional wisdom suggests that play is the antithesis of work. But in the information technology (IT) industry, companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft have positively integrated play into the workplace. In an era when the digital is ubiquitous and where play with IT has become commonplace, exploring the nature of play at work could shed light on the broader question of how humans exist in the world. This is an essential question for contemporary Information Systems scholarship. Drawing on the critical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer, I offer a narrative account of the instrumental aspects of play at work. I conducted an ethnographic study of the everyday practices of young IT professionals, revealing that workplace play has multiple instrumental aspects which are related to the temporality, spatiality, materiality and sociality of IT work practices