Digital Work: A Research Agenda

We have been invited to discuss “digital work” and to propose a research agenda for the next decade or so. We value the opportunity to share some thoughts on this important area. In doing so, we will begin with a reconceptualization off the phenomenon that is at stake here, offer some specific examples, and then close by considering some possible future research directions that we hope will be both useful and generative

Material Works: Exploring the Situated Entanglement of Technological Performativity and Human Agency

Abstract not available

TUTORIAL 1 HOW STRUCTURATION THEORY CAN INFORM THE SOCIAL STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

In the mid-seventies a new approach to social science was proposed by a British social theorist, Anthony Giddens. Over the past decade, this approach - known as structuration theory - has emerged as a particularly powerful and useful way of studying social phenomena, overcoming some of the serious obstacles posed by other existing approaches. Today, structuration theory is increasingly being drawn on to study many different aspects of social and organizational life. Within the Information Systems community likewise, use of structuration theory appears to be growing. This tutorial will attempt to convey why structuration theory can be a useful framework for studying the social aspects of information technology, and how it can be applied in particular studies. This is not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive treatment of all of structuration theory or the many ways in which it has been and could be applied. Rather, the focus is on elaborating - through the use of a few illustrative studies - why and how a structurational framework can inform IS research at the level of theory, research design, analysis, and interpretation of results. This tutorial will begin with a discussion of the origins and basic premises of structuration theory, and then trace the history of application of structuration theory to studies of organizations and IT. The tutorial will focus largely on examining the use of structuration theory in a few specific research studies of the social aspects of information technology. The tutorial will be concluded with a discussion of the contributions and limitations of this theory to IS research

THE BOUNDING EFFECT OF IS DESIGN TOOLS: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF CASE TECHNOLOGY

Methodologies for information systems development bound the vocabulary of design (what are the "things that matter?), as well as control the design discourse (how should we go about discussing them?). Computer Aided System Engineering tools - collectively referred to as "CASE technology" --further bound the analysis and design process both semantically (e.g., the range of available methodologies) and syntactically (e.g., implementation details). In this paper we explore the effects of bounding in CASE technology. We first delineate the concept of bounding in general terms, and then develop a more operational notion of it through the qualitative examination of an actual use of a CASE tool. This examination results in a preliminary list of concrete dimensions of the bounding phenomenon, which is in turn used to guide a critical survey of related features in current CASE technology, Implications for practice, education and research are discussed.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

IMPOSING STRUCTURE ON LINEAR PROGRAMMING PROBLEMS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF EXPERT AND NOVICE MODELS

Research on expert-novice differences falls into two complementary classes. The first assumes that novice skills are a subset of those of the expert, represented by the same vocabulary of concepts. The second approach emphasizes novices' misconceptions and the different meanings they tend to attribute to concepts. Our evidence, based on observations of problem solving behavior of experts and novices in the area of mathematical programming, reveals both type of differences: while novices are to some extent underdeveloped experts, they also attribute different meanings to concepts. The research suggests that experts' concepts can be characterized as being more differentiated than those of novices, where the differentiation enables experts to categorize problem descriptions accurately into standard archetypes and facilitates attribution of correct meanings to problem features. Our results are based on twenty-five protocols obtained from experts and novices attempting to structure problem descriptions into mathematical programming models. We have developed a model of knowledge in the LP domain that accommodates a continuum of expertise ranging from that of the expert who has a highly specialized vocabulary of LP concepts to that of a novice whose vocabulary might be limited to high school algebra. We discuss the normative implications of this model for pedagogical strategies employed by instructors, textbooks and intelligent tutoring systems.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Temporal Work in Strategy Making

This paper reports on a field study of strategy making in one organization facing an industry crisis. In a comparison of five strategy projects, we observed that organizational participants struggled with competing interpretations of what might emerge in the future, what was currently at stake, and even what had happened in the past. We develop a model of temporal work in strategy making that articulates how actors resolved differences and linked their interpretations of the past, present, and future so as to construct a strategic account that enabled concrete strategic choice and action. We found that settling on a particular account required it to be coherent, plausible, and acceptable; otherwise, breakdowns resulted. Such breakdowns could impede progress, but they could also be generative in provoking a search for new interpretations and possibilities for action. The more intensely actors engaged in temporal work, the more likely the strategies departed from the status quo. Our model suggests that strategy cannot be understood as the product of more or less accurate forecasting without considering the multiple interpretations of present concerns and historical trajectories that help to constitute those forecasts. Projections of the future are always entangled with views of the past and present, and temporal work is the means by which actors construct and reconstruct the connections among them. These insights into the mechanisms of strategy making help explain the practices and conditions that produce organizational inertia and change.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant #IIS - 0085725)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Microphotonics Center (MIT Communications Technology Roadmap Project)Wharton School. Center for Leadership and Change Managemen

THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROFESSION: MYTH OR REALITY?

Much of the prior research into information systems (IS) workers has assumed that they are professionals. In this paper we examine the characteristics of IS workers, IS work and the IS workplace, and suggest that this perspective is mistaken. Drawing on the sociological theory of professions as a reference discipline we contend that IS professionalism is an inappropriate categorization, and that such a portrayal limits our understanding of IS workers and their work. We argue in this paper that a more faithful and potentially useful characterization is to view IS workers as members of an occupational group. Within this perspective, an understanding of the occupational culture, context and history of IS workers is essential to an understanding of the IS occupation. We examine and challenge some common myths regarding IS work, technology and the IS workplace. We conclude by making some recommendations for future research are provided, which should enhance our understanding of IS workers as members of an occupation.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

A SHORT FORM MEASURE OF USER INFORMATION SATISFACTION: A PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION AND NOTES ON USE

This study examines the psychometric properties of the short form measure of user information satisfaction (UIS) proposed by Ives, Olson and Baroudi [1983]. Based on extensive testing the questionnaire appears to be a reasonably valid and reliable measure. A framework for how this measure can be used to detect and diagnose problems with user satisfaction is presented, and illustrated via two case studies. Finally, recommendations and suggestions are made regarding the future use of this and other measures of user information satisfaction.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

The algorithm and the crowd: considering the materiality of service innovation

This special issue acknowledges important innovations in the world of service and within this domain we are particularly interested in exploring the rise and influence of web-based crowd-sourcing and algorithmic rating and ranking mechanisms. We suggest that a useful way to make sense of these digital service innovations and their novel implications is to recognize that they are materialized in practice. We thus need effective conceptual and analytical tools that allow us to take materiality seriously in our studies of service innovation. To this end, we propose some theoretical ideas relating to a sociomaterial perspective, and then highlight empirically how this perspective helps us analyze the specific service materializations enacted through the algorithmic configuring of crowd-sourced data, and how these make a difference in practice to the outcomes produced