Contextuality and Information Systems: how the interplay between paradigms can help

Through this paper, we theorize on the meanings and roles of context in the study of information systems. The literatures of information systems and information science both explicitly conceptualize information systems (and there are multiple overlapping definitions). These literatures also grapple with the situated and generalizable natures of an information system. Given these shared interests and common concerns, this paper is used as a vehicle to explore the roles of context and suggests how multi-paradigmatic research ??? another shared feature of both information science and information systems scholarship ??? provides a means to carry forward more fruitful studies of information systems. We discuss the processes of reconstructed logic and logic-in-use in terms of studying information systems. We argue that what goes on in the practice of researchers, or the logic-in-practice, is typified by what we are calling the contextuality problem. In response, we envision a reconstructed logic, which is an idealization of academic practices regarding context. The logic-in-use of the field is then further explained based on two different views on context. The paper concludes by proposing a model for improving the logic-in-use for the study of information systems

A Social Analysis of Software Development Teams: Three Models and their Differences

In this paper we analyze the socio-technical activity called software development by focusing on the social perspective. We do so to pursue two questions: What can we learn about software development by focusing on its social aspects and what insight does a social perspective give us regarding the production methods, techniques and tools uses in software development? From the social perspective, this analysis suggests three models of software teams. For each of these we outline, compare, and comment on issues with the way the task, methods and tools are conceptualized. We include a brief discussion of hybrid models such as those used at Microsoft and other packaged software vendors

ICT in the real estate industry: Agents and social capital

For the past year, we have been involved in a study of the ways in which information and communica-tions technologies (ICT) are becoming pervasive in the residential real estate industry and their effects on the work lives of real estate agents. Our initial results suggest that analyzing an agent’s social capital—the set of social resources embedded in relationships—provides insight into how real estate agents work and how that work is affected by ICT. Social capital has three components: structural, relational, and cognitive. ICT use affects all three components

Critical Views of Organization, Management, and Information Technology: Applying Critical Social Theory to Information System Research

The authors examine the use of Critical Social Theory in Information System research. A critique is developed through a comparison of existing use of theory with empirical evidence from the authors\u27 recent research. Three questions form a basis for discussion. (1) How do new, distributed information system environments fit within existing critical frameworks of organization and management? (2) How does current theory shape our understanding of information technology? (3) As researchers using CST, where should our focus be in studying IT processes

Conceptualizing Time and Space: Information Technology, Work, and Organization

Discussions about new forms of work and organization are typically framed by time, space, and the roles played by information and communication technologies. However, the meaning of time, space, and technology is often taken-for-granted. In this paper, we explore these concepts by first developing a set of constructs and, second, presenting some initial theorizing on the relationships among these constructs. To do so we represent time and space as socially developed constructs of temporal and spatial relations. We conceptualize a func- tional view of information and communication technologies. And, we characterize work as varying by two characteristics: the level of worker interdependence and the degree of work autonomy. Integrating these five constructs into an initial framework allows us to theorize that new forms of work are moving toward four distinct forms, each with particular spatial, temporal, and information technology characteristics

E-Government: Contrasting Approaches and AlternativeInsights

We focus contrasting a social informatics approach with socio-political and techno-centricdesign approaches, using data from a study of e-government activity in criminal justice as theempirical basis. By social informatics we mean ‘the interdisciplinary study of the design(s),uses, and consequences of information technology that takes into account their interactionwith institutional and cultural context’.†The empirical material comes from our ongoingstudies of integrated criminal justice efforts in the United States. By integrated criminaljustice we mean both the technological infrastructure and the institutional circuitry. Here wefocus on San Diego, California’s Automated Regional Justice Information Sharing system(ARJIS, see www.arjis.org).In the comparison of approaches to engaging ARJIS we focus attention to differences in howhuman actions, the ICT, and their interactions are represented,. And, in doing this wehighlight the alternative findings and interpretations that often arise from these differentapproaches to engaging e-government. We conclude our comparative analysis by returning tosocial informatics and engaging issues with improving the conceptual and methodologicaltool suites available, and with the importance of engaging the situated, social, and materialelements of any ICT-based system

Technology as Folklore: A Study of Change Through New Technology

We are in the second year of a three year, longitudinal, field-based study of work group life and technology change. Our view is that present organizational life has two dominant characteristics. The first characteristic is an increasing interdependence between members of the organization to do work. The second characteristic is the increasing dependence on information technology to support work. The interaction of these two forces becomes a key issue confronting the modern organization. In that context, this research seeks to describe: • How is client/server computing effecting technology-supported, group-based, work? • How are these effects shaped by organizational, temporal and social structures? This study focuses on chronicling the change in I/T infrastructure at one large academic organization. This change is viewed from a multi-theoretic perspective. We have the opportunity to observe and document the move of a large academic organization as it embraces the client-server computing infrastructure. Present, interim, findings include: (1) technical changes are difficult, social and organizational changes are more difficult; (2) change requires they maintain two systems; (3) there are two types of users and they are both important; (4) the technologists are now in the middle of the value chain

Fringe Science: Defringing CCD Images with Neon Lamp Flat Fields

Fringing in CCD images is troublesome from the aspect of photometric quality and image flatness in the final reduced product. Additionally, defringing during calibration requires the inefficient use of time during the night to collect and produce a "supersky" fringe frame. The fringe pattern observed in a CCD image for a given near-IR filter is dominated by small thickness variations across the detector with a second order effect caused by the wavelength extent of the emission lines within the bandpass which produce the interference pattern. We show that essentially any set of emission lines which generally match the wavelength coverage of the night sky emission lines within a bandpass will produce an identical fringe pattern. We present an easy, inexpensive, and efficient method which uses a neon lamp as a flat field source and produces high S/N fringe frames to use for defringing an image during the calibration process.Comment: accepted to PAS