Avgerou, Chrisanthi

Ciborra, Claudio

Introna, Lucas

Sassen, Saskia

English

AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)ECIS 2003 Proceedings European Conference on Information Systems(ECIS)2003The Complex Imbrications of ICT and SocietyChrisanthi AvgerouLondon School of Economics and Political ScienceSaskia SassenUniversity of ChicagoClaudio CiborraLondon School of Economics and Political ScienceLucas IntronaLancaster UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2003This material is brought to you by the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in ECIS 2003 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationAvgerou, Chrisanthi; Sassen, Saskia; Ciborra, Claudio; and Introna, Lucas, "The Complex Imbrications of ICT and Society" (2003).ECIS 2003 Proceedings. 21.http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2003/21The complex imbrications of ICT and societyChair:Chrisanthi AvgerouLondon School of EconomicsPanellists:Saskia SassenUniversity of ChicagoClaudio CiborraLondon School of EconomicsLucas IntronaLancaster UniversityICT is deeply implicated in the shaping of the contemporary global socio-economicconditions. Research in the information systems field is often confronted withemerging new opportunities, risks and dilemmas at the work place, the business firmor the government, as well as the economy and society at large. Such changes are theobject of study in the social sciences and we have a lot to learn from engaging ininterdisciplinary debates. Already research in information systems has benefited fromlinks with fields such as organizational theory or the sociology of technology, and hasbeen informed by general theories of social change and globalization. Moreover,information systems research has also a lot to contribute to the development oftheoretical perspectives on contemporary social change. The detailed knowledge onthe processes of ICT innovation in changing organizations that the informationsystems field has developed offers important contributions to the understanding ofcontemporary socio-economic change.At the core of this panel is Professor Sassen’s presentation on ICT and unfoldingsocial changes. Saskia Sassen is one of the most influential contemporarysociologists. Her views on the ‘complex imbrications of technology and society’ willthen be discussed by two information systems scholars whose research has addressedICT and contemporary social change questions, Claudio Ciborra and Lucas Introna.Professor Sassen argues that understanding ICT from a sociological perspectiverequires avoiding a purely technological interpretation and recognizing theembeddedness and the variable outcomes of these technologies for different socialorders. Moreover, new categories are needed to capture what is often conceived ascontradictory, or mutually exclusive, attributes. These analytic issues can beexamined in several substantive sociological arenas. One such case is thecontradictory roles assumed by the Internet as a libertarian communication mediumfor the public at large and as the infrastructure of global capitalism – for example, inthe financial industry, in e-commerce, etc. The perception of the Internet as atechnology that overcomes the obstacles of distance, centralised control, and costs andthus allows unprecedented possibilities for public communication and free access tothe vast resources of information of humanity at large is contradicted by thepragmatics of its current uses. Among the most significant ways the Internet comes tobear on the global society is as privately owned network infrastructure for economicactivities, especially in the global financial markets, but also in firewalled industrialnetworks. As a public communications infrastructure there is increasing concern inbuilding security mechanisms that will create trust for e-commerce transactions. Thequestion regarding the extent to which the Internet can or should be regulated receivesincreasingly more attention, but the concern tends to be on the relative power betweenthe global market actors and national state in exercising control of the medium, itscontent, and its use. Is it still reasonable to think of the Internet as a force thatstrengthens the ideals of liberal democracy for free communication and public accessto information?

The Complex Imbrications of ICT and Society

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The Complex Imbrications of ICT and Society

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