The Social Study of Information and Communication Technology: Innovation, Actors and Contexts

Citation

Fryer, D.L. (2005), "The Social Study of Information and Communication Technology: Innovation, Actors and Contexts", Information Technology & People, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 300-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593840510615897

As diffusion of information communication technologies (ICT) penetrates many aspects of our lives, we find the complexity of the technology, the knowledge of its use and the subsequent implementation networks have many researchable implications for individuals, groups, as well as society in general. In The Social Study of Information and Communication Technology: Innovation, Actors and Contexts, the editors and a distinguished group of researchers provide a detailed analysis of the various social complexities of ICT, which is divided into three sections:

1. 1.

   foundations;

2. 2.

   theories at work; and

3. 3.

   substantive issues and applications.

The first section contains four foundational research papers, each using distinctive styles of presentation and method to parlay the basic foundation for the social study of ICT. The second section provides further evidence of the foundational ICT theories by examining ICT implementation research. As a final and closing argument, the last section delves into some of the substitutive issues and applications of ICT in organization and social transformations.

Foundations

Although ICT implementation and research has mainly focused on quantitative uses and functions, this book points out that researchers must begin to enter the black box of discovery founded in qualitative aspects of the social sciences in order to fully understand and garner more knowledge about these complex technologies. In the first chapter, Ciborra's foundational research sets out to prove that technology does not always work as planned. He emphasizes that researchers must view the implementation of ICT within the framework of a phenomenological gaze (an exceptional, unusual, abnormal thing, or occurrence). He also stresses the strategic importance of the ubiquitous process of tinkering, hacking and improvisation in the implementation process.

Given the thought that computers solve problems and save time, in chapter two, Angell and Ilharco affirm that researchers of ICT must think in terms of opportunities, rather than finding solutions to problems. Their chapter begins with the well know maxim that solutions create more problems than they solve. Managers of ICT must be ready to move from the engineering/scientific‐based premise of “if you can't measure it you can't manage it”. The complexity of ICT systems forces managers to move from this premise, forget the promises made in the methods of exact science and learn to live with the uncertainty of ICT, even extend to the point of loving it, or simply enjoying the sheer wonder of it. Pushing the envelope of research innovation is the basis for these transformations of thoughts about ICT. The authors conclude by stating that “the way to thrive in the current ambiguous, complex world always and already in transition is not to search for solutions, but to recognize how that which is there is and will inevitably change, leading to new opportunities, just as you could not step in the same river twice”.

In chapter three, Latour provides the employment of studying the implementation of Actor Network Theory (ANT) on information systems (IS) using a Socratic dialogue between a professor and a student. His unique means strays from the basic research outline as given in the other articles. The article also points to the various techniques to utilize the sociological methods of research for transferring knowledge as a way to garner further knowledge in this ICT‐ubiquitous society. From the question and answer dialogue, the researcher is brought to some understanding of the dynamics of ANT and how it can be implemented in information systems.

In chapter four, Sassen's foundational article lays emphasis upon the technological attributes of new ICT and their increasingly dominant explanations of contemporary change and developments. She accomplishes this through three arguments:

1. 1.

   the embeddedness of digital technologies;

2. 2.

   interactions between capital fixity and hypermobility; and

3. 3.

   mediating cultures.

She points out that digital networks are embedded not only in the technical features and standards of hardware and software, but also in the societal structures and power dynamics. This leads the way to destabilization of hierarchies of scale and possibly levels the playing field for the technologically engaged.

Theories at work

The second section of the book presents various theories as analytical frameworks for studying a range of aspects of ICT and its usage. The section begins with Hanseth's chapter on mentally moving our framework of knowledge from systems network thinking to knowledge as a complexity of structures or an infrastructure for learning and change processes. This research agenda follows the common pattern of studies of complexity as systems with multiple, highly interconnected, interdependent, elements or component parts. Borland takes an ecological approach to the study of knowledge work as a distributed practice as a means to understand the local versus global tensions. Monteiro helps us understand the fit aspects of ANT in IS studies. He frames technology as a large self‐referential system or grid that brings into being a set of relations that shape the premises by which humans are brought to bear upon the world or Heidegger's concept of enframing. Avgerou and Madon discuss the appropriate frames for studying IS innovation, emphasizing that empirical studies are needed to explore how appropriate framing can be pursued, while demonstrating the gains from tracing the institutional contexts that bear upon IS innovation.

Substantive issue and applications

The third section of the book uses a variety of research methodologies to discuss substantive issues and application usage of information systems. Wade's article tackles the politically divisive issue of using ICT to bridge the digital divide in developing nations. He calls for a new approach concerning the promotion of ICT as a pinnacle solution to bridging the gap. Upon implementation this approach could possibly create long‐term dependency upon the West. He calls for researchers to move from groupthink and challenge the deep slumber of a priori opinion on this issue. The next subject embarked upon is the information systems evaluation and measurement process. Smithson and Tsiavos suggest that researchers must choose different modes of analysis in order to gain deeper understandings; researchers must question not only outcome and performance, but also purpose and constitution of evaluation mechanisms. This framing gets at the notion of total quality engineering concepts overlaid upon the evaluation and measurement process for ICT systems. In addition, the approach of looking at IS research while highlighting systems strategy ties together the rich organizational behavior development research and IS research. In the final article, Baskerville and Land push the envelope of the social study of IS by analyzing what is described as self‐destructing systems, which runs fully in contradiction to generalized IS studies that promote productivity.

The relative infancy of IS research in comparison to other fields of study makes it a very exciting field to be conducting research at this time in history. The study of information systems bridges the gap between the sociological study of human beings and the technological study of computer science. These studies of complex and constantly changing humans and their usage of complex and constantly changing technologies, places information systems research in an infrastructure of complex phenomena. Rycroft and Kash (1999) state that complex phenomena can only be understood by principles and patterns – not in detail. The sciences of complexity are sciences of pattern. The social study of ICT carries the researcher further along the path defining theses principles and patterns that must be understood in order to move the field to a more mature state. This book is an excellent resource for developing and understanding patterns in IS research through the windows of foundational theory, practical application research and theoretical implementations of ICT.