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

This book is a useful text for advanced students of MIS and ICT courses, and for those studying ICT in related areas: Management and Organization Studies, Cultural Studies, and Technology and Innovation.As ICTs permeate every sphere of society - business, education, leisure, government, etc. - it is important to reflect the character and complexity of the interaction between people and computers, between society and technology. For example, the user may represent a much broader set of actors than 'the user' conventionally found in many texts: the operator, the customer, the citizen, the gendered individual, the entrepreneur, the 'poor', the student. Each actor uses ICT in different ways.This book examines these issues, deploying a number of methods such as Actor Network Theory, Socio-Technical Systems, and phenomenological approaches. Management concerns about strategy and productivity are covered together with issues of power, politics, and globalization. Topics range from long-standing themes in the study of IT in organizations such as implementation, strategy, and evaluation, to general analysis of IT as socio-economic changeA distinguished group of contributors, including Bruno Latour, Saskia Sassen, Robert Galliers, Frank Land, Ian Angel, and Richard Boland, offer the reader a rich set of perspectives and ideas on the relationship between ICT and society, organizational knowledge and innovation.

Table of Contents:
Chrisanthi Avgerou, Claudio Ciborra, and Frank Land: Introduction Part I: Foundations 1: Claudio Ciborra: Encountering Information Systems as a Phenomenon 2: Ian O.Angell and Fernando M. Ilharco: Solution is the Problem: A Story of Transitions and Opportunities 3: Bruno Latour: On Using ANT for Studying Information Systems: A (Somewhat) Socratic Dialogue 4: Saskia Sassen: Towards a Sociology of Information Technology Part II: Theories at Work 5: Ole Hanseth: Knowledge as Infrastructure 6: Richard J. Boland, Jr.: An Ecology of Distributed Practice Involving Knowledge Work 7: Eric Monteiro: Actor Network Theory and Cultural Aspects of Interpretive Studies 8: Jannis Kallinkos: Farewell to Constructivism: Technology and Context-Embedded Action 9: Chrisanthi Avgerou and Shirin Madon: Framing IS Studies: Understanding the Context of IS Innovation Part III: Substantive Issues and Applications 10: Robert Hunter Wade: Bridging the Digital Divide: New Route to Development or New Form of Dependency 11: Steve Smithson and Prodromos Tsiavos: Re-Constructing Information Systems Evaluation 12: Robert D. Galliers: Reflections on Information Systems Strategizing 13: Richard L. Baskerville and Frank Land: Socially Self-Destructing Systems

About the Author :
Chrisanthi Avgerou is Professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her main research interests concern the relationship of information technology (IT) to organizational change, and the role of IT in socio-economic development. She is vice-chair of the IFIP Technical Committee 9 on social implications of IT and past chair of IFIP WG 9.4 on computers in developing countries. Among her latest publications is Information Systems and Global Diversity (OUP, 2002). Claudio Ciborra is Professor of Information Systems, Convenor of the Department of Information Systems, and PwC Risk Management Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research has focused on issues of technology, organization, strategy, and innovation. He also teaches at IULM University, Milan and is Visiting Professor at Oslo University. He is on the editorial board of a dozen academic journals, has consulted widely, and is a member of a number of IFIP working groups, including WG 8.2. He has published many articles and books on information systems. His recent books include The Labyrinths of Information: Challenging the Wisdom of Systems (OUP, 2002). Frank Land, FBCS, started his career in computing in 1953, working on the pioneering LEO Computer for J. Lyons. He joined the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1967 to establish teaching and research in systems analysis and was appointed Professor of Systems Analysis in 1982. In 1986, he joined the London Business School as Professor of Information Management. He retired in 1991 and received the title Emeritus Professor at the LSE's Department of Information Systems in 2002. He is also Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University and his many other visiting professorships have included the Wharton School and the University of Sydney. In 2003, he received from the Association for Information Systems the LEO Award for life-time contribution to the IS discipline.