Abstract
The interactive society is also the interdependent society, and this poses challenges to the IS field’s conceptualization of what design entails. ICTs are intimately intertwined with work practices, institutions and with other technological systems, and the resulting assemblage exhibits a complexity that challenges design interventions. Relevant conceptualizations from the IS field should be further developed to help us come to grips with the challenges. The nature of design is explored through two empirical vignettes. Both vignettes illustrate design “in the large”, involving more participants, different objectives and multiple types of tasks relative to classical instances of software or systems design. The interdependencies’ implications for design are examined, and a conceptual decomposition of interdependencies is proposed. The three-dimensional decomposition into spatial extent, functional coverage and temporal duration can potentially be used for a more proactive approach to intended and unintended interdependencies during design “in the large”.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Hevner, A., Chatterjee, S. (eds.): Design Research in Information Systems: Theory and Practice. Springer, New York (2010)
Purao, S., Rossi, M., Sein, M.K.: On Integrating Action Research and Design Research. In: Hevner, A., Chatterjee, S. (eds.) Design Research in Information Systems: Theory and Practice, pp. 179–194. Springer, New York (2010)
Sein, M., Henfridsson, O., Purao, S., Rossi, M.: Action Design Research. MIS Quarterly 35, 37–56 (2010)
Curtis, B., Krasner, H., Iscoe, N.: A Field Study of The Software Design Process for Large Systems. Communications of the ACM 31, 1268–1287 (1998)
Dittrich, Y., Eriksén, S., et al.: PD in the Wild: Evolving Practices of Design in Use. In: PDC 2002, Malmö, Sweden (2002)
Aanestad, M., Henriksen, D., Pors, J.K.: Systems Development in the Wild: User-Led Exploration and Transformation of Organizing Visions. In: Proceedings from IFIP WG. 8.2, Manchester, UK, vol. 143, pp. 615–630 (2004)
Ciborra, C., Braa, K., Cordella, A., Dahlbom, B., Failla, A., Hanseth, O., Hespø, V., Ljungberg, J., Monteiro, E., Simon, K.A. (eds.): From Control to Drift - The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2000)
Dahlbom, B., Jahnlert, L.E.: Computer Future, mimeo. Department of Informatics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (1996)
Hanseth, O., Ciborra, C.U. (eds.): Risk, Complexity and ICT. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham (2007)
Contini, F., Lanzara, G.F. (eds.): ICT and Innovation in the Public Sector. European Studies in the Making of E-Government. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke (2008)
Tiwana, A., Konsynski, B., Bush, A.A.: Research Commentary: Platform Evolution: Coevolution of Platform Architecture, Governance, and Environmental Dynamics. Information Systems Research 21, 675–687 (2010)
Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O., Lyytinen, K.: Research Commentary: The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research. Information Systems Research 21, 724–735 (2010)
Tilson, D., Lyytinen, K., Sørensen, C.: Research Commentary: Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda. Information Systems Research 21, 748–759 (2010)
El Sawy, O.A., Malhotra, A., Park, Y., Pavlou, P.: Research Commentary: Seeking the Configuration of Digital Ecodynamics: It Takes Three to Tango. Information Systems Research 21, 835–848 (2010)
Ellingsen, G., Monteiro, E.: Big is Beautiful: Electronic Patient Records in Large Norwegian Hospitals 1980s – 2001. Methods of Information in Medicine 42, 366–370 (2003)
Ribes, D., Finholt, T.A.: The Long Now of Technology Infrastructures: Articulating Tensions in Development. Journal of the Association of Information Systems 10, 375–398 (2009)
Jensen, T.B., Aanestad, M.: National initiatives to build healthcare information infrastructures. In: Proceedings of MCIS 2010 Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems. Paper 43 (2010)
Boland, R.J.: Design in the Punctuation of Management Action. In: Boland, R. (ed.) Managing as Designing: Creating a Vocabulary for Management Education and Research. Frontiers of Management Workshop, Weatherhead School of Management (2002)
Simon, H.: The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press, Cambridge (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Aanestad, M. (2012). What If Design Is Something Else: The Challenges of Dealing with Interdependencies. In: Keller, C., Wiberg, M., Ågerfalk, P.J., Eriksson Lundström, J.S.Z. (eds) Nordic Contributions in IS Research. SCIS 2012. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 124. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32270-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32270-9_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-32269-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-32270-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)