Philosophy and information systems: where are we and where should we go? (original) (raw)
Related papers
2005
Over the past decades, the IS community has adapted theories, methodologies, and philosophies from reference disciplines to solidify its domain. This has contributed to the diversity and pluralism in our field. As the IS discipline has evolved with relatively permeable research boundaries over the years, the diversity in theoretical underpinnings has been not only healthy but also essential to the evolution of our discipline.
2017
The paradigmatic frameworks that give strategic direction to our research and practice in any area of information systems (IS) are often discussed with reference to philosophy. Thinkers working within five major areas in IS nature of computers, shaping of information technologies, IS development, use of IS for human tasks, technological ecology appeal to different, incompatible philosophic stances, resulting in incommensurable frameworks. Whilst variety of philosophies can stimulate creative thinking, problems arise when we view IS as a whole story. This paper reviews this variety and suggests we seek a single stream of philosophy to inform every major area of IS in a coherent way. How one philosophy might achieve this is briefly discussed.
2015
Recent articles such as Avison and Malaurent (2014) and Grover and Lyytinen (2015) question taken-for-granted assumptions about the centrality of theory in research published in leading journals and the near necessity of following repetitive scripts that sometimes are an obstacle to creativity. This paper goes a step further by providing examples and observations that illustrate five seemingly insurmountable challenges related to attaining long-term value from theorizing about information systems. 1) Divergent definitions of basic terms makes it extremely difficult to accumulate IS knowledge. 2) The IS discipline seems to take for granted that knowledge must take the form of theory. 3) Many beliefs and practices related to IT will not hold still for long due to the rapid pace of technological change 4) Most concepts and phenomena that are relevant to IS are not uniquely about IS. 5) Institutional practices at multiple levels encourage use of scripts that are obstacles to creativity ...
2013
The paradigmatic frameworks that give strategic direction to our research and practice in any area of information systems (IS) are often discussed with reference to philosophy. Thinkers working within five major areas in IS nature of computers, shaping of information technologies, IS development, use of IS for human tasks, technological ecology appeal to different, incompatible philosophic stances, resulting in incommensurable frameworks. Whilst variety of philosophies can stimulate creative thinking, problems arise when we view IS as a whole story. This paper reviews this variety and suggests we seek a single stream of philosophy to inform every major area of IS in a coherent way. How one philosophy might achieve this is briefly discussed.