Mobile ICTs in Government Field Operations

Abstract

The authors investigated the unfolding of an innovation project in field operations of City government, which introduced mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) for field crews. The implementation of mobile technology had to overcome several serious socio-technical challenges, the lessons learned from which were instrumental for the project's ultimate success. The authors collected data using a seven-layer framework and interpreted the rich data from multiple field cases from a structurationist perspective. The authors found this approach, which is referred to as situated action analysis, particularly useful for elucidating the observed feedbacks between human action/interaction (human agency), the shaping of the information technology (IT) artifact, and the organizational structure within their socio-technical context.