Information Technology Artifacts Research Articles

Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Information Systems for Law Enforcement—A Long-Term Design-Science Research Project

The design science research (DSR) paradigm prescribes building and evaluating an Information Technology (IT) artifact to address organizational problems incorporating and enhancing relevant theories. In this article, we present a large-scale design science project that aims to address problems in the digital-government domain. The COPLINK project started at the University of Arizona with National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funding to integrate data from multiple law-enforcement databases and subsequently broadened in scope and funding to develop methodologies for capturing, searching, analyzing, and visualizing information for law-enforcement, intelligence, and national security applications. The project involves a complete spectrum of DSR activities including problem diagnosis, technology invention, technology evaluation, and theory building, while contributing to appropriate knowledge bases and making a significant impact on the real-world IT problems. Algorithms, methodologies, techniques, and the resulting Information Systems designed as part of the project are being successfully used in over 300 law-enforcement agencies, and have generated more than forty peer-reviewed publications. In this article, we describe these artifacts and the design process behind them, present summaries of evaluative studies, and discuss the factors that we believe were behind the success of this decade-long DSR project.

Action Design Research

Design research (DR) positions information technology artifacts at the core of the Information Systems discipline. However, dominant DR thinking takes a technological view of the IT artifact, paying scant attention to its shaping by the organizational context. Consequently, existing DR methods focus on building the artifact and relegate evaluation to a subsequent and separate phase. They value technological rigor at the cost of organizational relevance, and fail to recognize that the artifact emerges from interaction with the organizational context even when its initial design is guided by the researchers' intent. We propose action design research (ADR) as a new DR method to address this problem. ADR reflects the premise that IT artifacts are ensembles shaped by the organizational context during development and use. The method conceptualizes the research process as containing the inseparable and inherently interwoven activities of building the IT artifact, intervening in the organization, and evaluating it concurrently. The essay describes the stages of ADR and associated principles that encapsulate its underlying beliefs and values. We illustrate ADR through a case of competence management at Volvo IT.

Policy-enabled goal-oriented requirements engineering for semantic Business Process Management

Business process management (BPM) develops into a new paradigm for enterprise computing that uses information technology (IT) not only to support or execute business processes, but also to continuously monitor and improve these processes in order to better achieve business objectives. BPM’s variant Semantic Business Process Management (SBPM) is meant to further close the gap between business and IT by attaching business semantics to the IT artefacts used for BPM. A current problem in SBPM is that the specification of the business requirements that the business processes must respond to and that follow from the enterprise’s strategic decisions, is not fully integrated with the design of the business processes themselves. In this paper we propose an approach in which business requirements for business processes are formally modelled and the skeleton of the designs of these business processes is automatically generated from these models. The approach presented here focuses upon the modelling of policies (i.e. a kind of business requirements for business processes) and on the subsequent design of business processes that comply to these policies. A first contribution is extending an existing goal-oriented requirements specification language, i.e. Formal Tropos (FT), to incorporate policies, called Policy-extended Formal Tropos (PFT). A second contribution is offering an automated transformation to create business process design skeletons out of the PFT models. The paper also reports upon a case study that was conducted as a first, though preliminary, empirical test of our approach.

The process of embedding new information technology artifacts into innovative design practices

The design and creation of anything innovative requires knowledge creation, which in turn often depends upon the introduction of innovative information technology (IT). Since design-related practices are deeply integrated with particular IT artifacts, it is no trivial task to migrate practice-based knowledge to unfamiliar IT artifacts. To explore the challenges associated with such migration, we develop the concept of embeddedness of IT artifacts by drawing on research that highlights the critical role of representational artifacts in knowledge, design, and distributed cognition. We then inductively analyze interview data from an in-depth case study of Frank Gehry, a world-renowned and radically innovative architect known for his use of sophisticated 3D computer-aided design (CAD) technology. By studying construction firms' transition from 2D CAD to 3D CAD, we identify four relevant themes associated with embedding new artifacts into knowledge-creating practice: (1) motivating the new artifact; (2) anchoring the new artifact in the old; (3) experimenting with the new artifact; and (4) confidence in using the new artifact. Through the generation of a process theory of embedding, we elaborate on how this perspective complements and extends research on IT adaptation and assimilation, and discuss the relevance of continuing to develop the IT embeddedness perspective given the continuing need for increased levels of IT-enabled innovation.

A model-driven framework for business IT alignment

Business Information Technology (IT) alignment focuses the efficient support of business processes by IT. Therefore, existing software artefacts are addressed within business process models. When these process models and the processes, respectively, alter, however, there is need to adjust the supporting software systems. Thus, already during the design phase of business process models, IT artefacts have to be considered. In this paper, we propose an approach aiming at the restriction of freedom in process modelling. Thus, previously defined software artefacts are used already in business process modelling. Therewith, the gap between the business and the IT layer can be closed. To support such restrictions, a meta-modelling method is introduced and its usage for composing Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) services is illustrated.

Understanding Organization—Enterprise System Fit: A Path to Theorizing the Information Technology Artifact

Packaged software applications such as enterprise systems are designed to support generic rather than specific requirements, and hence are likely to be an imperfect fit in any particular instance. Using critical realism as our philosophical perspective, we conducted a three-year qualitative study of misfits that arose from an enterprise system (ES) implementation. A detailed analysis of the observed misfits resulted in a richer understanding of the concept of fit and of the ES artifact itself. Specifically, we found six misfit domains (functionality, data, usability, role, control and organizational culture) and within each, two types of misfit (deficiencies and impositions). These misfit types correspond to two newly defined types of fit: fit as coverage and fit as enablement. Our analysis of fit also revealed a new conceptualization of the ES artifact, with implications for IT artifacts in general.

Understanding the role of an IT artifact in online service continuance: An extended perspective of user satisfaction

Given increasing investment in an IT (information technology) artifact (i.e., online service website), it is becoming important to retain existing customers. In order to help link website design and investment decisions to the strategy for retaining customers, we propose a model by extending the user satisfaction perspective into research on online service continuance. We empirically tested the model within the context of a social network service. The analysis results found that website information satisfaction and system satisfaction play key roles in forming continuance intention through perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. It is also noted that computer anxiety serves as an important moderator toward continuance intention. Theoretical and practical implications are offered for better understanding of the role of the IT artifact in online service post-adoption phenomena.

Conceptions of Control and it Artefacts: An Institutional Account of the Amazon Rainforest Monitoring System

Based on Fligstein's (1990) work on ‘conceptions of control’ (broad managerial paradigms), this paper provides an analysis of the ways in which information technology (IT) artefacts shape and are shaped by institutional contexts. Specifically, we report on primary and secondary empirical data that spans a 44-year period pertaining to the uses made of the Amazon rainforest monitoring system (a set of satellite-based geographic information systems). This paper argues that: (1) the process of institutional change is conflictual, emergent and contested; (2) the design and use of IT artefacts tend to reflect the currently dominant conceptions of control; (3) that IT artefacts that emerge within a specific conception of control can be later reconfigured to serve the interests of other conceptions of control; (4) and finally, IT artefacts might unintentionally reinforce alternate conceptions of control and lead to institutional change.

A decade of design in digital government research

Abstract Digital government research often centers on information technology artifacts designed for the purpose of improving access to or processes within government. Because of the centricity of the technology artifact, much of this research builds upon theories and prescriptions adapted from the information systems discipline. In information systems, the study of artifact design has benefitted from the adoption of the rigor and generalizability enabled by design science research. The purpose of this paper was to provide an overview of design science principles guiding the construction of technological artifacts, which we use to examine a decade of digital government research articles that fall into the design science camp. We assess these articles, using the guidelines of Hevner, March, and Park (2004) for conducting and presenting design science research; we identify common strengths and gaps; we recommend how digital government researchers may benefit from applying a grounded view of design to expand the generalizability of their work; and finally, we conclude the paper with a discussion of ways to open up the narrow focus of design science to a broader understanding of the impact of external factors, such as the environment and organizational milieu, on the complex setting most digital government innovation inhabits.

The Adoption and Use of IT Artifacts: A New Interaction-Centric Model for the Study of User-Artifact Relationships

The question of why a user adopts an information technology (IT) artifact has received ample research attention in the past few decades. Although recent adoption research has focused on investigating some of the relational and experiential aspects associated with adopting and using IT artifacts, the theories utilized have been static in nature. Furthermore, many have been based on traditional models like TAM and TPB, which focus on the utilitarian benefits that users accrue from their interactions with IT artifacts. Independently, recent research has paid much-needed attention to factors surrounding the use of IT artifacts. In this paper, we offer an overview of a theoretical model that connects these two interrelated processes. Starting with a survey of concepts related to social interactions, we present an argument in support of viewing IT artifacts as social actors, whose characteristics are manifested within the context of interactions. The proposed interaction-centric model highlights how the characteristics of an IT artifact, together with the user’s internal system and other structuring factors, affect users’ choices in terms of how to utilize the artifact. The nature of that utilization, subsequently, affects the beliefs users form about the artifact and the outcomes from using it. Furthermore, the model proposes that users will also form beliefs about their bond or relationship with the IT artifact. These beliefs do not refer to observations made in a single interaction, but rather concern users’ mental representations of past interactions and outcomes. To facilitate the study of the relationship that develops from user-artifact interactions over time, the model describes how past interactions affect future ones. Specifically, it proposes that deciding how to utilize an IT artifact in subsequent interaction, consistent with theories of relationship development, is influenced by already held beliefs about the artifact and the relationship with it.

Discourses on User Participation

Users should participate in information technology (IT) artifact development, but it has proven to be challenging. This applies also in the open source software (OSS) development. This chapter critically examines discursive construction of user participation in academic literatures and in practice, in IT artifact development. First three academic discourses constructing user participation are discussed. Then the discursive construction of user participation is explored in OSS development literature. Afterwards, results from several empirical, interpretive case studies are outlined. Some of them have been carried out in the IT artifact product development organizations, others in the OSS development context. Clear similarities can be identified in the discourses constructing user participation in these divergent IT artifact development contexts. The academic discourses on user participation clearly also legitimate certain ways of constructing user participation in practice. The OSS development literature bears resemblance mainly with the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) discourse on user participation. Therefore, it is argued that especially the HCI community should carefully reflect on what kinds of discourses on user participation it advocates and deems as legitimate.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR OPEN-SOURCE INNOVATION: THE CASE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

With the advances in information technology (IT), open-source innovation (OSI) plays an increasingly important role for virtual teams to engage in online innovative activities .Based on the theory of knowledge creation, this study builds a theoretical framework to examine the critical success factors of OSI. It is argued that, to achieve OSI success, virtual teams need to go through an iterative process of ITenabled and community-based knowledge creation, and correspondingly four critical success factors are identified for the success of OSI: strong knowledge base, intensive team communication, abundant social capital, and effective use of IT artifacts. The proposed framework is further tested using the open source software development dataset. The results strongly support the framework, and bear important implications on the success of OSI.

Sociotechnical research and knowledge communication in community-centred systems design: a technological frames perspective

An application of the concept of technological frames is presented as a way to understand the co-configuration of people, culture and technology. It shows how technological frames can be used to solve the problems that arise when the producers of a system come from a very different cultural and technological environment from the intended users of the system. This concept is proposed as an analysis framework whose purpose is twofold: to be used in the evaluation of how the context and local culture shape the utility and usability of interactive systems, both in their development and also once they are deployed to their actual contexts of use and to understand the dynamics of technical and interpersonal communication in communities of practice. This is illustrated with a case study about the ongoing research in the participative development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) artefacts for a wireless and web based knowledge based system for Kenyan farming communities.

A functional approach for studying technological progress: Extension to energy technology

This paper extends a broad functional category approach for the study of technological capability progress recently developed and applied to information technology to a second key case—that of energy based technologies. The approach is applied to the same three functional operations—storage, transportation and transformation—that were used for information technology by first building a 100 plus year database for each of the three energy-based functional categories. In agreement with the results for information technology in the first paper, the energy technology results indicate that the functional approach offers a stable methodology for assessing longer time technological progress trends. Moreover, similar to what was found with information technology in the first study, the functional capability for energy technology shows continual—if not continuous—improvement that is best quantitatively described as exponential with respect to time. The absence of capability discontinuities—even with large technology displacement—and the lack of clear saturation effects are found with energy as it was with information. However, some key differences between energy and information technology are seen and these include: ▪ Lower rates of progress for energy technology over the entire period: 19–37% annually for Information Technology and 3–13% for Energy Technology. ▪ Substantial variability of progress rates is found within given functional categories for energy compared to relatively small variation within any one category for information technology. The strongest variation is found among capability progress among different energy types. ▪ More challenging data recovery and metric definition for energy as compared to information technology. These findings are interpreted in terms of fundamental differences between energy and information including the losses and efficiency constraints on energy. We apply Whitney's insight that these fundamental differences lead to naturally modular information technology artifacts. The higher progress rates of information-based as opposed to energy-based technologies follows since decomposable systems can progress more rapidly due to the greater ease of independent as opposed to simultaneous development. In addition, the broad implications of our findings to studies of the relationships between technical and social change are briefly discussed.

Through a Glass Darkly: Information Technology Design, Identity Verification, and Knowledge Contribution in Online Communities

A variety of information technology (IT) artifacts, such as those supporting reputation management and digital archives of past interactions, are commonly deployed to support online communities. Despite their ubiquity, theoretical and empirical research investigating the impact of such IT-based features on online community communication and interaction is limited. Drawing on the social psychology literature, we describe an identity-based view to understand how the use of IT-based features in online communities is associated with online knowledge contribution. Specifically, the use of four categories of IT artifacts—those supporting virtual co-presence, persistent labeling, self-presentation, and deep profiling—is proposed to enhance perceived identity verification, which thereafter promotes satisfaction and knowledge contribution. To test the theoretical model, we surveyed more than 650 members of two online communities. In addition to the positive effects of community IT artifacts on perceived identity verification, we also find that perceived identity verification is strongly linked to member satisfaction and knowledge contribution. This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanisms through which IT features facilitate computer-mediated knowledge sharing, and it yields important implications for the design of the supporting IT infrastructure.

Promoting development through information technology innovation: The IT artifact, artfulness, and articulation

In this theoretical article the author explores how information technology (IT) innovation can be harnessed to promote the socioeconomic growth of developing nations. Adopting a behavioral perspective, he proposes that effective IT-based societal development requires the learning of a key competency, termed as IT artfulness: the creative or ingenious transformation of work/social practices through the contextually appropriate use of IT tools. The elaboration of this perspective is based on the nature of IT artifacts, and the way meaningful action in IT-based practices is constituted through articulation, which refers to the process by which interpretive schemes shape behavior or perception. Harnessing IT as an effective spur to socioeconomic development is seen to require the modification of relevant interpretive schemes in society that permit: (a) the innovative potential of IT to be recognized, and (b) human and material resources to be skillfully managed to achieve desired changes and heightened welfare. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Organizational Fields and the Diffusion of Information Technologies Within and Across the Nonprofit and Public Sectors

This qualitative-inductive study examines the diffusion of information technologies across service providers that contract to provide public services for a state human service agency. The researchers were struck by extensive data that illustrated salient “ruptures,” inconsistencies, and contradictions in the information systems that stand in stark contrast to the touted characteristics of the ostensible systems. The analysis draws attention to the extensive political symbolism attached to the actual information systems and to contradictory institutional logics that different participants impose on the collecting and valuing of various parcels of information. The researchers provide a preliminary theory about the isomorphic diffusion of technologies into and across the nonprofit sector and argue that these institutional dynamics imply a structuration process at a level that is much more macro institutional than the structuration of information technology artifacts that has been emphasized by recent scholars who write in the adaptive structuration perspective.

Let the sisters speak

In this paper, I examine how and why the situated knowledge and lived experiences of working-class African American women shape their standpoint on information technology (IT). Using the biblical metaphor of the exodus and narratives of ascent, these women view IT access and training as part of a strategy for escaping poverty and despair. Whereas most of the extant gender and IT research provides rich insights into the marginalization of women, the women in this study felt empowered by IT. This contradictory outcome has three implications for the study of gender and IT. First, researchers must consider the multiple identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and sexuality that shape and are shaped by women's engagement with IT. Second, the notion of IT workforce should take into account not only the highly skilled IT workers who design and build IT artifacts, but should also consider the lower skilled workers who indirectly use IT. Third, IT training programs that serve working-class women must go beyond the transfer of IT skills to individuals. They must also redress the persistent structural barriers of poverty, spatial isolation, illiteracy, sporadic work, and racial and ethnic discrimination that systematically limit women's ability to compete for jobs that provide higher incomes, greater safety, more security, full-time hours, increased benefits, higher status, and less stressful work environments.

Exploring the Rhetoric on Representing the User

Users should be involved in information technology (IT) artifact development, but it is often difficult and rare, especially in the development of commercial IT artifacts for external use. This paper critically examines discursive construction of user involvement in academia and in the IT artifact product development industry. First, three academic discourses on user involvement are identified. Then, discursive construction of user involvement is explored in four IT artifact product development organizations, in which user involvement is indirect and labeled as usability work. Five discourses on usability work are identified. They are related to the academic discourses on user involvement, and some of them are criticized (Asaro, 2000) as“forms of technological colonialism,” merely “silencing the users” instead of “giving them a voice.” It is recommended that especially the human-computer interaction (HCI) community should carefully reflect on what kinds of discourses on user involvement it advocates and deems as legitimate.

Technology-Shaping Effects of E-Collaboration Technologies

Recently, Orlikowski and Iacono (2001) called for increased theorizing of the information technology (IT) artifact. Both authors have made important contributions to what they refer to as the “ensemble” view of technology. By contrast, the “tool” view has remained noticeably underdeveloped. The goal of this essay is to begin articulating such a tool view for research on e-collaboration technologies. Referred to here as “the technology-shaping perspective,” this view eschews technological determinism but nevertheless looks for broad patterns of probabilistic effects that can be attributed to technology’s material features. In brief, the technology-shaping perspective holds that technologies pose problems for users who want to use them to accomplish particular goals; the solutions users create for those problems during recurrent use may exhibit certain regularities across different contexts. Consequently, small differences in the features of apparently similar tools could be associated with big differences in usage patterns and social outcomes. The claim is that conducting future research on a technology-shaping agenda could yield cumulative results that are less “disappointing” than many scholars find group decision support systems (GSS) research, the largest single body of work on e-collaboration technologies.