Beyond Interpretivism?
New Encounters with Technology and Organisation
Programme Chairs
Lucas Introna (Lancaster), Donncha Kavanagh (UCD), Séamas Kelly (UCD),
Wanda Orlikowski (MIT), Susan Scott (LSE)
Keynote speakers
Tim Ingold and Karin Knorr Cetina
IFIP WG 8.2 has a distinguished history in shaping research agendas around information technology and organisation. The 1984 Manchester Working Conference (Fitzgerald et al. 1985), for instance, has been long regarded as a key moment in the movement to embrace more pluralistic, post-positivist research approaches within the information systems (IS) field. Subsequent working conferences built on this gathering by promoting and developing interpretive modes of enquiry into IS and organisational phenomena, thus shaping the formation of a generation of IS researchers. Now, more than three decades after the landmark Manchester event, we hope that Dublin in 2016 will provide a site to contemplate a re-gathering and re-focusing of attention on possible new kinds of research encounters with technology and organisation.
To suggest a move ‘beyond’ interpretivism is not to deny or diminish its importance; rather we want to build on and extend this tradition in novel and interesting ways. Specifically, if the interpretivist turn drew its legitimation primarily from the philosophical field of epistemology — where the distinction between truth and meaning making was explored — less attention was placed on other philosophical domains, such as ontology, ethics and aesthetics. Thus, we invite contributors to explore a broadening of ‘conventional’ interpretivist approaches to understanding techno-organisational phenomena. For example, what could we learn by shifting attention from what specific technologies ‘mean’ to what sociomaterial assemblages ‘do’ in their becoming? What might be the implications of the many ‘turns’—e.g. ontological, affective, practice—that have been announced in social theory over the last twenty years in areas such as social anthropology, science and technology studies, feminist theory, geography, and philosophy? How might these offer alternative ways of encountering/enacting/performing techno-organisational phenomena, and what might be the associated opportunities, challenges, and possible (ontological/epistemological/methodological/ethical) implications?
Examples of suggested topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
We wish to provoke stimulating discussion between social scientists from different fields who collectively share an interest in technology and organisation. While priority will be given to the themes outlined in this call, we also welcome submissions on topics relevant to IFIP Working Group 8.2.
References:
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Burkitt, I. (1999). Bodies of Thoughts: Embodiment, Identity & Modernity. London, Sage.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.
Chia, R. (2002). "Essai: Time, duration and simultaneity: rethinking process and change in organizational analysis." Organization Studies 23(6): 863-868.
Clough, P. T. and J. Halley, Eds. (2007). The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Fitzgerald, G., R. Hirschheim, E. Mumford, and A.T. Wood-Harper, Eds. (1985). Research Methods in Information Systems. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers.
Flyvbjerg, B., T. Landman, et al., Eds. (2012). Real Social Science: Applied Phronesis. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women : The Reinvention of Nature. New York, Routledge.
Harman, G. (2011) The quadruple object, Winchester, Zero Books.
Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London, Routledge.
Ingold, T. (2012). "Towards an ecology of materials." Annual Review of Anthropology 41: 427-42.
Introna, L.D. (2013). Epilogue: Performativity and the becoming of sociomaterial assemblages. Materiality and Space: Organizations, Artefacts and Practices. F.-X. de Vaujany and N. Mitev. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 330-342.
MacKenzie, D. (2006). An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press.
Malpas, J. (2006). Heidegger's Topology: Being, Place, World. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press.
Meillassoux, Q. (2008) After finitude : an essay on the necessity of contingency, London, Continuum.
Mol, A. (2002). The Body Multiple: Ontology in medical practice. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Nicolini, D. (2013). Practice Theory, Work, & Organization. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Orlikowski, W. J. and S. V. Scott (2008). "Sociomateriality: Challenging the separation of technology, work and organization." The Academy of Management Annals 2(1): 433-474.
Schatzki, T. R., K. Knorr Cetina, et al., Eds. (2001). The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. London, Routledge.
Suchman, L. A. (2007). Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Thrift, N. (2007). Non-Representational Theory - Space, politics, affect. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.
Whatmore, S. (2006). "Materialist returns: practising cultural geography in and for a more-than-human world." Cultural Geographies 13: 600-609.
Whitehead, A. N. (1978). Process and reality: An essay in cosmology. New York, Free Press.
To suggest a move ‘beyond’ interpretivism is not to deny or diminish its importance; rather we want to build on and extend this tradition in novel and interesting ways. Specifically, if the interpretivist turn drew its legitimation primarily from the philosophical field of epistemology — where the distinction between truth and meaning making was explored — less attention was placed on other philosophical domains, such as ontology, ethics and aesthetics. Thus, we invite contributors to explore a broadening of ‘conventional’ interpretivist approaches to understanding techno-organisational phenomena. For example, what could we learn by shifting attention from what specific technologies ‘mean’ to what sociomaterial assemblages ‘do’ in their becoming? What might be the implications of the many ‘turns’—e.g. ontological, affective, practice—that have been announced in social theory over the last twenty years in areas such as social anthropology, science and technology studies, feminist theory, geography, and philosophy? How might these offer alternative ways of encountering/enacting/performing techno-organisational phenomena, and what might be the associated opportunities, challenges, and possible (ontological/epistemological/methodological/ethical) implications?
Examples of suggested topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
- Process philosophy and ontologies of becoming (Whitehead 1978, Introna 2013, Chia 2002)
- Practice Theory (Schatzki et al. 2001, Nicolini 2013)
- Performativity (Austin 1962, Butler 1990, Mol 2002, MacKenzie 2006)
- Agential Realism (Barad 2007, Orlikowski and Scott 2008)
- Non-representational theory (Thrift 2007)
- Materiality, embodiment and spatialisation (Ingold 2000, Whatmore 2006, Malpas 2006)
- Affect and the body (Clough and Halley 2007, Burkitt 1999)
- Post-humanism and sociomateriality (Haraway 1991, Mol 2002, Suchman 2007)
- Phronetic social science (Flyvbjerg et al. 2012
- Ecological approaches (Ingold 2012)
- Object-oriented ontology (Harman 2011, Meillassoux 2008)
We wish to provoke stimulating discussion between social scientists from different fields who collectively share an interest in technology and organisation. While priority will be given to the themes outlined in this call, we also welcome submissions on topics relevant to IFIP Working Group 8.2.
References:
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with Words. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Burkitt, I. (1999). Bodies of Thoughts: Embodiment, Identity & Modernity. London, Sage.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.
Chia, R. (2002). "Essai: Time, duration and simultaneity: rethinking process and change in organizational analysis." Organization Studies 23(6): 863-868.
Clough, P. T. and J. Halley, Eds. (2007). The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Fitzgerald, G., R. Hirschheim, E. Mumford, and A.T. Wood-Harper, Eds. (1985). Research Methods in Information Systems. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers.
Flyvbjerg, B., T. Landman, et al., Eds. (2012). Real Social Science: Applied Phronesis. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Haraway, D. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women : The Reinvention of Nature. New York, Routledge.
Harman, G. (2011) The quadruple object, Winchester, Zero Books.
Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London, Routledge.
Ingold, T. (2012). "Towards an ecology of materials." Annual Review of Anthropology 41: 427-42.
Introna, L.D. (2013). Epilogue: Performativity and the becoming of sociomaterial assemblages. Materiality and Space: Organizations, Artefacts and Practices. F.-X. de Vaujany and N. Mitev. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan: 330-342.
MacKenzie, D. (2006). An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press.
Malpas, J. (2006). Heidegger's Topology: Being, Place, World. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press.
Meillassoux, Q. (2008) After finitude : an essay on the necessity of contingency, London, Continuum.
Mol, A. (2002). The Body Multiple: Ontology in medical practice. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.
Nicolini, D. (2013). Practice Theory, Work, & Organization. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Orlikowski, W. J. and S. V. Scott (2008). "Sociomateriality: Challenging the separation of technology, work and organization." The Academy of Management Annals 2(1): 433-474.
Schatzki, T. R., K. Knorr Cetina, et al., Eds. (2001). The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. London, Routledge.
Suchman, L. A. (2007). Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Thrift, N. (2007). Non-Representational Theory - Space, politics, affect. Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge.
Whatmore, S. (2006). "Materialist returns: practising cultural geography in and for a more-than-human world." Cultural Geographies 13: 600-609.
Whitehead, A. N. (1978). Process and reality: An essay in cosmology. New York, Free Press.