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Schedule and location

Thu Feb 13th 10.00am - 05.00pm
Fri Feb 14th 09.00am - 13.00pm

Aalto University, School of Business, main building, room A-304, (Runeberginkatu 14-16)

Speakers

Professor Bendik Bygstad,UiO - University of Oslo
Department of Informatics. The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Professor Ole Hanseth, UiO - University of Oslo
Department of Informatics. The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Organizer professor Matti Rossi - Aalto University.

Abstracts:

Professor Ole Hanseth

GENERATIVE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE  ARCHITECTURES. A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF EHEALTH INFRASTRUCTURES IN NORWAY.

This paper investigates the role of architecture in information infrastructures. Going beyond the purely technical perspective, we review three different streams of architectural thinking, namely strategic architecting, mirroring and structural alignment and innovations and generativity. We find that a key dimension is lacking in the extant architectural theorizing, and suggest the concept of generative architecture to frame a more comprehensive understanding of the role of architecture.

Our empirical evidence is seven cases from the health sector, collected over a period of 20 years. Our analysis allowed us to identify two main architectural approaches; the Application Centric/Institutional Interface Architecture (INA) and the Communication System Centric/Service Provider Architecture (SPA). Through the careful study of the cases, we present evidence that SPA architecture is more generative, and therefore, more successful. The theoretical contribution is the concept of generative architecture. A generative architecture is one which is bootstrapable, adoptable, adaptable and extensible; fits with generative development collectives; and has a generative fit with user communities.

Professor Bendik Bygstadt

THE GENERATIVE MECHANISMS OF DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE EVOLUTION

MISQ, 2013, Ola Henfridsson and Bendik Bygstad. The current literature on digital infrastructure offers powerful lenses for conceptualizing the increasingly interconnected information system collectives found in contemporary organizations. However, little attention has been paid to the generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure, that is, the causal powers that explain how and why such infrastructure evolves over time. This is unfortunate, since more knowledge about what drives digital infrastructures would be highly valuable for managers and IT professionals confronted by the complexity of managing them. To this end, this paper adopts a critical
realist view for developing a configurational perspective of infrastructure evolution.

Our theorizing draws on a multimethod research design comprising an in-depth case study and a case survey. The in-depth case study, conducted at a Scandinavian airline, distinguishes three key mechanisms of digital infrastructure evolution: adoption, innovation, and scaling. The case survey research of 41 cases of digital infrastructure then identifies and analyzes causal paths through which configurations of these mechanisms lead to successful evolution outcomes. The study reported in this paper contributes to the infrastructure literature in two ways. First, we identify three generative mechanisms of digital infrastructure and how they contingently lead to evolution outcomes. Second, we use these mechanisms as a basis for developing a configurational perspective that advances current knowledge about why some digital infrastructures evolve successfully while others do not. In addition, the paper demonstrates and discusses the efficacy of critical realism as a philosophical tradition for developing substantive contributions in the field of information systems.

PROGRAM

Generative Information Infrastructures. Toward a Sociodigital Theory of Generativity

February 13th

Morning coffee

10.00-10.30: Welcome, introduction, presentations.
10.30-12.30: Ole Hanseth: II Theory and Generative II Architectures
12.30-13.30: Lunch*
13.30-15.00: Paper  presentations by students

• Hanseth,O., Jacucci, E., Grisot, M., Aanestad, M.: Reflexive Standardization: Side-Effects and Complexity in Standard Making, 2006. MIS Quarterly, Special Issue on Standard Making.

• Vidar Hepsø, Eric Monteiro, Knut Rolland: Ecologies of e-Infrastructures, 2008. Journal of the JAIS, . vol 10, no 5, pp. 430-446.

• Joan Rodon and Ole Hanseth: Exploring Information Infrastructure Evolution: The role of Architecture and Governance Regime. Unpublished Manuscript.

15.00-15.30: Break/Coffee*
15.30-17.00: Student presentations of own essays/research.

February 14th

Morning coffee

09.00-11.00: Bendik Bygstad: Critical Realism and Generative Mechanisms of Digital Infrastructure Evolution.
11.00-12.30: Paper  presentations by students

• Volkoff, O., Strong, D. M., and Elmes, M. B. 2007. “Technological Embeddedness and Organizational Change,” Organization Science (18:5), pp. 832-848.

• Margunn Aanestad and Tina B. Jensen (2011): ”Building nation-wide information infrastructures in healthcare through modular implementation strategies”. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol 20, nr. 2, pp. 161-176.

12.30-13.00: Closing session.

 *) Morning coffees include to the seminar. Lunches can be bought at own expense from near restaurants.

Readings

Introductory reading

Tilson, Lyytinen, Sørensen (2010): Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda, Information Systems Research, vol. 21, no. 4, December 2010, pp. 748–759

Eric Monteiro, Neil Pollock, Ole Hanseth & Robin Williams. From Artefacts to Infrastructures. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 2012.

Yoo, Youngjin (2013) "The Tables Have Turned: How Can the Information Systems Field Contribute to Technology and Innovation Management Research?," Journal of the Association for Information Systems: Vol. 14: Iss. 5, Article 4.  Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol14/iss5/4

Core articles

Ole Hanseth og Kalle Lyyttinen (2010) “Theorizing about the design of Information Infrastructures: design kernel theories and principles”, Journal of Information Technology, vol. 25, nr. 1, s. 1-19

Ole Hanseth, Bendik Bygstad. Generative Information Infrastructure Architectures. Unpublished manuscript.

Ola Henfridsson and Bendik Bygstad. The Generative Mechanisms of Digital Infrastructure Evolution. MIS Quarterly, September, 2013.
Vidar Hepsø, Eric Monteiro, Knut Rolland: Ecologies of e-Infrastructures, 2008. Journal of the JAIS, . vol 10, no 5, pp. 430-446.

Margunn Aanestad and Tina B. Jensen (2011): ”Building nation-wide information infrastructures in healthcare through modular implementation strategies”. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol 20, nr. 2, pp. 161-176.

Hanseth,O., Jacucci, E., Grisot, M., Aanestad, M.: Reflexive Standardization: Side-Effects and Complexity in Standard Making, 2006. MIS Quarterly, Special Issue on Standard Making.

Volkoff, O., Strong, D. M., and Elmes, M. B. 2007. “Technological Embeddedness and Organizational Change,” Organization Science (18:5), pp. 832-848.

Joan Rodon and Ole Hanseth: Exploring Information Infrastructure Evolution: The role of Architecture and Governance Regime. Unpublished Manuscript.

Supplementary readings

Susan Leigh Star and Karen Ruhleder (1996): “Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces”. Information Systems Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 111-134.

Hanseth, O., Monteiro, E. and Hatling, M.: Developing information infrastructure: The tension between standardization and flexibility., 1996. Science, Technology and Human Values. Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 407-426.

Yoo, Y, Lyytinen, K, Yang, H.: The role of standards in innovation and diffusion of broadband mobile services: The case of South Korea, 2005. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol 14, Issue 3.

Monteiro, E.: Scaling information infrastructure: the case of the next generation IP in Internet., 1998. The Information Society .. 14(3):pp 229 - 245.

Paul N. Edwards et al.: Report of a Workshop on “History & Theory of Infrastructure", 2007.

"Ultra-Large-Scale Systems: The Software Challenge of the Future", Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, Ultra-Large-Scale Systems Study Report (2006).

Hughes, T.P. “The evolution of large technical systems,” in The social construction of technological systems, W.E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes, and T. Pinch (eds.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987.

Yoo, Henfridsson, Lyytinen (2010): The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research, Information Systems Research, Vol. 21, No. 4, December 2010, pp. 724–735

Skorve, Aanestad (2010): Bootstrapping Revisited: Opening the Black Box of Organizational Implementation, in K. Kautz and P.A. Nielsen (Eds.): SCIS 2010, LNBIP 60, pp. 111–126

REGISTRATIONS

This seminar is free-of-charge for INFORTE.fi member organization's staff and their PhD-students. For others the participation fee is 750 €. The participation fee includes access to the event and the event materials. Lunch and dinner are not included.

CREDIT POINTS FOR PhD STUDENTS

Doctoral students participating in the seminar can obtain two (2) credit points. This requires participating on both days and completing the assignments given at the seminar.