(IS)⁴: is information systems interesting in itself?

Abstract

The article comments on, and critiques, a view of IS as an independent discipline. It argues that, rather than being a subject that is distinct and distinguishable from existing research disciplines, it cannot be seen as uniquely different, and to attempt to do so would be theoretically and practically unsafe. A number of suggestions as to how IS research might be conducted and assessed in light of this claim are made.

Notes

1 Even if using the broadest definition of a technology, such as those used by the social constructionists (SCOT, for example, see Bijker et al., 1997).

2 My argument here is not about university research, but I use university departments as the clearest cut exemplars of what disciplines are.

3 Indeed, some theoreticians argue that this is precisely what science research is (cf. Latour & Woolgar, 1986; Latour, 1987) – a socially constructed vehicle for establishing agreed-upon principles.