EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

A Philosophy of Information Technology and Systems (IT & S) as Tools: Tool Development Context, Associated Skills and the Global Technology Transfer (GTT) Process

Deborah Bunker ()
Additional contact information
Deborah Bunker: University of New South Wales

Information Systems Frontiers, 2001, vol. 3, issue 2, No 5, 185-197

Abstract: Abstract It is the intent of this paper to discuss a philosophy of Information Technology and Systems (IT & S) as tools and the impact of this philosophy on the Global Technical Transfer (GTT) process of IT & S. It is argued that IT & S by definition, are artefacts, tools that have been made, used, inherited and studied within a cultural context which encompasses economic, historical, technical and social values and assumptions which are focussed in particular skill sets. It is assumed that these skill sets are mostly in evidence in any culture that receives the IT & S tool for use in a technical transfer process. It is argued, therefore, if we understand the cultural context in which a tool is made then we will understand the skills to transfer and use such tools in an effective manner. The issue we must face as makers, users, inheritors and scholars of IT & S tools, however, is that the tool context and inherent in-built values and skill sets, may not be in evidence across all cultures. This would make the effective use of IT & S, in a global sense, a difficult and complex (if not impossible) undertaking. From this position it is argued that IT & S tools reflect the IT & S discipline, as it is these tools which embody the assumptions of the discipline and hence, its paradigm. The Bunker and Dean (Bunker DJ, Dean RG. Philosophical Traditions in Information Systems: Challenger of an Interdisciplinary View, Faculty of Commerce Workshop, University of Wollongong, July 10--11, 1997) disciplinary model is highlighted as a means of understanding how tools are made within a cultural context and how they reflect the discipline in which they are created. This paper then goes on to explain the ramifications of IT & S as a discipline on the GTT process and proposes a skill-focussed approach, within a culture, to determining what IT & S may be appropriate for that particular cultural context.

Keywords: information technology and systems; artefacts; tools; culture; philosophy; technology transfer; globalisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1011443406476 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:infosf:v:3:y:2001:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1011443406476

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10796

DOI: 10.1023/A:1011443406476

Access Statistics for this article

Information Systems Frontiers is currently edited by Ram Ramesh and Raghav Rao

More articles in Information Systems Frontiers from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-20
Handle: RePEc:spr:infosf:v:3:y:2001:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1011443406476