Philosophical foundations for informing the future(S) through IS research

Mike Chiasson, Elizabeth Davidson, Jenifer Winter, Nik Rushdi Hassan, John Mingers and Bernd Stahl

European Journal of Information Systems, 2018, vol. 27, issue 3, 367-379

Abstract: Information systems (IS) scholars have suggested IS researchers have a responsibility to consider how information and communication technologies could, in the future, influence sociotechnical practices and outcomes. However, research focused specifically on “the future” has yet to gain a strong foothold within the scholarly IS field. In this essay, we suggest a philosophical foundation and epistemological basis for futures-oriented research to advance such scholarship in the IS field. We first highlight epistemic assumptions about futures-oriented research drawn from the discourse of futures studies. We then draw on Feenberg’s philosophy of “potentiality and actuality” of technology as a foundation to consider how knowledge generated through IS research about the sociotechnical past and present might inform futures-oriented inquiry. We illustrate these arguments with examples from the emerging arena of “big data” research.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0960085X.2018.1435232 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:tjisxx:v:27:y:2018:i:3:p:367-379

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tjis20

DOI: 10.1080/0960085X.2018.1435232

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Information Systems is currently edited by Par Agerfalk

More articles in European Journal of Information Systems from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().