Epilogue

The various investigations in this book can be characterized as putting forward an argument for a nondeterministic relationship between investigation and design for social practices in which IT artifacts have an acknowledged relevance or a potential. The term “practice,” it is clear, provides a focus for careful analysis of the ways in which people orient to the use of technology over time, the way in which technology mediates behaviors, and the various constraints, technological and otherwise, under which people operate. Nevertheless, it has been argued throughout this book that very little purchase on “practice” is provided by naive recourse to sociological theorizing. To varying degrees, all the authors in this book recognize the need for concept development that specifically orients to the problem of design and development. This has never been more relevant, given the rapid technological changes evident almost everywhere we look....

Argument (complex analysis) · Epistemology · Focus (optics) · Political science · Relevance (law) · Sociology · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Law · Philosophy