AMCIS 2007@KEYSTONE -- CONFERENCE TRACK(MINI TRACK)

Language-Centered Research

in Information Systems

IT Research & Education

Co-chair: Neil Ramiller
University Affiliation: Portland State University
Phone: (503) 725-3709

Co-chair: Richard J. Boland
University Affiliation: Case Western Reserve University

Co-chair: Erica Wagner
University Affiliation: Cornell University

Co-chair: Ping Wang
University Affiliation: University of Maryland

SIG URL: (not SIG-affiliated)

Description:

The “linguistic turn,” well known in cultural studies and the social sciences, has had a sketchier influence on scholarship in information systems. This is somewhat surprising, in light of the centrality of language in IT-enabled processes of innovation and change. Even so, the potential for language-based scholarship was identified early in our field (essays by Boland, Lyytinen, and Winograd and Flores are perhaps best known), and with the passage of time we as a collective have engaged on a variety of occasions with matters of trope (especially metaphor), grammar, pragmatics and speech act theory, rhetoric, and narrative. Now, with the growing prominence in information-systems studies of social-theoretical approaches that invite more explicit consideration of language (e.g., actor-network theory, social construction of technology, neo-institutional theory), IS research that adopts a linguistic turn will only increase in prevalence. Moreover, research in this vein will gain additional momentum because of the increasing practical interest in the power of story-telling in management; note for example Stephen Denning’s article in the May 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review, and consulting practices like Character.

This mini-track serves as a forum for participants to explore the interpretive and explanatory power of language-centered research into the creation and diffusion of information-technology innovations, and the design, development, implementation, and use of information systems in organizations. Language is, of course, an inescapable element in all research projects; it is certainly difficult to picture the formulation, execution, or communication of any research without it. However, submissions specifically appropriate for this mini-track will take aspects of language as the primary and direct subject of investigation.

The mini-track will focus on such topics as:

conversation as a medium of requirements definition and system design
narrative in systems design and development
rhetoric and representation in the management of systems projects
applications of the language-action perspective (speech act theory) to system design
applications of deconstruction and critical discourse analysis to IT phenomena
grammatical models of IT-enabled business processes
change in language use as both facilitator and expression of the evolution of IT innovations
the strategic use of language in adopting, implementing, and institutionalizing IT innovations
quantitative and qualitative techniques for the analysis of IT discourse
the role of metaphor and rhetoric in the construction and justification of IT scholarship
language as mediator between industry interests and IT academic trends