Information Systems Innovation Research: Between Novel Futures and Durable Presents

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper, I argue that we should not only orient ourselves to the future by looking forward to the yet unrealized. When researching the future, we should also develop a sensibility to the durability of our past and present creations, and understand how they impact the scope for future innovations. The common emphasis on the visionary and novel components of innovation needs to be complemented with an emphasis on the constants, the slowly changing or non-changing aspects. In the paper, I seek to articulate how we could increase our ability to recognize the durability of the present with respect to empirical study objects, analytic approaches, and theoretical resources.

Thinking with Monsters

“…In general, future-studies focus on specific technological aspects and abstractions of what is to come. For example, authors have focused on the philosophy of technology to examine how IS research might inform future-studies [33], the destructive capacity in algorithmic decisions [24], and on methods of future-studies [2,14,28,34]. In other streams of inquiry, the future is contested, agential, and orchestrated, with a greater focus on the role(s) of actors and metaphor [35].…”

“…Asimov's Laws of Robotics reflect the recognition that during large-scale technological shifts, "that which appears for the first time and, consequently, is not yet recognized" will co-construct substantive cultural changes. In addressing living-with-technologies [2], the Robotics narratives echo Derrida's (1995) exhortation on cultural change to "prepare yourself to experience the future and welcome the monster" [3 p 385]. Some imaginary futures, such as Asimov's Robot Series and Philip K Dick's "Minority Report", exposed the tensions and tradeoffs between that which we believe we control and that which is Other.…”

“…These techniques largely render hidden the very every-dayness of the world of people who dwell. Yet living with technologies [2] and the worlds in which such technologies exist and make sense is notably absent. For example, novels and novellas based on the Three Laws of Robotics made visible the ethical dilemmas created when action is dictated by computational logics and questioned human treatment of 'intelligent' and empathetic beings.…”

“…Entering the spaces between the rails requires us to enter zones of unknowns and uncertainties. Research which discloses futures through critical interpretation of technological and policy innovation narratives [2,33] can challenge the underpinning of technological rationality. The pathways to these futures are neither linear nor determinant and multiple interventions, social and biophysical conditions and values will shape the realization of future(s).…”

Sustainable and Responsible ICT Innovation in Healthcare: A Long View and Continuous Ethical Watch Required

“…We accept that these technologies will deliver individual and current benefits, but also assume that they will present their own distributional effects and externalities -leaving a legacy. Furthermore, the effects of today's technological choice will last through future phases of innovation constraining what is possible (what has been referred to as the 'durability of the present' [29]). …”