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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Information Infrastructures and the Challenge of the Installed Base

Miria GrisotMargunn AanestadOle HansethPolyxeni Vassilakopoulou

subject

Knowledge managementComputer sciencebusiness.industry05 social sciencesControl (management)Perspective (graphical)Information technology050905 science studiesComputer securitycomputer.software_genreWork (electrical)0502 economics and businesseHealthOrganizational structure0509 other social sciencesInstalled baseInformation infrastructurebusinesscomputer050203 business & management

description

In this chapter we present the theoretical perspective of information infrastructures, which is used to analyze the empirical cases in the book. In this perspective, information technology is seen as intimately intertwined with organizational structures, procedures and work practices, and as an underlying, supporting and often invisible infrastructure. Information infrastructures are not only local, but shared among distributed actors which can have multiple and different needs and interests. Understanding the complexities and mechanisms involved in the evolution of information infrastructures is at the core of this perspective which challenges traditional management approaches. Instead of the control paradigm, iterative and incremental strategies, often called “cultivation” strategies, are advocated. Central for this perspective is the notion of the “installed base”, i.e. the organizational, institutional, regulatory and technical arrangements that are already in place. The installed base serves as the foundation for any change and development, however, the installed base can be both enabling and constraining. New developments need to fit and make use of existing arrangements and at the same time transform them. This paradoxical relationship is illuminated through the book’s empirical investigations of how new eHealth initiatives make use of existing arrangements and at the same time transform them.

http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2490228