Tracing the Many Translations of a Web-Based IT Artefact

2010 ◽  
pp. 1668-1688
Author(s):  
R. Naidoo ◽  
A. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Healthcare Insurance ◽  
Self Service ◽  
The Many ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Complementary Channel ◽  
Case Based

This chapter adopts an interpretive, case based research strategy to discuss the centrality of meaning in implementing an Internet-based self-service technology. Actor-Network theory (ANT) is used to describe the complex evolution of a Web-based service at a healthcare insurance firm. Using processes of inscribing, translating and framing, this chapter explores the emergence of the technology from 1999 – 2005 using three technological frames, ‘channel of choice’, ‘dazzle the customer’, and ‘complementary channel’ as episodes of translation. ANT demonstrates that the Internet-based self-service technology at this particular healthcare context emerged out of many unplanned negotiations and mediations with both human and non human actors. Finally, this chapter argues that ANT’s socio-technical lens provides a richer understanding of the meaning of Internet-based self-service technology within a multi-channel context.

Tracing the Many Translations of a Web-Based IT Artefact

2010 ◽  
pp. 202-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Naidoo ◽  
A. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Healthcare Insurance ◽  
Self Service ◽  
The Many ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Complementary Channel ◽  
Case Based

This chapter adopts an interpretive, case based research strategy to discuss the centrality of meaning in implementing an Internet-based self-service technology. Actor-Network theory (ANT) is used to describe the complex evolution of a Web-based service at a healthcare insurance firm. Using processes of inscribing, translating and framing, this chapter explores the emergence of the technology from 1999 – 2005 using three technological frames, ‘channel of choice’, ‘dazzle the customer’, and ‘complementary channel’ as episodes of translation. ANT demonstrates that the Internet-based self-service technology at this particular healthcare context emerged out of many unplanned negotiations and mediations with both human and non human actors. Finally, this chapter argues that ANT’s socio-technical lens provides a richer understanding of the meaning of Internet-based self-service technology within a multi-channel context.

Observing the ‘Fluid’ Continuity of an IT Artefact

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rennie Naidoo ◽  
Awie Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Implementation Approach ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Healthcare Insurance ◽  
Technological Object ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Self Service Technology

Novel contemporary healthcare information systems offer the prospect of exploring unique features of the IT artefact and probing the finer, integral relations between society, technology, and humans. Some of these IT artefacts are innately complex and current theoretical perspectives are too limited to enrich their understanding. Using material from a longitudinal case study of an Internet-based self-service technology implementation in the private healthcare insurance context, this paper explores various aspects of ‘fluid continuity’ enacted by a technological object. The authors observe the object’s varying identities, its vague boundaries, its unexpected usage patterns, and its resourceful designers. They also analyze both the success and failure of the technological object, its complex and elusive relations, and the way in which it shaped new configurations of practice in the RSA and UK. This paper challenges conventional perspectives of a stable and enduring IT artefact and offers an alternative; it claims that a contemporary IT artefact is not necessarily delineated by firm boundaries or stable relations; instead they can be unpredictable and transitory. This paper furthers the understanding of how researchers can apply post actor network theory (ANT) concepts to study contemporary IT-based artefacts and offers several insights to practitioners on the virtues of a flexible implementation approach.

scholarly journals Understanding the Attitudes and Purpose for the Usage of Self-service Technologies (SSTs) at the Airports

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 7034-7039
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Endogenous Variables ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Self Service Technology

This study tried to understand the intention of technology adoption for web-based self-service technology (SST) pertaining to the airline sector in India. A survey-based approach was employed to acquire 458 responses. These responses were obtained from passengers who were using the airline’s service. The passengers were from three international airports that are located in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. The partial least square structural equation modeling technique was employed to investigate the hypothesis. To recognize the influences on web-based SST(endogenous variables), along with the concept of adoption purpose as per the air passengers’ perceptions, the initial qualitative study joined the resultant literature examination in correspondence with the interview with focus groups. The following are the exogenous factors applied in the study; apparent usefulness: apparent ease of usage, trustworthiness, perceived risk, supposed behavioral regulator, subjective standard, word-of-mouth reports, apparent playfulness, and approach and adaptation purpose. Results specify factors that suggestively affect the intention to employ SSTs. Theoretical as well as managerial implications are deliberated on.

A Socio-Technical Account of an Internet-Based Self-Service Technology Implementation

2012 ◽  
pp. 68-91
Author(s):  
Rennie Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
South African ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Is Implementation ◽  
Healthcare Insurance ◽  
Delivery Options ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Service Channels

Despite the rampant growth in technology-based service delivery options, the implementation of these contemporary forms of service channels continues to be risky and problematic for organisations. Current conceptualisations of IS implementation is rather narrow and highlights only particular aspects of this phenomenon. This paper adopts a socio-technical lens to enhance our understanding of the implementation of an Internet-based self-service technology (ISST) at a major South African healthcare insurance firm. Actor-Network theory’s (ANT) key conceptual elements of inscription and translation are used to describe how the design and use of this self-service technology emerged from the co-entanglement between the technological and social. Drawing from a field study, this paper demonstrates the complex interdependencies and interactions among contrasting social, political, economic and technological issues and therefore advances implementation theory for these contemporary service channels in yet another important way.

Mapping Messiness: The Informational Film Archive and Actor-Network Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Archival Practices

This chapter offers Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a toolkit for analysing the often messy and complex networks and relationships involved in the production and distribution of useful cinema. Stressing that ANT is employed in the book as a way of thinking rather than as an explicit framework, the chapter briefly outlines the key principles of ANT and relates them to documentary and informational filmmaking. In particular, the chapter discusses the potential of ANT for rendering visible or audible the many non-human actors in any instance of filmmaking, and for revealing how facts are constructed in documentary and related genres. The institutions, individuals, networks, technologies and other actors involved in mid-twentieth-century Danish informational filmmaking are then mapped. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the role of the archive and the researcher in the network of any given film, explaining how contemporary archival practices, especially digital technologies, are creating new dispositifs for historical informational film.

Networked psychostimulants: a web-based ethnographic study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-61
Author(s):  
Caroline Robitaille
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Spaces ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Human Actors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand contemporary psychostimulant use among members of online discussion fora. Two objectives are addressed: to describe accounts of practices related to psychostimulant use, and to examine how these pharmaceuticals may shape contemporary subjectivities. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a qualitative analysis of three online discussion fora belonging to Reddit. Drawing on actor-network theory, psychostimulants are envisaged as networked actants to understand the underlying logics related to their use. Non-participant observation of r/Adderall was carried out over an 18-month period. A qualitative analysis of postings on the three selected fora was also performed. Findings For each discussion forum, a network comprised of human and non-human actors was observed: members of the forum, psychostimulants as objects and subreddits as agentic spaces. This study reveals the emergence of multiple subjectivities associated with psychostimulant use: productivity, wellness and enhancement‐related. Practical implications Findings open to a wider debate regarding public health’s and healthcare professionals’ understanding of psychostimulant use outside of the clinical setting and how this may contrast with how psychostimulant use is practiced in context. Originality/value This research shows new online socio-cultural spaces formed around psychostimulant use. Calling upon a web-based ethnographic approach, this research presents a new perspective on the contemporary use of psychostimulants.

Innovation Translation and E-Commerce in SMEs

2011 ◽  
pp. 631-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Tatnall ◽  
Stephen Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Innovation Theory ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Medium Enterprise ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
The Way

Adoption of a new technology cannot be automatically assumed. The implementation of an e-commerce system in a small to medium enterprise (SME) necessitates change in the way the business operates, and so should be considered as an innovation and studied using innovation theory. In this article we argue that the decision to adopt, or not to adopt a new technology, has more to do with the interactions and associations of both human and nonhuman actors involved in the project than with the characteristics of the technology. As e-commerce necessarily involves interactions of people and technology, any study of how it is used by SMEs must be considered in a socio-technical context for its true complexity to be revealed (Tatnall & Burgess, 2005). This complexity is due, to a considerable degree, to the interconnected parts played by human actors and by the multitude of nonhuman entities involved: small business managers, sales people, procurement staff, computers, software, Web browsers, Internet service providers, modems and Web portals are only some of the many heterogeneous components of an e-commerce system. In this article we will argue that the complexity of these systems is best seen and understood by taking this heterogeneity into account and finding a way to give due regard to both human and nonhuman aspects. The implementation of an e-commerce system in an SME necessitates change in the way the business operates and we contend that this is best studied in the light of innovation theory. In this article we examine how innovation translation, informed by actor-network theory, can be usefully applied in analysis of the adoption, or nonadoption, of e-commerce. We illustrate this in two Australian case studies.

Case-Based Research on International Negotiation: Approaches and Data Sets

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
International Negotiation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Alternative Routes ◽  
Case Based

AbstractFour case-based research approaches to analysis of data on international negotiation are discussed: the single, analytical case study, the temporal or time-series case study, the focused comparison of a small number of similar cases, and aggregate comparisons of a large number of different cases. The strategies are compared in terms of a number of methodological and substantive features. They are considered as alternative routes to theory development, understood best in relation to each other and best utilized together as part of a multi-method research strategy. The role of frameworks for guiding comparative analyses is discussed in the second part of the article. They are illustrated in conjunction with several multivariate projects involving the coding of variables from a variety of cases. Methods of analysis and findings obtained from these projects are then summarized. These framework-driven comparative analyses are facilitated by the advent of web-based technologies. The new technologies are especially useful for collecting information about cases of negotiation not described in archival publications. The article concludes with challenges that confront the analyst and some gaps that remain to be filled.

A Fluid Metaphor to Theorize IT Artifacts

2014 ◽  
pp. 61-86
Author(s):  
Rennie Naidoo ◽  
Awie Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Self Service ◽  
Self Service Technology ◽  
Advance Theory ◽  
It Artifact ◽  
Empirical Material

This chapter extends existing metaphors used to conceptualise the unique features of contemporary IT artifacts. Some of these artifacts are innately complex, and current conceptualisations dominated by a “black box” metaphor seem to be too limited to further advance theory and offer practical design prescriptions. Using empirical material drawn from a longitudinal case study of an Internet-based self-service technology implementation, this chapter analyses various aspects of an artifact's fluidity. Post-actor network theory concepts are used to analyse the artifact's varying identities, its vague boundaries, its unexpected usage patterns, and its resourceful designers. The successes and failures of the artifact, its complex and elusive relations, and the unintended ways user practices emerged, are also analysed. This chapter contributes by extending orthodox metaphors that overemphasise a stable and enduring IT artifact—metaphors that conceal the increasingly unpredictable and transitory nature of IT artifacts—with the distinctive characteristics of fluidity. Several prescriptions for the design and management of fluid IT artifacts are offered.

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