Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact

The concept of the “IT artifact” plays a central role in the information systems research community’s discourse on design science. We pose the alternative concept of the “IS artifact,” unpacking what has been called the IT artifact into a separate “information artifact,” “technology artifact,” and “...

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Main Authors: Lee, A., Thomas, M., Baskerville, Richard
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19529
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author Lee, A.
Thomas, M.
Baskerville, Richard
author_facet Lee, A.
Thomas, M.
Baskerville, Richard
author_sort Lee, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The concept of the “IT artifact” plays a central role in the information systems research community’s discourse on design science. We pose the alternative concept of the “IS artifact,” unpacking what has been called the IT artifact into a separate “information artifact,” “technology artifact,” and “social artifact.” Technology artifacts (such as hardware and software), information artifacts (such as a message), and social artifacts (such as a charitable act) are different kinds of artifacts that together interact in order to form the IS artifact. We illustrate the knowledge value of the IS artifact concept with material from three cases. The result is to restore the idea that the study of design in information systems needs to attend to the design of the entire IS artifact, not just the IT artifact. This result encourages an expansion in the use of design science research methodology to study broader kinds of artifacts.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-195292019-02-19T05:35:12Z Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact Lee, A. Thomas, M. Baskerville, Richard design science IT artifact IS artefact information artifact social artefact technology artifact The concept of the “IT artifact” plays a central role in the information systems research community’s discourse on design science. We pose the alternative concept of the “IS artifact,” unpacking what has been called the IT artifact into a separate “information artifact,” “technology artifact,” and “social artifact.” Technology artifacts (such as hardware and software), information artifacts (such as a message), and social artifacts (such as a charitable act) are different kinds of artifacts that together interact in order to form the IS artifact. We illustrate the knowledge value of the IS artifact concept with material from three cases. The result is to restore the idea that the study of design in information systems needs to attend to the design of the entire IS artifact, not just the IT artifact. This result encourages an expansion in the use of design science research methodology to study broader kinds of artifacts. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19529 10.1111/isj.12054 Wiley-Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. fulltext
spellingShingle design science
IT artifact
IS artefact
information artifact
social artefact
technology artifact
Lee, A.
Thomas, M.
Baskerville, Richard
Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title_full Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title_fullStr Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title_full_unstemmed Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title_short Going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
title_sort going back to basics in design science: from the information technology artifact to the information systems artifact
topic design science
IT artifact
IS artefact
information artifact
social artefact
technology artifact
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19529