Lucas Introna

Lancaster University, Organisation, Work and Technology, Faculty Member

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My research focus is the phenomenon of technology broadly defined and information technology more narrowly defined. Within the area of technology studies I have two enduring concerns (a) sociomaterial practices and its relationship with processes of organising (such as virtual organisations, collaborative working, etc) and (b) the ethical and moral implications of sociomaterial practices for society (such as privacy, surveillance, etc). Within these two areas, my research approach has always been qualitative and mostly informed by phenomenology--existential phenomenology in particular. More recently I have been exploring the possibilities offered by sociomateriality--and process philosophy more generally.
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Papers by Lucas Introna

Virtuality and Morality

Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 2001

This paper critically describes the mediation of social relations by information technology, draw... more This paper critically describes the mediation of social relations by information technology, drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas. In the first of three movements, I discuss ethical relations as primordial sociality based in proximity. In the second movement I discuss the how the self encounters the Other, the ethical contact. How can the self make contact with the Other without turning the Other into a theme, a concept or a category? In the third movement, I discuss the electronic mediation of the social as simulation. I argue that ...

Speakout

IEEE Spectrum, Jun 1, 2000

What Silence Does

Oxford University Press eBooks, Jan 26, 2023

Ethics of New Information Technologies. Proceedings of the 6th Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiries Conference (University of Twente, The Netherlands - 2005

ECIS2020 Welcome and Keynote Address

Supporting Older Adults Using Privacy-Aware IoT Analytics

Mobile computing and the IoT offer the potential to provide new applications to support our agein... more Mobile computing and the IoT offer the potential to provide new applications to support our ageing population. However, there has been little research into the implications for system design of supporting this specific user demographic. In this paper we consider these implications, focusing in particular on an architectural design that offers the potential for complex cross-device analytics while meeting the privacy and usability concerns of older adults.

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Proceedings of the IFIP TC8 WG8.2 International Working Conference on New Information Technologies in Organizational Processes: Field Studies and Theoretical Reflections on the Future of Work

A number of relatively new technologies, such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems, the Intern... more A number of relatively new technologies, such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems, the Internet and intranets, have entered the organizational landscape. These technologies have not only been enabling a wide range of social and organizational transformations, but have also been challenging much of the received wisdom that operates in academic and industrial discourses. This book attempts to capture some of these strands by discussing the social and organizational issues surrounding the implementation and use of these new ...

Proceedings of CEPE 2007

Everything Flows: Studying Continuous Socio-Technological Transformation in a Fluid and Dynamic Digital World

Management Information Systems Quarterly, Jan 15, 2021

Ongoing digital innovations are transforming almost every aspect of our contemporary societies—re... more Ongoing digital innovations are transforming almost every aspect of our contemporary societies—rendering our lives and work evermore fluid and dynamic. This paper is an invitation to likewise remake our theorizing of socio-technological transformation by shifting from actor-centric orientations towards a flow-oriented approach and vocabulary. Such a shift from actors to the flows of action allows us to offer an innovative theory of socio-technological transformation that does not rely on self-contained actors or technologies as originators of transformation. Instead, it allows us to foreground how contingent confluences among heterogenous flows of action can account for the trajectories of socio-technological (trans)formation, both upstream and downstream. To do this, we turn to the work of social anthropologist Tim Ingold to advance a theoretical vocabulary of flowing lines of action and their correspondences. We expound three modalities of correspondence, namely: timing, attentionality, and undergoing, which together explain the dynamics of creation, sensing, and actualization of (trans)formative possibilities for action along socio-technological flows. We demonstrate the application and utility of this vocabulary through an empirical illustration and show how it reveals novel insights for IS research vis-a-vis existing theoretical alternatives. Finally, we outline the implications of our approach for IS research and suggest some guiding principles for studying and theorizing IS phenomena through this orientation. We invite the IS community to engage with our approach to develop novel ways of understanding and theorizing IS phenomena along our increasingly fluid and dynamic digital world, ever overflowing.

Introduction: why and how to think?

This book is about responding to a different path; about thinking and listening differently, but ... more This book is about responding to a different path; about thinking and listening differently, but why? I will argue that the techno-functionalist paradigm (Burrell & Morgan, 1979), the current archetype for the information systems discipline, is exhausted. In applying this paradigm to everyday world problems, anomalies are being generated and are rapidly accumulating, to the point where a serious question of legitimacy now confronts the discipline. Senior executives are questioning the return on massive investments in information technology (Strassman, 1990). Critical sociologists are questioning the ethics and efficacy of the new fordism embodied in functionally inspired interventions such as business process re-engineering (Mumford, 1996). The failure of information technology projects seems to be as pervasive as ever (Duffy, 1993; Page et al., 1993). A general uneasiness seems to prevail in many areas of the discipline.

2. Die algorithmische Choreographie des beeindruckbaren Subjekts

transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2017

Werbung ist zum dominierenden Geschäftsmodell des Internets geworden. Zuckerman, einer der ersten... more Werbung ist zum dominierenden Geschäftsmodell des Internets geworden. Zuckerman, einer der ersten Pioniere auf diesem Feld, weist darauf hin, dass die Werbung nunmehr »die gesamte ökonomische Grundlage unserer Branche darstellt, da es die bequemste Variante für die Umsetzung eines Web-Startups war und die einfachste zur Vermarktung gegenüber Investoren« (Zuckerman 2014). Freilich ist der Umstand, dass die Werbung das Geschäftsmodell des Internets bildet, historisch kontingent. Weder ist und war diese Entwicklung notwendig noch ist sie die einzig mögliche. Und doch, sobald sich die Werbung als standardisiertes Geschäftsmodell einmal etabliert hat, entspringt ihm eine bestimmte Logik. Man könnte sagen, dass es diese bestimmte Logik erfordert, oder es gar unabdingbar macht, dass alle Akteure (in der Welt des Internets)-seien es nun Nutzer, Technologieentwicklerinnen, Werbetreibende, digitale Unternehmer etc.-auf eine ganz bestimmte Weise positioniert werden. Worauf es uns ankommt ist der Umstand, dass Werbung ein Publikum benötigt und zwar nicht lediglich ein Publikum im Sinne einer unbestimmten Gruppe von Leuten, sondern die richtige Person, welche zur richtigen Zeit die richtige Werbung sieht. Dies wiederum bedeutet, dass beeindruckbare Subjekte benötigt werden. Subjekte also, die sich derart beeindrucken lassen-in eine bestimmte Richtung drücken oder prägen lassen-, dass sie sich mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit konvertieren 2 lassen. Die Aufforderungen lauten hier: Tue etwas für das Unternehmen dessen Werbung Du siehst, registriere Dich auf der Web-1 | Im englischen Original ist vom »impressionable subject« die Rede. Die Mehrdeutigkeit von »impressionable« ist in der deutschen Übersetzung schwer einzufangen. A.d.Ü. 2 | »Konversion« (im engl. Conversion) wird hier als Fachbegriff aus dem (Online) Marketing gebraucht. Der Begriff indiziert die Umwandlung einer Zielperson von einem Interessenten in einen Kunden. A.d.Ü.

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The manager: involved in-the-world

In chapter one it was argued that a particular ontological view of the manager and the manager’s ... more In chapter one it was argued that a particular ontological view of the manager and the manager’s role in the enterprise leads to a particular interpretation of the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the management and information in the organization. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the ontological position of the involved manager.

Power: the network of force relations

All the thinking in the previous chapters assumes what Burrell and Morgan call the “sociology of ... more All the thinking in the previous chapters assumes what Burrell and Morgan call the “sociology of regulation” (Burrell & Morgan, 1979). This view of society assumes that there is a consensus based, stable, integrated, co-operative, well regulated social order; a regulated and well functioning co-operative whole that strives to maintain itself over time. This sociology of regulation neglects conflict and power. Power, nevertheless, seems to be very pervasive in organizations, as in society as a whole. Many practising managers will agree that organizational politics pervade everything they do. It seems to be always already present in every organizational event. Consideration of the narrative of the involved manager, management, and information in the organization would not be complete, or even adequate, without a reflection on power. This chapter is intended to provide such a reflection.

Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters

Routledge eBooks, May 15, 2017

This article argues that search engines raise not merely technical issues but also political ones... more This article argues that search engines raise not merely technical issues but also political ones. Our study of search engines suggests that they systematically exclude (in some cases by design and in some, accidentally) certain sites and certain types of sites in favor of others, systematically giving prominence to some at the expense of others. We argue that such biases, which would lead to a narrowing of the Web's functioning in society, run counter to the basic architecture of the Web as well as to the values and ideals that have fueled widespread support for its growth and development. We consider ways of addressing the politics of search engines, raising doubts whether, in particular, the market mechanism could serve as an acceptable corrective. Keywords search engines, bias, values in design, World Wide Web, digital divide, information access The Internet, no longer merely an e-mail and le-sharing system, has emerged as a dominant interactive medium.

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On Cyberspace and Being

Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 1997

Does it make sense to talk about cyberspace as an alternative social reality? Is cyberspace the n... more Does it make sense to talk about cyberspace as an alternative social reality? Is cyberspace the new frontier for the realization of the postmodern self? For philosophers Taylor and Saarinen, and the psychologist Turkle, cyberspace is the practical manifestation of a postmodern reality, or rather hyperreality (Baudrillard). In hyperreal cyberspace, they argue, identity becomes plastic,“I can change my self as easily as I change my clothes.” I will argue using Martin Heidegger that our being is being-in-the-world. To be-in-the-world means to ...

The Question Concerning Information Technology

IGI Global eBooks, Jan 18, 2011

Touching tactfully

Routledge eBooks, Dec 21, 2020

Notes on Self-Organizing Information Systems

European Conference on Information Systems, 1996

The internet as a democratic medium: why the politics of search engines matters

Ethics of New Information Technology

Virtuality and Morality

Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 2001