The Ambivalent Ontology of Digital Artifacts

Abstract

Digital artifacts are embedded in wider and constantly shifting ecosystems such that they become increasingly editable, interactive, reprogrammable, and distributable. This state of flux and constant transfiguration renders the value and utility of these artifacts contingent on shifting webs of functional relations with other artifacts across specific contexts and organizations. By the same token, it apportions control over the development and use of these artifacts over a range of dispersed stakeholders and makes their management a complex technical and social undertaking. These ideas are illustrated with reference to (1) provenance and authenticity of digital documents within the overall context of archiving and social memory and (2) the content dynamics occasioned by the findability of content mediated by Internet search engines. We conclude that the steady change and transfiguration of digital artifacts signal a shift of epochal dimensions that calls for rethinking some of the inherited wisdom in IS research and practice.

Patient Data as Medical Facts: Social Media Practices as a Foundation for Medical Knowledge Creation

“…When it is not, they establish new medical items, which, once integrated into the While it is hard to assess the stability and practical embedding of these changes, the pervasive nature of social media across the social and economic fabric suggests that they may well be part and parcel of wider institutional and organizational changes (Benkler 2007;Faraj et al 2011;Majchrzak et al 2013;Treem and Leonardi 2012;Zittrain 2008 (Kallinikos et al 2013), these computational means and resources enable the expert to draw links between varying phenomena. In many respects, this expert work is data work as Zuboff (1988) depicted it some time ago (see also Kallinikos 1995Kallinikos , 1999.…”

“…As we have shown above and in the empirical findings, patient interactions with one another and with staff are to a significant degree mediated by continuously updated links between network members previously unlinked and unaware of each other. It is this dynamic and constantly updated linking of patients to other patients via the intermediation of scores, counts or categories that shows the complex technological underpinnings of the network and makes it and similar ventures innovative and theoretically interesting (Kallinikos et al 2013). …”

Managing Technological Change in the Digital Age: The Role of Architectural Frames

“…Alexandrian thinking (Baldwin 2008, Langlois 2006, Murmann and Frenken 2006, Schilling 2000, Ulrich and Eppinger 2003, von Hippel 1990, the increasing digitization of products (Kallinikos et al 2013;Lee and Berente 2012, Lindgren et al 2008, Yoo 2010) calls for consideration of their differences. To substantiate this claim, it is necessary to turn the attention to Alexander's thinking on design patterns (Alexander 1979, 1999, Alexander et al 1977, something that is rarely done within technology and innovation management research.…”

“…This means that the same physical artifact can perform new functions if equipped with new instructions or programs. As tangible artifacts embed digital technology, they therefore become increasingly programmable, enabling artifacts to perform new functions after their production (Kallinikos et al 2013, Zittrain 2006). …”

“…First, products become programmable as they embed digital technology and design of new functionality can therefore be integrated at any time, even after production (Kallinikos et al 2013, Zittrain 2006.…”