[AISWorld] Invitation to attend the ICIS2012 panel on methodological challenges of Sociomateriality

[Dr. Benjamin Müller]

Dear IS-community,

As facilitators of the ICIS2012 panel "On the methodological and philosophical challenges of sociomaterial theorizing" we kindly invite you to join Ulrike Schultze, Daniel Robey, Karlheinz Kautz, Samer Faraj and us to discuss the methodological aspects of taking Sociomateriality to the field. As an ontological paradigm, Sociomateriality has recently gained increasing attention in the IS community through its promise to conceptualize the intertwining duality of social and material aspects of IS phenomena. Many of us, however, seem wonder what this position means for the work we do in the field and how we need to design studies in order to contribute to sociomaterial theorizing. Picking up on this issue, the panel will take place on:

December 17, 2012 from 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

in Salon 8B of the ICIS conference venue (the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, FL). Our experienced panelists will discuss the advantages and particularities of alternative theoretical lenses that embody sociomaterial ideas. Based on their experiences with these lenses, they will show how they have used them in their own work to inform their empirical research. Through their discussion the panelists illustrate how they designed their studies accordingly and why their approach allows them to contribute to sociomaterial theorizing.
Informed by this comparative debate, you will gain insights into the panelists' experiences with conducting and publishing Sociomaterial research. Through the panel we hope to better understand the methodological differences of the alternative lenses as well as important commonalities that enable a study to contribute meaningfully to sociomaterial theorizing.
As a key takeaway, the panel provides guidance on how to contribute to sociomaterial theorizing, thus supporting all those who want to better understand sociomaterial work or even conduct it themselves.

In preparing for the panel, we are currently soliciting questions and comments from our future audience and others who would like to contribute. Should you feel that a discussion of your issues would be an interesting contribution to the panel, please let us know at: somat.panel at gmail.com

For more information on the panel and for selected questions that are likely to spur discussion and move us forward in how we take Sociomateriality to the field and how we can theorize based on our resultant observations please also see the panel's homepage at:

http://eris.bwl.uni-mannheim.de/research/events/icis-2012-panel-on-the-methodological-and-philosophical-challenges-of-sociomaterial-theorizing/welcome/

We are looking forward to an exciting debate with you and our panelists in Orlando! All the best

Benjamin Mueller and Philip Raeth


Benjamin Mueller
Chair of Information Systems IV, Business School, University of Mannheim, Germany, http://www.eris.uni-mannheim.de 
Philipp Raeth
Institute for Enterprise Systems (InES), University of Mannheim, Germany, http://ines.uni-mannheim.de