[AISWorld] Contents of Volume 19, Issue 10 (October) Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS)

[JAIS]

Contents of Volume 19, Issue 10 (October) Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), Official Publication of the Association for Information Systems
Published: Monthly Electronically
ISSN: 1536-9323
Published by the Association for Information Systems, Atlanta, USA (http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/)

Editor-in-Chief:  Professor Suprateek Sarker, University of Virginia, USA

Special Issue Informing Research: Celebrating 50 Years of Ideas and Science at HICSS 

Special Issue Editors

Dirk Hovorka, University of Sydney
Jason B. Thatcher, University of Alabama
Alan Dennis, Indiana University - Bloomington
Joey F. George, Iowa State University


Paper

When Humans Using the IT Artifact Becomes IT Using the Human Artifact

Dionysios Demetis, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
Allen S. Lee, Virginia Commonwealth University

Abstract

Following Demetis & Lee (2016) who showed how systems theorizing can be conducted on the basis of a few systems principles, in this conceptual paper, we apply these principles to theorize about the systemic character of technology and investigate the role reversal in the relationship between humans and technology. By applying systems-theoretical requirements outlined by Demetis & Lee, we examine conditions for the systemic character of technology and, based on our theoretical discussion, we argue that humans can now be considered artifacts shaped and used by the (system of) technology rather than vice versa. We argue that the role reversal has considerable implications for the field of information systems that has thus far focused only on the use of the IT artifact by humans. We illustrate these ideas with empirical material from a well-known case from the financial markets: the collapse (“Flash Crash”) of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.


To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss10/5 


Paper

Actors, Avatars and Agents: Potentials and Implications of Natural Face Technology for the Creation of Realistic Visual Presence

Mike Seymour, University of Sydney
Kai Riemer, University of Sydney
Judy Kay, University of Sydney

Abstract

We are on the cusp of creating realistic, interactive, fully rendered human faces on computers that transcend the “uncanny valley,” widely known for capturing the phenomenon of “eeriness” in faces that are almost, but not fully realistic. Because humans are hardwired to respond to faces in uniquely positive ways, artificial realistic faces hold great promise for advancing human interaction with machines. For example, realistic avatars will enable presentation of human actors in virtual collaboration settings with new levels of realism; artificial natural faces will allow the embodiment of cognitive agents, such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, putting us on a path to create “artificial human” entities in the near future. In this conceptual paper, we introduce natural face technology (NFT) and its potential for creating realistic visual presence (RVP), a sensation of presence in interaction with a digital actor, as if present with another human. We contribute a forward-looking research agenda to information systems (IS) research, comprising terminology, early conceptual work, concrete ideas for research projects, and a broad range of research questions for engaging with this emerging, transformative technology as it becomes available for application. By doing so, we respond to calls for “blue ocean research” that explores unchartered territory and makes a novel technology accessible to IS early in its application. We outline promising areas of application and foreshadow philosophical, ethical, and conceptual questions for IS research pertaining to the more speculative phenomena of “living with artificial humans.”

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss10/4


Paper

Digital Probes as Opening Possibilities of Generativity

Sirkka Jarvenpaa, University of Texas at Austin
Willem Standaert, Vlerick Business School

Abstract

The information systems research on generativity promises unprompted, innovative inputs from uncoordinated audiences, whose participation with heterogeneous technological resources generates diverse outputs and opens new possibilities. The question is how to perpetuate the openness on which the outputs of generativity rely. We advance, as a potential mechanism of generativity, the concept of digital probes, which leverage human and technological resources in hybrid digital and physical environments. The aesthetically rich probes challenge values, identities, and practices, cultivating emotional tensions that can reveal previously unexplored and unimagined possibilities, resulting in novel ideas, thoughts, and expressions. The new possibilities reveal what is hidden; reconfigure practices; cross-appropriate technological and social resources; and thereby further expand what can be experienced, viewed, and imagined. Further, the new possibilities draw new actors that again view things differently and seek different experiences, thus fueling emotional tensions that in turn open new possibilities, without settling them. We illustrate digital probes and their effects at Formula E. Formula E is a new motorsports venture that leveraged eSports, social media, crowdsourcing, and driverless cars in digital probes to reveal and examine previously unimagined possibilities of what the world of motorsport could be in the digital era. We end by exploring future research directions.


To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss10/3


Paper

Extending Digital Infrastructures: A Typology of Growth Tactics

Dina Koutsikouri, University of Gothenburg
Rikard Lindgren, University of Gothenburg
Ola Henfridsson, University of Warwick
Daniel Rudmark, RISE Viktoria

Abstract

Digital infrastructures enable delivery of information services in functional areas such as health, payment, and transportation by providing a sociotechnical foundation for partnership governance, resource reuse, and system integration. To effectively serve emerging possibilities and changing purposes, however, a key question concerns how an infrastructure can be extended to cater for future services in its functional area. In this paper, we approach such digital infrastructure growth as a challenge of aligning new partners whose digital capabilities spur innovative services that attract more users. We advance an initial typology that covers four growth tactics (i.e., adding services, inventing processes, opening identifiers, and providing interfaces) with the potential to set extension of infrastructures in motion. We then explore the proposed typology by investigating the ways in which its particular tactics successfully extended the scope of a digital infrastructure for public transportation in Stockholm, Sweden. Our insights invite IS scholars to engage more deeply in the development of growth tactics that achieve infrastructure extensions necessary for improving the durability of service delivery.


To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss10/2

Paper

Governance in the Blockchain Economy: A Framework and Research Agenda

Roman Beck, IT University of Copenhagen
Christoph Müller-Bloch, IT University of Copenhagen
John Leslie King, University of Michigan


Abstract

Blockchain technology is often referred to as a groundbreaking innovation and the harbinger of a new economic era. Blockchains may be capable of engendering a new type of economic system: the blockchain economy. In the blockchain economy, agreed-upon transactions would be enforced autonomously, following rules defined by smart contracts. The blockchain economy would manifest itself in a new form of organizational design—decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO)—which are organizations with governance rules specified in the blockchain. We discuss the blockchain economy along dimensions defined in the IT governance literature: decision rights, accountability, and incentives. Our case study of a DAO illustrates that governance in the blockchain economy may depart radically from established notions of governance. Using the three governance dimensions, we propose a novel IT governance framework and a research agenda for governance in the blockchain economy. We challenge common assumptions in the blockchain discourse, and propose promising information systems research related to these assumptions.

To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below:
Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss10/1


 
Elizabeth White Baker, PhD
Production Managing Editor, Journal of the AIS
jais at comm.virginia.edu