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<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">IT Artefact & practice theorizing – pragmatic perspectives</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Call for papers to a Special Issue in Systems, Signs & Actions<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></i></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Theme</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></font></font></p>
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<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">There is a growing recognition among information systems scholars that IT artefacts should not be black-boxed as mere technical objects (Orlikowski & Iacono, 2001).
</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">IT artefacts</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"> are instruments for work and communication embedded in their social context. The social, organisational and linguistic characteristics
of IT artefacts should be acknowledged as well as their technical and material nature. In their seminal article, Orlikowski & Iacono (2001) raised a call for theorizing the IT artefact. They outlined alternative views of the IT artefact and proposed an ensemble
view. As responses to their call, several views of the IT artefact have been presented (e.g.
</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Ågerfalk, 2003; Sein & Harindranath, 2004; Alter, 2006; Markus & Silver, 2008; Matook & Brown, 2008; Sjöström, 2010; Strong & Volkoff, 2010)</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">.
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<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">An improved understanding of IT artefacts is needed in relation to their design, use and evolution. The importance of IT artefact theorizing for design is shown
by Sein et al (2011). They build their method for Action Design Research explicitly on the ensemble view from Orlikowski & Iacono (2001). An improved understanding of the context of IT artefacts is needed as well. There is a growing interest to theorize the
context as practices (Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011; Goldkuhl, 2011) or work-systems (Alter, 2006). This includes an interest in the combined social and material characteristics of such practices (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008). The orientation of practice theorizing
in IS follows a general ‘practice turn’ in social science (e.g. Schatzki et al, 2001;
</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Reckwitz, 2002; Whittington, 2006; Miettinen et al, 2009; Gherardi, 2009</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">).
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The claims for theorizing IT artefacts as socially embedded instruments for work and communication and for theorizing the artefact’s context as practices can be
seen as elements of a pragmatic re-orientation in IS. Statements for such a pragmatic re-orientation can be found in Goles & Hirschheim (2000), Baskerville & Myers (2004), Ågerfalk (2010) and Goldkuhl (2012).
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">This special issue is based on the International workshop on IT Artefact Design & Workpractice Intervention (</font><a href="http://www.vits.org/?pageId=381"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">www.vits.org/?pageId=381</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">)
held in
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<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Barcelona</st1:City></st1:place> on <st1:date w:st="on" Year="2012" Day="10" Month="6" ls="trans">
June 10, 2012</st1:date>. Papers from this workshop as well as other papers that address the theme of this special issue are welcome. Inquiries and submissions should be sent to the editors of this special issue.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Brian Donnellan,
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">National</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Maynooth</st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place> (Brian.Donnellan@nuim.ie)
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<p style="TEXT-INDENT: -22.7pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 22.7pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Göran Goldkuhl, Linköping University (<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:goran.goldkuhl@liu.se"><span style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none; mso-ansi-language: SV" lang="SV">goran.goldkuhl@liu.se</span></a></span>)</font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Systems, Signs & Actions<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></b></p>
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<p style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: inter-ideograph; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal">
<font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">Systems, Signs & Actions (www.sysiac.org) is an open access journal in information systems especially devoted to the study of information technology, action,
</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">communication and work</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">practices.
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Schedule<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Submissions are expected not later than
<st1:date w:st="on" Year="2012" Day="30" Month="11" ls="trans">November 30, 2012</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">This Special Issue is planned to be published during 2013.
<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">References<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></b></p>
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<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS'; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB" lang="EN-GB"><o:p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN-GB">Ågerfalk P J (2003)
<i>Information Systems Actability: Understanding Information Technology as a Tool for Business Action and Communication</i>, Ph D diss,
</span><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">Linköping</span></st1:PlaceName><span lang="EN-US">
</span><st1:PlaceType w:st="on"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">University</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Ågerfalk P J (2010) Getting Pragmatic,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">European Journal of Information Systems</i>, 19(3), 251–256.</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Alter S (2006) Work systems and IT artifacts – does the definition matter?,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Communications of AIS</i>, Vol. 17, pp 299-313</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Baskerville R, Myers M (2004) Special issue on action research in information systems: making IS research relevant to practice – foreword,
<i>MIS Quarterly</i>, Vol 28 (3), p 329-335</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Feldman M, Orlikowski W (2011) Theorizing practice and practicing theory,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Organization Science,</i> Vol 22, p 1240-1253</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Gherardi S (2009) The Critical Power of the 'Practice Lens',
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Management Learning</i>, Vol. 40 (2), p 115–128</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Goles T, Hirschheim R (2000) The paradigm is dead, the paradigm is dead … long live the paradigm: the legacy of Burell and Morgan,
<i>Omega</i>, Vol 28, p 249-268</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN-GB">Goldkuhl G (2011) The research practice of practice research: theorizing and situational inquiry,
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">Systems, Signs & Actions</span></i><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US">, Vol 5 (1), p 7-29<o:p></o:p></span></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Goldkuhl G (2012) Pragmatism vs. interpretivism in qualitative information systems research,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">European Journal of Information Systems</i>, Vol 21 (2), p 135-146</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US" lang="EN-US"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Markus L, Silver (2008) A foundation for the study of IT effects: A new look at DeSanctis and
<st1:place w:st="on">Poole</st1:place>’s concepts of structural features and spirit,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Journal of AIS</i>, Vol. 9 (10/11), pp 609-632</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span style="LAYOUT-GRID-MODE: line; mso-fareast-language: SV" lang="EN-GB"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Matook S, Brown S (2008) Conceptualizing the IT Artifact for MIS research,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">ICIS 2008 Proceedings</i></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Miettinen R, Samra-Fredericks D, Yanow D (2009) Re-Turn to Practice: An Introductory Essay,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Organization Studies</i>, Vol 30 (12), p 1309–1327</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Orlikowski W J, Iacono C S (2001) Desperately seeking the “IT” in IT research – a call to theorizing the IT artifact,
<i>Information Systems Research</i>, Vol 12 (2), pp 121-134</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Orlikowski W J, Scott S V (2008) Sociomateriality: Challenging the Separation of Technology, Work and Organization,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Academy</st1:PlaceType> of
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Management</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> Annals</i>, Vol 2(1), p 433-474</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Reckwitz A (2002) Toward a Theory of Social Practices. A Development in Culturalist Theorizing,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">European Journal of Social Theory</i>, Vol 5 (2), p 243–263</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Schatzki T R, Knorr Cetina K, von Savigny E (Eds, 2001)
<i>The practice turn in contemporary theory</i>, Routledge, <st1:place w:st="on">
<st1:City w:st="on">London</st1:City></st1:place></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Sein M, Harindranath G (2004) Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Information Society</i>, Vol 20 (1), p 15-24</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Sein M, Henfridsson O, Purao S, Rossi M, Lindgren R (2011) Action design research,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">MIS Quarterly</i>, Vol 35 (1), p 37-56</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-ansi-language: SV">Sjöström J (2010)
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Designing information systems. </i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span lang="EN-GB">A pragmatic account</span></i><span lang="EN-GB">, Ph Diss,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Uppsala</st1:City></st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place></span></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Strong D, Volkoff O (2010) Understanding organization - enterprise system fit: A path to theorizing the information technology artifact,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">MIS Quarterly</i>, Vol 34 (4), p 731-756</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 14.2pt" class="Referencelist"><span lang="EN-GB"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Whittington R (2006) Completing the practice turn in strategy research,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Organization Studies</i>, Vol 27 (5), p 613–634</font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"> </font></o:p></span></p>
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