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Not Another Methodology What Ant Tells Us About Systems Development

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Methodologies for Developing and Managing Emerging Technology Based Information Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes an interpretive technique for understanding IS development which uses complementary features of actornetwork (ANT) theory and Foucault’s theory of discourse. The technique is being applied to a loosely structured project which is working towards the construction of a flexible teaching and learning environment based on the internet. The paper traces the fortunes of two of the non-human actors in this setting. The combination of ANT/discourse theory is found to be an effective descriptive tool for IS development but it is not clear how it could contribute to a methodology. Some possible directions are suggested and balanced against possible organisational and psychological barriers to using such a methodology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

    Jim Underwood

Authors
  1. Jim Underwood
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salford, Manchester, UK

    Trevor Wood-Harper PhD, MBCS, MA  & Bob Wood MSc, BSc, MPhil  & 

  2. University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

    Trevor Wood-Harper PhD, MBCS, MA

  3. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Nimal Jayaratna PhD, MSc, MBCS, MIFIP

  4. Curtin University, Perth, Australia

    Nimal Jayaratna PhD, MSc, MBCS, MIFIP

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag London

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Underwood, J. (1999). Not Another Methodology What Ant Tells Us About Systems Development. In: Wood-Harper, T., Jayaratna, N., Wood, B. (eds) Methodologies for Developing and Managing Emerging Technology Based Information Systems. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3629-3_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3629-3_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-079-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3629-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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