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A Postmodern Perspective on Socio-technical Design Science Research in Information Systems

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New Horizons in Design Science: Broadening the Research Agenda (DESRIST 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 9073))

Abstract

This paper presents a critical account of the current state of design science research (DSR) of socio-technical artifacts in the information systems discipline as viewed through a postmodern lens. The paper offers a novel perspective to reflect on DSR and socio-technical artifacts, especially in terms of their limitations and boundaries of application. To achieve this, I critically appraise the current state of DSR practices, based on postmodern researchers’ key stances. The findings offer new perspectives on artifact effects, their application contexts, artifact utility, artifact audiences, the roles of the languages in which artifacts are specified, the design researcher’s role in the DSR process, and the political dimension of artifact design and evaluation. Design science researchers working on all types of socio-technical artifacts can use this paper’s findings to reflect on their artifacts’ limitations and potential real-world consequences before, during, and after artifact design and instantiation, and to subsequently improve these artifacts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Computer Science and Business Information Systems, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstr. 2, 45141, Essen, Germany

    Andreas Drechsler

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  1. Andreas Drechsler
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Correspondence to Andreas Drechsler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Brian Donnellan

  2. Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Markus Helfert

  3. Intel Labs Europe, Leixlip, Ireland

    Jim Kenneally

  4. Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Debra VanderMeer

  5. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    Marcus Rothenberger

  6. Universität St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Robert Winter

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Drechsler, A. (2015). A Postmodern Perspective on Socio-technical Design Science Research in Information Systems. In: Donnellan, B., Helfert, M., Kenneally, J., VanderMeer, D., Rothenberger, M., Winter, R. (eds) New Horizons in Design Science: Broadening the Research Agenda. DESRIST 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9073. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18714-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18714-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18713-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18714-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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