A Practice Lens: A Case Study
Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations Author(s): Wanda J. Orlikowski Source: Organization Science, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 2000), pp. 404-428 Published by: INFORMS Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2640412 . Accessed: 25/03/2013 09:57
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The resulting recurrent social practice produces and reproduces a particular structure of technology use. Thus, structures of technology use are constituted recursively as humans regularly interact with certain properties of a technology and thus shape the set of rules and resources that serve to shape their interaction. Seen through a practice lens, technology structuresare emergent, not embodied. A practice lens more easily accommodates people' s situated use of dynamic technologies because it makes no assumptions about the stability, predictability, or relative completeness of the technologies. Instead, the focus is on what structuresemerge as people interactrecurrentlywith whatever properties of the technology are at hand, whether these were built in, added on, modified, or invented on the fly. Appropriation and Enactment of Structures Existing structurational models of technology examine what people do with technologies in use, positing such use as an appropriationof the "structures" inscribed in the technologies. Such appropriationoccurs when "people actively select how technology structures are used" (DeSanctis and Poole 1994, p.129). DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p. 130) distinguish between "faithful" and "unfaithful" appropriations of the technology structures, highlighting the degree to which use of technology corresponds to the structures embedded in the technology, and then relating such correspondence to expected outcomes. Their analysis identifies different types of appropriation moves which preserve, substitute for, combine, enlarge, contrast, constrain, affirm, or negate the structures provided by the technology (1994, p. 135). While the notion of appropriationcaptures well the importance of human action in shaping the situated use of technology, it nevertheless frames such human agency in terms of interaction with the structuresembedded within technology. Thus, DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p.133)
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For …show more content…
The resulting recurrent social practice produces and reproduces a particular structure of technology use. Thus, structures of technology use are constituted recursively as humans regularly interact with certain properties of a technology and thus shape the set of rules and resources that serve to shape their interaction. Seen through a practice lens, technology structuresare emergent, not embodied. A practice lens more easily accommodates people' s situated use of dynamic technologies because it makes no assumptions about the stability, predictability, or relative completeness of the technologies. Instead, the focus is on what structuresemerge as people interactrecurrentlywith whatever properties of the technology are at hand, whether these were built in, added on, modified, or invented on the fly. Appropriation and Enactment of Structures Existing structurational models of technology examine what people do with technologies in use, positing such use as an appropriationof the "structures" inscribed in the technologies. Such appropriationoccurs when "people actively select how technology structures are used" (DeSanctis and Poole 1994, p.129). DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p. 130) distinguish between "faithful" and "unfaithful" appropriations of the technology structures, highlighting the degree to which use of technology corresponds to the structures embedded in the technology, and then relating such correspondence to expected outcomes. Their analysis identifies different types of appropriation moves which preserve, substitute for, combine, enlarge, contrast, constrain, affirm, or negate the structures provided by the technology (1994, p. 135). While the notion of appropriationcaptures well the importance of human action in shaping the situated use of technology, it nevertheless frames such human agency in terms of interaction with the structuresembedded within technology. Thus, DeSanctis and Poole (1994, p.133)