Start Date
14-12-2012 12:00 AM
Description
For much of its history, IS has lacked enduring agreement about core theories uniting the IS discipline and its work. This paper borrows from biology the idea of a “central dogma” to propose a way to frame both thought and conversations about broadly diverse but related work within a discipline, to amplify the value of existing research through systematic synthesis, and to identify and guide new research and applications. From several IS and non-IS perspectives, it develops the novel idea of “selection as design” as a common thread by which to frame IS research and practice, and as an approach having some expected features of a disciplinary central dogma. It then uses a case study to operationalize selection as design through “selection bridges” which enable us to both examine connections among silicon and human information systems, and to leverage our findings across is theories and contexts.
Recommended Citation
Li, Ben, "Selection as Design: Seeking Central Dogmas in the IS Discipline" (2012). ICIS 2012 Proceedings. 4.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2012/proceedings/BreakthroughIdeas/4
Selection as Design: Seeking Central Dogmas in the IS Discipline
For much of its history, IS has lacked enduring agreement about core theories uniting the IS discipline and its work. This paper borrows from biology the idea of a “central dogma” to propose a way to frame both thought and conversations about broadly diverse but related work within a discipline, to amplify the value of existing research through systematic synthesis, and to identify and guide new research and applications. From several IS and non-IS perspectives, it develops the novel idea of “selection as design” as a common thread by which to frame IS research and practice, and as an approach having some expected features of a disciplinary central dogma. It then uses a case study to operationalize selection as design through “selection bridges” which enable us to both examine connections among silicon and human information systems, and to leverage our findings across is theories and contexts.