Abstract
This paper comes from our recognition of how Information Systems (IS) are being transformed in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Information Systems Development (ISD) is no longer exclusively a domain of professional developers. Today’s IS resembles an assembly of tools, technologies, and platforms. Our paper responds to the call for the IS discipline to focus on the ‘IS artifact' by considering IS as an ecosystem consisting of social, information, and technology domains. We couple this with practice theory to articulate the human activity system (HAS) that is enmeshed in IS. We illustrate this approach by ‘zooming in' on data discovery practices of clinical researchers. This re-analysis demonstrates how a focus on existing and emergent practices as ‘practice objects' can better inform ISD. Our contribution is a matrix that combines these two positions to guide ISD that ‘privileges the social' to emphasise a human-centric approach in the context of AI disruptions.
Paper Type
Full Paper
DOI
10.62036/ISD.2026.152
Privileging the Social: A practice perspective for new frontiers in information systems development
This paper comes from our recognition of how Information Systems (IS) are being transformed in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Information Systems Development (ISD) is no longer exclusively a domain of professional developers. Today’s IS resembles an assembly of tools, technologies, and platforms. Our paper responds to the call for the IS discipline to focus on the ‘IS artifact' by considering IS as an ecosystem consisting of social, information, and technology domains. We couple this with practice theory to articulate the human activity system (HAS) that is enmeshed in IS. We illustrate this approach by ‘zooming in' on data discovery practices of clinical researchers. This re-analysis demonstrates how a focus on existing and emergent practices as ‘practice objects' can better inform ISD. Our contribution is a matrix that combines these two positions to guide ISD that ‘privileges the social' to emphasise a human-centric approach in the context of AI disruptions.
Recommended Citation
Power, M., Linger, H. & Asif, Z.(2026). Privileging the Social: A practice perspective for new frontiers in information systems development. In M. Valenta, B. Mannová, R. Pergl, A. Przybylek, M. Lang, H. Linger, C. Schneider, N. Iivari, & E. Insfran (Eds.), Making ISD Sustainable: Reloaded with AI and Automation (ISD2026 Proceedings). Prague, Czech Republic: Czech Technical University in Prague. ISBN: 978-80-01-07585-2. https://doi.org/10.62036/ISD.2026.152