The contents of the latest issue of:International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation
(IJANTTI)
Official Publication of the Information Resources Management Association
Volume 1, Issue 4, October-December 2009
Published: Quarterly in Print and Electronically
ISSN: 1942-535X EISSN: 1942-5368
Published by IGI Publishing, Hershey-New York, USA
www.igi-global.com/ijantti
Editor-in-Chief: Arthur Tatnall, Victoria University, Australia
EDITORIAL PREFACE
Arthur Tatnall, Victoria University, Australia
This fourth issue of the first volume of the International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation (IJANTTI) marks the end of the first, highly successful year of the new journal. This issue contains four very different articles, dealing with the use of actor-network theory to analyze the reasons that more girls do not proceed to higher education in IT, an investigation of the development and implementation of IT strategy, the discussion of issues in intercultural communication, and the combination with social network analysis to conduct
an investigation of chronic disease self-management models.
To read the preface, please consult this issue of IJANNTI in your library.
PAPER ONE
"What's Your Problem?" ANT Reflections on a Research Project Studying
Girls Enrolment in Information Technology Subjects in Postcompulsory
Education
Leonie Rowan, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Australia
Chris Bigum, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Australia
Despite more than thirty years of gender reform in schools, the
percentages of girls enrolled in information technology subjects in the
post-compulsory years of education has remained persistently low: often
under 25%. This article investigates data collected during an Australian
Research Council Linkage Grant project (2005-2007) focused on identifying
the reasons for this under-representation and ways in which the situation
could be changed. This article looks beyond the official recommendations
of the project to explore how the research experience and the data combine
to raise important questions about the limits of research in this area.
The authors discuss the difference between the researchers' perception of
the problem under consideration and the participants' perception of the
same issue.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=34996
PAPER TWO
The S'ANT Approach to Facilitate a Superior Chronic Disease
Self-Management Model
Nilmini Wickramasinghe, Center for the Management of Medical Technology
(CMMT), Stuart School of Business, and Institute of Technology, Chicago,
USA
Rajeev K. Bali, Coventry University, UK
Steve Goldberg, INET International, Canada
Diabetes is one of the leading chronic diseases, and its prevalence
continues to rise exponentially. This article presents the case for the
application of a pervasive technology solution in the form of a
wireless-enabled mobile phone to facilitate superior diabetes management.
In so doing, the authors highlight the need for employing the S'ANT
approach (Wickramasinghe and Bali, 2009) - namely the incorporation of
actor-network theory and social network analysis - in order to support a
network centric healthcare solution.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=34997
PAPER THREE
An Actor-Network Analysis of a Case of Development and Implementation of
IT Strategy
Tiko Iyamu, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
Arthur Tatnall, Graduate School of Business, Victoria University,
Australia
Increasingly, many organizations are highly dependent on support from
information technology (IT). Even though Carr has controversially argued
that IT does not matter, there seems to be prima facie evidence that even
the most ambitious business vision still needs IT to enable it. As such,
there has been much focus and emphasis on technologies and less attention
on non-technical components in the development and implementation of IT
strategy. This study focuses on the connection between the technical and
nontechnical, including the relationships between actors in the
development and implementation of IT strategy. The authors describe how
actor-network theory (ANT) is employed to investigate the impact of
non-technical factors on the development and implementation of IT strategy
in an organization. ANT is used to provide a useful perspective on the
importance of relationships between both human and non-human actors.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=34998
PAPER FOUR
Actor-Network Theory in Intercultural Communication: Translation through
the Prism of Innovation, Technology, Networks and Semiotics
Magdalena Bielenia-Grajewska, University of Gdansk, Poland
This article discusses the place of the actor-network theory in
intercultural communication. To narrow the scope of the research, the
author concentrates on the role of participants in one type of
intercultural exchange, namely in translation. Thus, such issues as
translator(s), translation, languages, texts, and units are given a
detailed study. An attempt will be made to show how ANT is useful in this
area of cross-cultural communication.
To obtain a copy of the entire article, click on the link below.
http://www.infosci-on-demand.com/content/details.asp?ID=34999
For full copies of the above articles, check for this issue of the
International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation
(IJANTTI) in your institution's library. This journal is also included in
the IGI Global aggregated "InfoSci-Journals" database:
<www.infosci-journals.com>.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Mission of IJANTTI:
The mission of the International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and
Technological Innovation (IJANTTI) is to provide a forum for both general
discussion of actor-network theory (ANT), and examples of its use in
offering explanations for socio-technical phenomena, particularly those
related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It is over
twenty years now since Latour, Callon, and Law put together their ideas
and concepts in the first papers on ANT, but for some time ANT was
regarded by many as little more than a curiosity. In recent years however,
the ICT research community has begun to discover the power of using ANT as
an explanatory framework for many of the things in which it is interested.
Implementation and use of information and communication technologies
inevitably involves the interactions of both technology and people, and
this is the area in which ANT is particularly useful. The main goal of
this journal will be to facilitate international growth in the body of
research investigating the value of using actor-network theory as a means
of understanding socio-technical phenomena and technological innovation.
Coverage of IJANTTI:
This journal covers a range of topics related to actor-network theory
(ANT). These topics will include the development of actor-network theory
itself, as well as case studies of its use to assist in the explanation of
various socio-technical phenomena. It will also include topics relating to
technological innovation; both those using actor-network theory as an
explanatory framework and those using other approaches. Possible topics
include, but are not restricted to:
Analytical case studies of the use of ANT for investigating technological
applications in various other areas
Analytical case studies of the use of ANT to investigate the
implementation and use of information and communication technologies
Case studies, involving ANT or other analytical frameworks, of
technological innovation, and the implementation and use of information
and communication technologies
Comparison of the various different approaches to framing technological
innovation
Descriptions of ANT research methods, and the conduct of ANT research
Development, evaluations, criticisms, and triumphs of ANT
Innovation translation as an approach to explaining technological
innovation
Other approaches to the explanation of technological innovation, including
innovation diffusion, the technology acceptance model, and ecological
models of innovation
Other papers relating to examples of technological innovation
Proposals of analytical frameworks that build on, and go beyond ANT
Use of ANT in the investigation of historical examples of technological
innovation
Interested authors should consult the journal's manuscript submission
guidelines at www.igi-global.com/ijantti.
All inquiries and submissions should be sent to:
Editor-in-Chief: Arthur Tatnall at Arthur.Tatnall@vu.edu.au
