science

Social Study of Information Systems

Social Study of Information Systems is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Social Study of Information Systems rather than just read about it. In short: The Social Study of Information Systems (SSIS) is interested in people developing and using technology and the "culture" of those people. SSIS brings social sciences concepts and methods to study information systems.

Key takeaways

Social Study of Information Systems belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Social Study of Information Systems to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Social Study of Information Systems from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Social Study of Information Systems (SSIS) is interested in people developing and using technology and the "culture" of those people. SSIS brings social sciences concepts and methods to study information systems. SSIS studies these phenomena by drawing on and using "lenses" provided by social sciences, including philosophy, sociology, social psychology, organisational theory, political science. Thus, it relates to Social Informatics, Human-centered computing (HCC), Science and Technology Studies (STS), Design science.

Key universities Key Universities involved in SSIS are: the London School of Economics (LSE), Lancaster University, University of Manchester, University of Warwick, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Salford, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Harvard University, and Peking University.

Selected scholars High-profile people in the field are Claudio Ciborra, Jannis Kallinikos, Chrisanthi Avgerou & Susan Scott (LSE), Wanda Orlikowski (MIT), Shoshana Zuboff (Harvard), Lucas Introna & Lucy Suchman (Lancaster), Joe Nandhakumar (Warwick), Wendy Currie (Greenwich), Geoff Walsham, Mathew Jones & Michael Barrett (Cambridge), Kalle Lyytinen (Case Western), Rob Kling (Indiana).

Additional scholars The social study of information systems has also been shaped by the work of scholars across information systems, STS, sociology, communication, and public administration, including (alphabetical by surname):

Rafael Alcadipani (FGV EAESP) Yochai Benkler (Harvard) Luciana D’Adderio (University of Edinburgh) Paul N. Edwards (Stanford) Bent Flyvbjerg (Oxford; megaprojects, governance) Elisa Giaccardi (TU Delft) Francis Harvey (Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography) Vincent Homburg (Erasmus Univ.; e‑government) Marina Jirotka (Oxford; human‑centred computing, RRI) John Leslie King (Michigan; IS & public policy) Rob Kitchin (Maynooth; geodata infrastructures) Karin Knorr Cetina (U. Chicago; epistemic cultures) Jean‑Fabrice Lebraty (Lyon business school; IS management) Nanette S. Levinson (American University; internet governance) Jonathan Lusthaus (Oxford; cybercrime sociology) Shirin Madon (LSE; ICT4D) Attila Márton (CBS; digital work & organizing) Gianluca Miscione (UCD; Information infrastructures and organizations) Gianluca Misuraca (digital governance) Vincent Mosco (critical communication studies) Victoria Nash (OII; internet policy) Annalisa Pelizza (University of Bologna; data infrastructures & governance) Neil Pollock (Edinburgh; information infrastructures, market devices) Georg Reischauer (WU Vienna; platforms & digitalization) Kai Riemer (University of Sydney; IT & organization) Richard Rottenburg (Halle/WiSER; anthropology of STS) Minna Ruckenstein (University of Helsinki; datafication) Saskia Sassen (Columbia; globalization, cities & digital change) Carsten Sørensen (LSE; digital innovation) Jason Bennett Thatcher (Temple) Christopher L. Tucci (Imperial; digital strategy & innovation) Georg von Krogh (ETH Zurich; knowledge & innovation) Helena Webb (Nottingham; responsible/ethical AI, HCI) Philip Kraft (Binghamton) Leiser Silva (University of Houston; power & politics in IS) Robin Williams (Edinburgh; social shaping of technology, IS)

Key publications Quast, M., Handel, M. J., Favre, J.-M., Estublier, J. (2013) Social Information Systems : Agility Without Chaos, Enterprise Information Systems, Springer. Walsham, G. (1993) Interpreting information systems in organizations, John Wiley, Chichester. Zuboff, S. (1988) In the age of the smart machine: The future of work and power, Heinemann Professional, Oxford.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Social Study of Information Systems

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Social Study of Information Systems claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Social Study of Information Systems before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Social Study of Information Systems ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Social Study of Information Systems

In research: Social Study of Information Systems appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Social Study of Information Systems in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Social Study of Information Systems is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Information systems, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Social Study of Information Systems outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Social Study of Information Systems in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Social Study of Information Systems means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Social Study of Information Systems out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Social Study of Information Systems in simple terms?

Why does Social Study of Information Systems matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Social Study of Information Systems?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Social Study of Information Systems.