Persistent problems in information systems development. The case of the world wide web.
Karlheinz Kautz, Jacob Nørbjerg · European Conference on Information Systems · 2003
New technologies frequently move the focus of Information Systems (IS) research away from the study of the persistent and fundamental predicaments of IS development and use. In this paper World Wide Web technologies and web-based systems are used as an example of this problem. Many researchers see these technologies and systems as so different from traditional information technologies and systems that they require new approaches to systems development. We critically examine these claims in the light of the historical evolution of the practice and research of information systems and show that characteristics frequently associated with web-based systems, such as changing skill needs and more complex organization of development projects as well as a broader and more diverse user population aren’t radically new developments, but extensions and variations of fundamental dynamics which have characterized IS since the inception of the discipline. We thus argue that current research ought to look at past experiences for advice on how to cope with present problems. And we urge IS researchers to be concerned with the underlying, persistent, problems in information systems development instead of the surface problems manifest in the fad or technology ‘of the day’.