The study of people information and communication technologies and the contexts in which
these technologies are designed implemented and used has long interested scholars in a wide
range of disciplines including the social study of computing science and technology studies
the sociology of technology and management information systems. As ICT use has spread from
organizations into the larger world these devices have become routine information appliances
in our social lives researchers have begun to ask deeper and more profound questions about how
our lives have become bound up with technologies. A common theme running through this research
is that the relationships among people technology and context are dynamic complex and
critically important to understand. This book explores social informatics (SI) one important
and dynamic approach that researchers have used to study these complex relationships. SI is the
interdisciplinary study of the design uses and consequences of information technology that
takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts (Kling 1998 p.
52 1999). SI provides flexible frameworks to explore complex and dynamic socio-technical
interactions. As a domain of study related largely by common vocabulary and conclusions SI
critically examines common conceptions of and expectations for technology by providing
contextual evidence. This book describes the evolution of SI research and identifies challenges
and opportunities for future research. In what might be seen as an example of socio-technical
natural selection SI emerged in six different locations during the 1980s and 1990s: Norway
Slovenia Japan the former Soviet Union the UK and last the U.S. As SI evolved the version
popularized in the US became globally dominant. The evolution of SI is presented in five
stages: emergence foundational expansion coherence and transformation. Thus we divide SI
research into five major periods: an emergence stage when various forms of SI emerged around
the globe an early period of foundational work which grounds SI (Pre-1990s) a period of
expansion (1990s) a robust period of coherence and influence by Rob Kling (2000-2005) and a
period of transformation (2006-present). Following the description of the five periods we
discuss the evolution throughout the periods under five sections: principles concepts
approaches topics and findings. Principles refer to the overarching motivations and labels
employed to describe scholarly work. Approaches describe the theories frameworks and models
employed in analysis emphasizing the multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of SI.
Concepts include specific processes entities themes and elements of discourse within a given
context revealing a shared SI language surrounding change complexity consequences and
social elements of technology. Topics label the issues and general domains studied within
social informatics ranging from scholarly communication to online communities to information
systems. Findings from seminal SI works illustrate growing insights over time and demonstrate
how repeatable explanations unify SI. In the concluding remarks we raise questions about the
possible futures of SI research.
