Abstract
The core of this paper is a science fiction short story. We are on planet DOR. A group of scientists are working on an experiment, changing underlying mechanisms of transmissions of a colossus machine(a complex system of gears and levers, wires and pipes. Some of its mechanisms are also known as D for doctors, F for pharmacists, P for patients. Observers travel from Earth to study the experiment. Their dilemmas are unaided by their advanced research tools. The story is inspired by research carried out for the evaluation of the forthcoming electronic prescription service in England. Our story is fiction, but it is also a methodological means, a reflexive lever to elaborate and explore our research texts and to question the feasibility, meaning, and impact of researching future technology.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
References
Alvesson, M., Sköldberg, K.: Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research. Sage, London (2000)
Alvesson, M., Deetz, S.: Doing Critical Management Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (2000)
Ashmore, M.: The Reflexive Thesis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1989)
Austin, R.D., Nolan, R.L., O’Donnell, S.: The Adventures of an IT Leader. Harvard Business School Press, Boston (2009)
Baritz, L.: Servants of Power. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown (1960)
Calás, M.B., Smircich, L.: Past Postmodernism? Reflections and Tentative Directions. The Academy of Management Review 24, 649–671 (1999)
Checkland, P.: Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester (1981)
Crotty, M.: The Foundations of Social Research. Sage, London (1998)
Denning, S.: The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations. Butterworth-Heinemann, New York (2000)
Gabriel, Y.: Storytelling in Organizations: Facts, Fictions, and Fantasies. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2000)
Gouldner, A.W.: The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. Basic Books, New York (1970)
Higgins, M.: Introduction: More Amazing Tales. In: Smith, W., Higgins, M., Parker, M., Lightfoot, G. (eds.) Science Fiction and Organization, pp. 1–12. Routledge, London (2001)
Lem, S.: Solaris. Faber and Faber, London (2003)
Lichtner, V., Petrakaki, D., Hibberd, R., Venters, W., Cornford, A., Barber, N.: Mapping Stakeholders for System Evaluation: The Case of the Electronic Prescription Service in England. In: Safran, C., Reti, S., Marin, H. (eds.) Medinfo 2010—Proceedings of the 13th World Congress on Medical Informatics, Cape Town, South Africa, pp. 1221–1225 (2010)
Lukacs, J.: Historical Consciousness: The Remembered Past. Transaction Publishers, Piscataway (1994)
McBride, N.: Using Performance Ethnography to Explore the Human Aspects of Software quality. Information Technology & People 21, 91–111 (2008)
McHugh, D.: Give Me Your Mirrorshades: Science Fiction “Methodology” Meets the Social and Organizational Sciences. In: Smith, W., Higgins, M., Parker, M., Lightfoot, G. (eds.) Science Fiction and Organization, pp. 15–30. Routledge, London (2001)
Mehan, H., Wood, H.: The Reality of Eethnomethodology. John Wiley & Sons, New York (1975)
Nonaka, I.: The Knowledge-Creating Company. Harvard Business Review 69, 96–104 (1991)
Ollman, B.: Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx Method. University of Illinois Press, Urbana (2003)
Petrakaki, D., Cornford, T., Klecun, E.: Sociotechnical Changing in Healthcare. In: Aarts, J., Nohr, C. (eds.) Information Technology in Health Care (ITHC). IOS Press, Aarhus (2010)
Polanyi, M.: The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday, New York (1967)
Snowden, D.: New Wine in Old Wineskins: From Organic to Complex Knowledge Management through the Use of Story. Emergence 2, 50–64 (2000)
Sontag, S.: The Imagination of Disaster. In: Against Interpretation and Other Essays, pp. 209–225. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York (1966)
Sterman, J.: All Models Are Wrong: Reflections on Becoming a Systems Scientist. System Dynamics Review 18, 501–531 (2002)
Weinberg, A.M.: Science and Trans-Science. Minerva 10(2), 209–222 (1972)
Winner, L.: Do Artifacts Have Politics? In: McKenzie, D., Wajcman, J. (eds.) The Social Shaping of Technology, pp. 28–40. Open University Press, London (1999)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lichtner, V., Venters, W. (2011). Journey to DOR: A Retro Science-Fiction Story on Researching ePrescribing. In: Chiasson, M., Henfridsson, O., Karsten, H., DeGross, J.I. (eds) Researching the Future in Information Systems. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 356. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21364-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21364-9_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-21363-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-21364-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)