They concentrate
on the negotiations that allow the network to be configured by the enrolment of both human
and non-human allies, and consider any supposed characteristics of the technology only as
network effects resulting from association. An actor is seen not just as a ???point object??? but
rather as an association of heterogeneous elements, which constitute a network. Each actor
is thus itself also a simplified network (Law, 1992). In actor-network theory, interactions
and associations between actors and networks are the important thing, and actors are seen
only as the sum of their interactions with other actors and networks.
Some examples of the use of actor-network theory in the information systems field are in
investigating the adoption of Visual Basic as a programming language by a major Australian
university (Tatnall, 2000), the adoption and use of Internet technologies by older people
(Tatnall & Lepa, 2001), the adoption of a particular approach to systems analysis by a local
council in the UK (McMaster, Vidgen, & Wastell, 1997) and to a car parking system
(Vidgen & McMaster, 1996). An example of its use in the small business field is given by
Tatnall (2002).
Innovation translation, from actor-network theory, offers useful insights on how innovation
occurs, and the remainder of this chapter will make use of this approach.
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