Article (Scientific journals)
Jürgen Habermas revisited via Tim Cook’s Wikipedia biography: A hermeneutic approach to critical Information Systems research
SMETHURST, Reilly; Young, Amber G.; Wigdor, Ariel D.
2024In Journal of Responsible Technology, 20, p. 100090
Peer reviewed
 

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Keywords :
Emancipatory technology; Empirical critical research; Habermas; Hermeneutics; Social inclusion; Wikipedia
Abstract :
[en] Critical Information Systems (IS) research is sometimes appreciated for the shades of gray it adds to sunny portraits of technology’s emancipatory potential. In this article, we revisit a theory about Wikipedia’s putative freedom from the authority of corporate media’s editors and authors. We present the curious example of Tim Cook’s Wikipedia biography and its history of crowd-sourced editorial decisions, published on Wikipedia’s talk pages. We use a hermeneutic method to subject the theory about Wikipedia’s “rational discourse” and “emancipatory potential” to a soft, empirical test. When we examined Cook’s Wikipedia biography and its editorial decisions, what we found pertained to authoritative discourse – the opposite of “rational discourse” – as well as Jürgen Habermas’s concept of dramaturgical action. Our discussion aims to change how critical scholars think about IS’s Habermasian theories and emancipatory technology. Our contribution – a critical intervention – is a clear alternative to mainstream IS research’s moral prescriptions and mechanistic causes.
Research center :
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) > FINATRAX - Digital Financial Services and Cross-organizational Digital Transformations
Disciplines :
Management information systems
Author, co-author :
SMETHURST, Reilly  ;  University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust > FINATRAX > Team Gilbert FRIDGEN
Young, Amber G. 
Wigdor, Ariel D. 
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Jürgen Habermas revisited via Tim Cook’s Wikipedia biography: A hermeneutic approach to critical Information Systems research
Publication date :
03 August 2024
Journal title :
Journal of Responsible Technology
ISSN :
2666-6596
Publisher :
Elsevier BV
Volume :
20
Pages :
100090
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Focus Area :
Security, Reliability and Trust
FnR Project :
FNR13342933 - Paypal-fnr Pearl Chair In Digital Financial Services, 2019 (01/01/2020-31/12/2024) - Gilbert Fridgen
Funders :
Fonds National de la Recherche
Funding number :
13342933
Available on ORBilu :
since 24 September 2024

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