Emancipatory technology; Empirical critical research; Habermas; Hermeneutics; Social inclusion; Wikipedia
Résumé :
[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.
Centre de recherche :
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) > FINATRAX - Digital Financial Services and Cross-organizational Digital Transformations
Disciplines :
Gestion des systèmes d’information
Auteur, co-auteur :
SMETHURST, Reilly ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust > FINATRAX > Team Gilbert FRIDGEN
Young, Amber G.
Wigdor, Ariel D.
Co-auteurs externes :
yes
Langue du document :
Anglais
Titre :
Jürgen Habermas revisited via Tim Cook’s Wikipedia biography: A hermeneutic approach to critical Information Systems research
Date de publication/diffusion :
03 août 2024
Titre du périodique :
Journal of Responsible Technology
ISSN :
2666-6596
Maison d'édition :
Elsevier BV
Volume/Tome :
20
Pagination :
100090
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Focus Area :
Security, Reliability and Trust
Projet FnR :
FNR13342933 - Paypal-fnr Pearl Chair In Digital Financial Services, 2019 (01/01/2020-31/12/2024) - Gilbert Fridgen
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