TY - Generic T1 - The Ubiquity and Utility of Resistance: Codesign and Personalization of Information Systems Y1 - 2005 A1 - Melanie Wilson AB - In assessing the positive and negative connotations of ubiquity, this paper favors association with cohabitation and domestication of technology rather than colonization and domination. Unpredicted user responses to technology are often framed as resistance. Despite its ubiquity, resistance remains a neglected topic in information systems research, and belief in technology as “the one true way” of solving a problem means that it will often be demonized. Recognition of the powerful nature of IS elucidates sources of resistance: the policies governing the behavior and reactions of users to technology will impinge on the range of user activities deemed to be recalcitrant. This is especially important with the types of technology involved in ubiquitous information environments as they are often used outside of organizations for leisure and social activities. However, one cannot assume that newer mobile technologies deployed to achieve organizational goals will be adopted and used by employees with the degree of success that these technologies have enjoyed in voluntary environments. An alternative approach is advocated: resistance is perceived not as a threat, but as a site for personalization, and local adaptation: users’ subversive acts can play a role in improving the technology; IS failure can be lessened and resistance may ultimately play a role in stabilizing a system. Finally, an argument is made for personalization through user-driven codesign as part of a strategy of utilizing resistance. JF - Designing Ubiquitous Information Environments: Socio-Technical Issues and Challenges ER - TY - Generic T1 - New Insights into Studying Agency and Information Technology Y1 - 2004 A1 - Tony Salvador A1 - Jeremy Rose A1 - Whitley, Edgar A1 - Melanie Wilson JF - Information Systems Research UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-8095-6_37 ER - TY - Generic T1 - Panel: New insights into studying agency and information technology Y1 - 2004 A1 - Tony Salvador A1 - Jeremy Rose A1 - Edgar A. Whitley A1 - Melanie Wilson ED - Bonnie Kaplan ED - Duane P. Truex III, ED - Wastell, David ED - A. Trevor Wood-Harper ED - Janice I. DeGross JF - Information systems research: Relevant theory and informed practice PB - Kluwer CY - Boston UR - IFIP822004.pdf ER - TY - Generic T1 - Theory and Action for Emancipation: Elements of a Critical Realist Approach Y1 - 2004 A1 - Melanie Wilson A1 - Greenhill, Anita AB - Adopting a non-Habermasian critical realist position, this paper seeks to outline some key elements of a realist ontology, on the one hand, and a radical critical stance on the other. The relationship of critical realism to positivism and interpretivism is described, and the case for methodological pluralism made. The elements of realism described are connection of the particular with general, contribution to knowledge, and construction of alternatives. The critical aims entail a commitment to emancipation, a focus on issues of equality and inequality, a questioning of the status quo, and a challenging of ideology. One key conclusion for practice concerns the alliances for researchers with less conservative members of organizations in order to avoid compromise on emancipatory aims. The contribution of the paper is summarized in a concluding table. JF - Information Systems Research UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-8095-6_42 ER - TY - Generic T1 - Rhetoric of Enrollment and Acts of Resistance: Information Technology as Text Y1 - 2002 A1 - Melanie Wilson JF - Global and Organizational Discourse about Information Technology ER - TY - Generic T1 - A New Paradigm for Considering Gender in Information Systems Development Research Y1 - 2001 A1 - Melanie Wilson JF - Realigning Research and Practice in Information Systems Development ER - TY - Generic T1 - The Role of Gender in User Resistance and Information Systems Failure Y1 - 2000 A1 - Melanie Wilson A1 - Debra Howcroft JF - Organizational and Social Perspectives on IT ER -