Information Systems Research and Development by Activity Analysis and Development: Dead Horse or the Next Wave?

We argue that the currently dominant methods in Information Systems are not satisfactory for emancipatory research and development whose starting point is work. Activity theory was proposed as such an emancipatory research-cum-development approach in IS a decade ago. However, the potential identified in the theory has not fully materialized. As our own contribution toward making activity theory more operational in IS, we present an elaborated framework, ActAD, and review our experience in applying it to descriptive research, practical analysis, and constructive research. We claim that in order to fully unleash the potential of activity theory, activity-based methods should be developed further for IS requirements analysis projects and IS implementation projects, as well as for facilitating software development. The most appropriate way of developing such applied methods is through collaborative action research in real-life information systems work—the information systems practitioners developing their own work through activity analysis and development, with researcher participation.