This event was sponsored by the British Academy and the Warwick Business School  

13th - 15th October 2015

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK

Building on previous innovation in informationinfrastructures workshops (in 2006/2012/2014 in USA, Edinburgh and Oslo), this workshop focused on innovations in digital information infrastructures. We defined digital infrastructures as relational in nature and exhibiting dynamism and longevity. Digital infrastructures herald a new stage in the evolution of digital information systems, reflecting the fact that digital technologies have become deeply socially embedded, and are coordinated through diverse sociotechnical worlds and standards.

We encouraged new conceptualizations of dynamic innovations in digital infrastructures, by asking participants to examine their reconfigurable nature. An illustrative example is digital infrastructures for mobile phone applications. In this example, dynamic innovations are accomplished through the establishment of the digital infrastructure (e.g. Android platform), which enables innovations by third party developers to be integrated into the platform in a continuous symbiotic relationship.

Although, the emphasis was on digital infrastructures, we acknowledged that solid information infrastructure concepts and sound methodological approaches should have been taken into account. Thus, we asked participants to build on the tradition of historical studies of infrastructures, such as electricity networks, and encouraged conceptualizations of information infrastructures as political sociotechnical networks that require collective action and governance.

We called for contributions that focused on either the special theme on innovations in digital infrastructures or the general theme on information infrastructures based on empirical research in relevant settings, such as aviation and transportation, automotive, banking, cloud computing, healthcare, the internet of things, and social media.

Please see here for the full programme

Keynote Speakers:

• Dr Mark Darbyshire, SAP UK
• Professor Ole Hanseth, University of Oslo
• Dr Carsten Sørensen, London School of Economics
• Mr Alberto Di Felice, Government Affairs Europe, Qualcomm

Panel Discussions:

• Innovation in digital government infrastructures

Chair: Kalle Lyytinen (Case Western Reserve University)

Panellists: Alberto di Felice, Mark Thompson and Bendik Bygstad

• Innovation in digital market infrastructures

Chair: Robin Williams (University of Edinburgh)

Panellists: Mark Darbyshire, Rajiv Kohli, Mark Skilton, Youngjin Yoo

Themes

This workshop brought together researchers with a genuine interest in theorising information (and digital) infrastructures and developing methodological approaches to study them. Some of the key themes emerging from the workshop include:

• innovations in digital infrastructures
• the transformation of social and work practices through such innovations
• the impact of such innovations on individual and social identities
• the design, development and implementation of information infrastructures across different settings (e.g. e-health, e-justice, supply chain, etc)
• the governance and control of information infrastructures
• digital cities
• the Internet of Things
• auditing and surveillance
• the security and privacy of personal and other data shared through digital infrastructures
• information infrastructure standards
• methodological challenges in studying information infrastructures

Keynote 1 Dr Carsten Sorensen Digital Agility and the Curse of the Smart Machine Tuesday 13 October 2015	Keynote 2 Mr Alberto Di Felice Achieving the Digital Single Market: Designing and implementing forward looking policies for innovation, inclusion and access Wednesday 14 October 2015	Keynote 3 Professor Ole Hanseth On generativity and information infrastructures Wednesday 14 October 2015
Panel 1 Innovations in digital government infrastructures Chair: Kalle Lyytinen Panellists: Alberto Di Felice, Mark Thompson and Bendik Bygstad	Panel 2 Innovations in digital market infrastructures Chair: Robin Williams Panellists: Mark Darbyshire, Rajiv Kohli, Mark SKilton and Youngjin Yoo