Information systems, sociomaterial practices and the emergence of environmental management infrastructures

Authors

  • Indrit Troshani The University of Adelaide
  • Bill Doolin Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
  • Karl Fradley SRA Information Technology, Adelaide, SA
  • Giselle Rampersad Flinders University, SA, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v26i0.3829

Keywords:

Environmental management, information systems, infrastructure, artifacts, routines, sociomaterial practice, mangle of practice, emergence

Abstract

Information systems are an integral part of environmental management infrastructures – complex assemblages of social and technical artifacts, human actors and sociomaterial routines enacted in the pursuit of environmental sustainability outcomes. We analyse the case of an environmental management infrastructure developed around a ‘vessel management system’ by a South Australian regulator between 2004 and 2013. The goal of this infrastructure was to sustain water quality by controlling the discharge of ‘greywater’ from vessels on South Australia’s inland waters. We conceptualise environmental management infrastructure, and the information systems they encompass, as the temporally emergent outcome of human agents’ attempts to extend their environmental management practice in a particular direction, and how that trajectory of emergence is shaped by the intersection of human agencies, material performances and disciplinary practices.

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Published

2022-12-21

How to Cite

Troshani, I., Doolin, B., Fradley, K., & Rampersad, G. (2022). Information systems, sociomaterial practices and the emergence of environmental management infrastructures. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 26. https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v26i0.3829

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Section

Selected Papers from the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS)