Rhetoric of enrollment and acts of resistance: Information technology as text

Abstract

The focus of this paper is resistance; it deals with the problem of taking for granted the success of the mobilization of power involved in representational practices. The paper describes the metaphor of the technology as text as proposed by social shaping of technology (SST) approaches and suggests how this metaphor can be applied to information systems. This is done by focusing on the discrepancies between rhetoric of enrollment to the use of technologies and the experience of actual usage, implying such discrepancies lead to, or are a result of acts of resistance. Adopting a critical approach and employing some analytical tools developed by SST, it is argued that texts can be unpicked by active users. This is illustrated by a case study of a hospital information systems. The usefulness of the approach and tools are then assessed in discussion prior to a brief assessment of the paper in conclusion. © 2003 by Springer Science+Business Media New York.