In a mood to make sense of technology: A longitudinal study of discursive practices at the London ambulance service

Abstract

This paper addresses how an organization that experienced a major disaster when implementing an information system has attempted to rebuild its sense of identity, while responding to sectoral and national mandates that it continue to deploy information technology as a means of improving its performance. The organization is the London Ambulance Service (LAS). The disaster occurred 10 years ago during the LASCAD (LAS Computer Aided Despatch) implementation of October 1992. The institutions that mandate the continued adoption of information technology are the Department of Health, the UK government, and the popular press, acting as guardians of the public interest. This research addresses the discourses about information systems (IS) implementation that have taken place at the LAS over the last 10 years, how they have been framed by institutions, as well as informed by local memories. Moreover, it addresses the emotional medium in which these discourses have taken place, following the events of October 1992. In this way, the research considers the emotional and cognitive dimensions of IS implementation and use, or how an enduring mood and a pervasive mode of arguing and acting interpenetrated in three IS projects at the LAS during the last decade. © 2003 by Springer Science+Business Media New York.