Scaffolding health information infrastructure's generativity by scaffolded gateways: The case of Vietnam

Abstract

Standards and gateways are important components that play critical roles in information infrastructure (e-infrastructure) evolution. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted into this area. To fill that gap, we undertook a longitudinal action research study in the health care sector in Vietnam in the period between 2012 and 2015. The empirical work involved designing or cultivating, reconfiguring, (re)assembling multiple socio-technical components and transforming them into a larger health information infrastructure. To understand how gateways performed in our cases, we employed a concept namely "scaffolded gateways", which was basically a hybrid between scaffoldings and gateways. We defined it as having three properties: interconnecting, supportive, and evanescent.