TY - CHAP

T1 - Navigating in the Digital Jungle: Articulating Combinatory Affordances of Digital Infrastructures for Collaboration

AU - Zimmer, Markus Philipp

AU - Niemimaa, Marko

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - During digital transformation, companies integrate digital technologies creating large and complex digital infrastructures. These digital infrastructures hold combinatory affordances enabling companies to achieve outcomes that are more than the sum of their parts (i.e., the individual digital technologies). Owing to the complexity of digital infrastructures, these combinatory affordances are ever-present but hidden in the thicket of the infrastructure making their effective use a challenge. We report on an ethnographic study of a large German car manufacturer (Car Inc.) that increasingly integrated digital technologies into its infrastructure as part of its digital transformation strategy. With its infrastructure growing into a 'digital jungle', the combinatory affordances remained hidden impeding the infrastructure's effective use. To facilitate effective use of their infrastructure, that is, support employees to navigate the digital jungle, Car Inc. created a digital compass as a tool to articulate the affordances hidden in the thickets of the digital jungle.

AB - During digital transformation, companies integrate digital technologies creating large and complex digital infrastructures. These digital infrastructures hold combinatory affordances enabling companies to achieve outcomes that are more than the sum of their parts (i.e., the individual digital technologies). Owing to the complexity of digital infrastructures, these combinatory affordances are ever-present but hidden in the thicket of the infrastructure making their effective use a challenge. We report on an ethnographic study of a large German car manufacturer (Car Inc.) that increasingly integrated digital technologies into its infrastructure as part of its digital transformation strategy. With its infrastructure growing into a 'digital jungle', the combinatory affordances remained hidden impeding the infrastructure's effective use. To facilitate effective use of their infrastructure, that is, support employees to navigate the digital jungle, Car Inc. created a digital compass as a tool to articulate the affordances hidden in the thickets of the digital jungle.

KW - Business informatics

KW - Digital Infrastructures

KW - Ethnography

KW - digital jungle

KW - Work Infrastructures

KW - Digital Transformation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85089126515&origin=resultslist&sort=plf-f

M3 - Article in conference proceedings

BT - PACIS 2019 Proceedings

A2 - Xu, Dongming

A2 - Jiang, James

A2 - Kim, Hee-Woong

PB - AIS eLibrary

T2 - Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems - PACIS 2019

Y2 - 8 July 2019 through 12 July 2019

ER -