Regimes of Information and the Paradox of Embeddedness: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Jannis Kallinikos, Hamid Ekbia and Bonnie Nardi
The introduction outlines the problematic that has served as the basis for this special issue. Interaction weaves the fabric of social life in the form of events that are usually embedded in a series of particulars, variously referred to as contexts or situations. At the same time, actors, and the contexts in which they are embedded, are constituted by social rules, role systems and normative frameworks that transcend situated encounters. Furthermore, most interactive events involve a range of resources and technological capabilities that recur across contexts and situations. The special issue deals with how the multivalent involvement of information and communication technologies in social practice alters this basic problematic. It entails six research papers that investigate particular social practices and the ways each of these practices are refigured by the deepening involvement of information and communication technologies. The special issue also features an invited, perspectives paper by distinguished philosopher Albert Borgmann.