From JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Jarrahi, M. H., Sawyer, S., & Erickson, I. Presenter ：CHEN,YOU-SHENG (Shane) 2023/02/23

1. Digital assemblages, information
infrastructures, and mobile
knowledge work
From JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Jarrahi, M. H., Sawyer, S., & Erickson, I.
Presenter ：CHEN,YOU-SHENG (Shane) 2023/02/23
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JCR JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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CONTENTS
Introduction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Literature
review
Research
study
Findings
Discussion
Conclusions

4. Authors theorize mobile knowledge workers’ uses of digital and
material resources in support of their working practices.
they advance current conceptualizations of both “information
infrastructures” and “digital assemblages” as elements of
contemporary knowledge work
Purpose
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Methodology
Findings
• Literature review
• Exploratory interviews
• Diary Studies
• A second set of interviews
The digital assemblages are created and
repurposed by workers in their
infrastructuring practices and in response
to mobility demands and technological
environments

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Originality
We advance the current conceptualization of
digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
(Hanseth and Lyytinen, 2010; Monteiro et al, 2014; Sawyer et al, 2014).
We also illuminate innovative ways in which
ICTs are put into practice to support new work
arrangements (Collings and Isichei, 2017)
We theorize that digital assemblages, as
individuated forms of information infrastructure,
sustain stability and internal cohesion even as
they allow for openness and generativity

7. 1. Introduction
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8. Some recent surveys suggesting that such workers already account for
almost 40% of the global workforce (Luk, 2015), and this percentage is expected
to grow steadily over the next decade (IDC, 2016)
Introduction
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We focus on MKWs because these workers self-employed, compete for work,
and collaborate with others
MKWs rely on a combination of their own devices and those provided by
their current employers or clients

9. This reflects a lack of attention to the organizing arrangement and work
practices that form around the increasingly wide-spread uses of mobile ICT
and work/worker mobility (Sørensen and Landau, 2015)
Introduction
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How do digital assemblages compare with and relate to information
infrastructures in the context of MKWs ?
What are important characteristics of digital assemblages that emerge
from infrastructuring practices of MKWs ?
The context for much of IS research is the organizational processes located
within the physical boundaries of one organization (Sørensen, 2016)

10. 2. Literature review
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Mobile knowledge workers
2006
2004
2013
Barley and Kunda ;
Evans et al. ;
Johns and Gratton
The first labor market force is a broad shift from spatially and
temporally located work contexts to arrangements that are
flexible and mobile
1999
2003
Department of Labor ;
Kalleberg
The second labor market force is showing a deliberate move
from stable employment patterns to a workplace based more
on market principles
2009 Kalleberg This makes work and employment more transactional
2011
2009
Briscoe et al., ; Kalleberg
They must take charge of their own career paths and to
develop distinctive skills, assemble the sets of professional
networks and relations to help them sustain meaningful work

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Mobile knowledge workers
1998 Burris
The third labor market force is visible in the rapid rise of and
increased reliance on digital systems
2014
2015
2015
Ciolfi and de Carvalho ;
Cousins and Robey ;
Hislop and Axtell
The MKWs we focus on here represent the intersection of all
three labor forces—de-located mobility, institutional
independence, and technological reliance
2014
2011
2011
Erickson et al. ;
Hislop and Axtell ;
Sørensen
Contemporary research on MKWs reveals some of the ways the
dynamic realities of current institutional and technological
arrangements challenge workers to navigate new social and
organizational boundaries
2006
2000
Barley and Kunda ;
Schultze and Boland
Their work is often oriented around projects, rather than
functions

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Mobile knowledge workers
2009 Kalleberg
MKWs move about, work with multiple clients, collaborate with other
independent workers, all while relying on a suite of digital and
material resources that they assemble to enable these efforts
2015 The Week
The population of mobile workers (of which MKW represent a portion)
in the US will rise from 96.2 million in 2015 to 105.4 million by 2020
2015
2016
Harris and Krueger ;
Katz and Krueger
The analysts predict will become increasingly common in the future
2008
2014
Chen and Nath ;
Czarniawska
It is more common for workers to be “nomadic”, routinely traveling long
distances, lacking a stable workplace
2015
2010
Hislop and Axtell ;
Yoo
ICT infrastructures have enabled MKWs to expand the places and
spaces in which they conduct their work

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Digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
2014 Sawyer et al
A digital assemblage can be defined as a collection of digital and
physical resources that a worker draws together to help him or her
pursue a specific goal
1977 Gibson
HCI/CSCW research has emphasized an ecological perspective on how
multiple tools and technologies shape users’ computing environments
2012
2012
2008
Bødker and
Klokmose ;
Coughlan et al., ;
Jung et al.
Activity-centric perspective, meaning device or communitive ecologies
by focusing on how certain activities of the user are supported by
various devices and applications
 Digital assemblages are a form of individualized information infrastructures that stretch
across organizations
 The relationship between the two concepts remains to be explored empirically and
theoretically

15. 2012 Monteiro et al.
An information infrastructure is an evolving ecosystem of interconnected
systems and modules that stretches across space and time, and is open to
many types of users with various objectives
1996 Hanseth et al.
IIs are generative. Whereas most IS are closely tied to the working
processes they are meant to support
2001
2009
Hanseth and
Lundberg;
Pipek and Wulf
II is open, providing openings for expanding both the numbers and types
of users
2003
Garud and
Karnøe
Existing systems evolving along a dynamic but uncertain technological path
2002 Star and Bowker
A good information infrastructure is one that is stable enough to allow
information to be able to persist in time, modifiable at the individual level
and respond to emergent social needs
Digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
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16. 1998 Hanseth and Braa
The installed base is the “existing infrastructure,” which
shapes the future development of the II
Digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
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Installed based :
Standardization :
IIs are open systems that evolve through repeated uses.
Their growth is shaped by the cumulative uses
1997
Hanseth and
Monteiro
Standards serve as a foundation for interoperability
2007 Jackson et al.
Standards connect heterogeneous systems and enable
the power, scope, and quality of the kernel or installed
base to take shape
ensure the continuity of an II by allowing interoperability

17. 2010
2013
Hanseth and
Lyytinen ;
Henfridsson and
Bygstad
Defining characteristics of an II, given its
heterogeneity enabled by standardization
2007 Jackson et al
Enable an II to interact and adapt to changed
environments
2010 Tilson et al.
its ability to allow new outcomes without additional
inputs from the originators or designers
2009
2002
Pipek and Wulf ;
Star and Bowker
Helping users appropriate and reshape the macro
structures for local uses
Digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
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Generativity and openness :
Foregrounding the continuous practices of developing, using, and further cultivating
infrastructures

18. 2014
2011
Sawyer et al. ;
Sawyer and Winter
The infrastructures that MKWs construct and use, can be
characterized as assemblages of multiple, nested, and
commodified technologies
2008
2017
Carroll ; Carroll and
Reich
Studies of these arrangements typically focus on how
individuals construct and customize their personal collections
2014 Middleton et al.
To ensure access to information resources away from
organizational nuclei and to address their dynamic work
practices
2014 Winter et al.
To provide the context for work, constraining and enabling
organizationally-designed work practices
Digital assemblages and information
infrastructures
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Infrastructuring beyond the organizational container :

19. 3. Research study
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We began identifying possible participants using a broad understanding of
“knowledge worker” or “information professional” (Alvesson, 2004; Schultze and Boland, 2000)
Identifying participants
Date
Method
Participants info
Focus group
Snowball sampling of contacts from our
personal networks
We looked for individuals who had
temporal and/or spatial independence,
were goal- and/or project-oriented, were
client-facing, collaborative, and digitally
reliant
Over the course of 22 months, from
mid-2014 to mid-2016
• Contacted 61 potential participants
• 37 agreed to participate
• 24 either declined to participate or it became
clear they did not meet our selection criteria

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We began identifying possible participants using a broad understanding of
“knowledge worker” or “information professional” (Alvesson, 2004; Schultze and Boland, 2000)
Identifying participants

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Data collection
(1) interviewees’ professional background, working situation,
work tasks, and work arrangements
(2) the nature and structure of mobility (e.g., spatially and
(e.g., spatially and temporally) and work spaces
(3) the ways that different technologies and infrastructures
infrastructures play a role in their work
Diary study
(second set of interview)
Trace data collection(also include
second interview)
Protocol
focused
Multiple-choice and open-
ended questions(include
picture)
Twice a day
Install TraceMobile
Sent data every 5 min
US$3 /per entry
US$50 gift card

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Interview transcripts in the NVivo
research software using open coding
We refined these themes across several
iterations of discussion and returning to
the data
Output : MS Excel spreadsheets
For finding common patterns, interesting
exceptions, or any other points that can
demarcate the interview data
Interviews served as the primary means of
data, and our approach toward diary study
and trace data was an interposed one in
that they were proceeded and succeeded by
interviews with the same participants
Practices and the configuration of their
digital assemblages could vary due to
personal preferences or unique work
contexts
Data analysis

24. 4. Findings
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Findings
We find the mobile workers shared a common set of
sociotechnical assembling practices that transcend their
particular professions and work
MKWs spend substantial time organizing and
coordinating work
MKWs are more responsible for the ICT elements of
their work
have to constantly learn about and assemble various
applications and infrastructures to support their core
work practices

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Findings
Find their next project or
at least manage
organizational complexity
Be productive
on the move
These efforts are further magnified by the need of many of these workers to

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Ensuring digital stability
The needs to accommodate spatial mobility
Harnessing local infrastructures
• two infrastructures are fundamental: electricity and the internet
Maximizing resource availability
• need to ensure constant access to information across space and time
Monitoring usage
• cognizant of their data usage when drawing on the cellular network
Ensuring security
• working with sensitive material strive to protect this
Overcoming technological interoperability challenges
• assembling a diverse set of software and digital platforms contributes to flexibility

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Mobilizing work across boundaries
to actively navigate and accommodate various spatial, temporal, project-centric,
and organizational boundaries
Creating productivity spaces
• all participants relied on some form of a “mobile office”
• need to bring assemblages, infrastructures, and strategies together in ways
Customizing collaborations
• each participant developed practices for using certain cloud services
• the diversity of cloud services participants’ uses reflects clients’ needs more than
the worker’s personal preferences.
Overcoming organizational restrictions
• different organization’s policies enable and constrain MKWs as they do their work
• several participants reported they carry two laptops to access enterprise resources

29. 5. Discussion
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Discussion
Technological context :
The diverse use of consumer technologies and the
reliance on ubiquitous technological infrastructures
characterizes MKW as an interplay between work
tasks and technological environments
Social context :
Personal digital assemblages are concomitantly
reflective of both persistent and emergent work
arrangements

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Comparing digital assemblages and II
the role of the individual worker’s abilities to maintain a cohesive, functioning
arrangement across multiple situations
owe their openness to workers’ adaptability in the face of various collaborative
and organizational needs

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Characteristics of digital assemblages in the
context of MKWs
MKWs develop this understanding and workarounds through trial and error
a set of social structures that embody both rules and resources that structure
future interactions with technology

33. 6. Conclusions:
IIs and digital assemblages
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Conclusions
1. Mobile work and the related use of personal and ubiquitous
technologies extend beyond these containers
2. The mobile workers in our study share a common set of sociotechnical
infrastructuring practices that transcend any particular profession and
or workstyle
3. They must intelligently span organizational, temporal, and spatial
boundaries to accomplish their work (Cousins and Robey, 2005)
4. Findings reported here help make clear that digital assemblages are
enacted and sustained by MKWs to manage and effectively execute
their work

35. Thanks!

36. • Jarrahi, M. H., Sawyer, S., & Erickson, I. (2022). Digital assemblages, information
infrastructures, and mobile knowledge work. Journal of Information Technology,
37(3), 230–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/02683962211050943
• PPT template- Ethan Free PowerPoint Template
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Resource

37. • 何謂「知識工作者(Knowledge Worker)
http://www.victorgau.com/%E4%BD%95%E8%AC%82%E3%80%8C%E7%9F%A5%E8%AD%98%E5%B7%A5%E4%BD%9C%E8%80%85kno
wledge-worker%E3%80%8D%EF%BC%9F/#google_vignette
• 快速流动时代背景下社会研究的“流动转向”及新趋势* - 开放时代杂志社
http://www.opentimes.cn/html/Abstract/20777.html
• 組織邊界-MBA
https://wiki.mbalib.com/zh-tw/%E7%BB%84%E7%BB%87%E8%BE%B9%E7%95%8C
• nomadic computing：游牧计算
https://searchcio.techtarget.com.cn/whatis/8-29034/
• 零工經濟（Gig Economy）
https://stli.iii.org.tw/article-detail.aspx?no=64&tp=1&d=8471
• 日誌研究的執行經驗分享 Tips for conducting Diary Studies
https://blog.userxper.com/user-research-tips-for-conducting-diary-studies/
• Diary Studies: Understanding Long-Term User Behavior and Experiences
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/diary-studies/
• 【Digital Nomad】什麼職業可以不用進公司？一文搞懂什麼是數位遊牧民族
https://www.anywhere.today/digital-nomad/
• 【指南】如何成為數位遊牧？初學者必看的重點整理懶人包
https://turtlegirltravel.com/become-digital-nomad/
• 【數位遊牧】你想邊旅行邊工作嗎？千萬不要錯過這些國家與都市！ 介紹兩款實用的線上工具 ─ Nomadlist 與 Numbeo
https://turtlegirltravel.com/best-countries-for-digital-nomads/
• Qualtrics国外普遍的在线调查平台
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/28504401
• Passpoint認證計畫啟動 Wi-Fi全球漫遊不是夢
https://www.2cm.com.tw/2cm/zh-tw/market/03545BC6990D4BDAB87495EDBD18A0B1
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