The power of an intellectual account: developing stories of the digital age

Introduction D eveloping compelling stories is perhaps the most important mission of the qualitative information systems researcher. Indeed, our discipline ‘has a powerful story to tell about the transformational impact of information technology’ (Agarwal and Lucas, 2005: 381), and I am sure that we all feel that we would like to contribute. A powerful story can inform and explain. A powerful story can guide, intervene, and come with policy implications. However, most importantly, it may inspire us to take action, whether it is within the realm of knowledge, the realm of practice, or at the intersection between the two. How can stories of the digital age be developed? Even though there is no silver bullet, I offer some thoughts below as a comment to David Avison and Julien Malaurent’s thoughtprovoking piece on information systems and its suggested ‘theory fetish’.