Establishing Spaces of Interplay: the Role of Discourse in the Growth of Information Infrastructures

Research has shown that large IT programmes in e-government and e-health are challenging not only in terms of project failures and high costs, but also that the public and sectorial discourses greatly influences the trajectories and outcomes of mega-programmes. However, few IS studies have investigated this phenomenon in much depth, and the aim of this contribution is to shed more light on the relationship of discourse and mega-programmes. We build loosely on Foucault’s discourse concept and on Swanson’ term of organising vision, but frame our investigation in information infrastructure theory. Our empirical evidence is a 15-year study of the growth of the national e-health infrastructure in Norway, which we investigate at three levels, where we analyse the interplay of the eHealth discourse and the various programme initiatives. First we identify the system formations that bring about change as well as analysing their content. Then we identify and discuss a pattern where windows of opportunity open and narrow in waves of discourse and action. We also contribute to the information infrastructure research by highlighting the role of discourse in infrastructure evolution.