Texts as Maps: Deconstruction as an Approach to Exploring IS Practice

Deconstruction is a post-structuralist approach to language, most often associated with Jacque Derrida. Deconstruction has to-date received little attention in the information systems (IS) literature. In this paper, we consider how deconstruction might contribute to language-based approaches in IS research and practice. We first discuss deconstruction in light of the linguistic turn in social science research. We review the small body of IS research that has employed deconstruction and then consider other possible ways it might be applied in the study of information systems texts, such as information systems per se, IS methodologies, and IS research publications. In doing so, we argue that IS texts do not simply describe the social and technical past but also prescribe and circumscribe the future of IS practices and technologies by what is not written. Using deconstruction, we suggest IS texts may serve as maps to future IS practices, by “de-centering” the limited meanings that accrue to any text.