Inscriptions on Intranets as Information Infastructures - Exposing the Cultivation Chasm

This study explores intranets as information infrastructure and considers critically the stakeholders, who are responsible for updating the intranet, and the associated organisational impact of their activity, in three interpretive case studies. Previous research indicates that web-based information resources are in fact an information infrastructure, which do not occur ‘denouvo’. They ‘wrestle’ with and extend the existing non-technical organisational communication structures, taking on their strengths and weaknesses. As information infrastructures, numerous social arrangements are embedded or inscribed, giving visibility to the Information Infrastructure. This paper explores the nature of these inscriptions and considers either the influence of the IS function (topdown) versus the end-user (bottom-up) contributions. A number of authors propose cultivation as the desirable middleground between top down and bottom-up lead implementations. The findings are discussed from a critical theory perspective by considering the emancipation of the end-user versus domination via the top-down paradigm.