The Image of the Human Being in Infor - mation Systems Development : Some Reflections by Systems Designers

This paper describes the qualitatively different views of users that Finnish IS designers have. This view is a basis for the IS-user relationship. A method of empirical research for investigating human beings’ views of the surrounding world, phenomenography, is presented. The preliminary results of the analysis indicate that IS designers tend to give meaning to users through the intentions of the situation in question rather than connecting characteristics typical of a human being to the user. A Human being is understood, on the one hand, in terms of information technology, business or organisational work processes and, on the other hand, with the aid of self-reflection. The meanings that the designers connect directly to the users describe and sustain the traditional IS-user relationship in IS literature and also bring forth emotional characteristics of a human being.