Infrastructuring in the Future School Case - involving both adults and children

Information infrastructure building efforts have entered both research literature and the practice of utilizing information and communication technology (ICT) in organizations as well as in our everyday life. The concept of infrastructuring has also challenged the traditional, project-based assumptions of information systems (IS) development. This study will explore infrastructuring within the educational network of a Finnish city. The study examines infrastructuring in-depth in a novel context, and includes an unusual group of participants: children that have so far been almost entirely neglected in IS research. A research framework of nexus analysis, combining both qualitative and participatory research approaches, was utilized for exploring infrastructuring in this Future School case. The study characterizes a multitude of actors, both adults and children, their various activities, and the versatility of outcomes involved. This study addresses both ‘design for use before use’ and ‘design in use’ carried out by teachers and pupils. In addition, the existence of certain kinds of resonance and design-for-design-in-use activities is revealed. The study expands infrastructuring to concern both pedagogical, architectural, and interior design, as well as enabling issues; the study reveals that when creating novel learning environments, all these aspects may play a role together with ICT.