This thesis was written in order to gain a deeper understanding of the appropriation of software in groups and organizations. In doing so, it focuses on software created under the modern software engineering trend software ecosystems. Software ecosystems have a major in uence on software development, as they rely on massive usage of distributed software development, open source models and modul...

This paper presents a semiotic approach to the phenomenon of appropriation, focusing on the tension between technology design and the users’ practice. On the one hand, we focus on how the technology itself, through its design, guides its users. On the other hand, we investigate how users appropriate technology, developing specific practices to meet their own needs, resisting the guidance offere...

This paper presents a contribution to the development of a theory of CSCL scripts, i.e., an understanding of what happens when learners engage in such scripts. It builds on the Script Theory of Guidance (SToG) recently proposed by (Fischer et al., 2013). We argue that, when engaged in a collaborative situation structured by a CSCL script, what learners consider is not “the script”, but their ap...

We study the introduction of new technology into (organizational) practices. We argue against the dualist under-pinning of typical IS technology appropriation literature and develop a phenomenological theory of appropriation based on Martin Heidegger’s analysis of equipment. On this view, technology moves from being an object inspected in the practice foreground to becoming equipment as a trans...

This paper describes research in progress which proposes an appropriation perspective to examine the iterative design, development and subsequent redesign of a cultural volunteer crowdsourcing application. The Technology Appropriation Cycle (TAC) model (Carroll 2004) assists with understanding the process of appropriation and describes how user’s appropriation choices can inform the design of f...

In recent years, mobile phone penetration has increased dramatically throughout Latin America. Rising penetration numbers tell an important story, but only part of the story. To fully grasp the social, economic and political impact of mobile telephony, we need to understand appropriation: the process through which mobile phone users go beyond mere adoption to make the technology their own and t...

In the turbulent information technology (IT) industry, firms need to continuously innovate to maintain or increase their competitiveness. Focused technology acquisitions provide a means to rapidly gain IT competencies and innovations. Research consistently identifies knowledge and culture as critical antecedents to success in these acquisitions. Since such studies are typically observational, t...

The concept of appropriation is frequently used in IT implementation research. Rooted in the analysis of the diffusion of innovation, this concept is usually linked with characteristics of an organization’s structure, size, and sector. Since the 1980s, appropriation has been actively studied by IT researchers, who linked it with technological attributions and characteristics of users. In this p...

Research on the adoption of information systems (IS) often stated technology as a fixed entity. Following the ’practical turn’ in IS we argue that information technology artefacts are mainly ’cultural artefacts’, which are shaped in a social process of appropriation where software usage is accompanied by processes of interpretation, negotiation or change in organizations. We elaborate on a (neo...

Social dilemmas characterize decision environments in which individuals’ exclusive pursuit of their own material self-interest can produce inefficient allocations. Social dilemmas are most commonly studied in provision games, such as public goods games and trust games, in which the social dilemma can be manifested in foregone opportunities to create surplus. Appropriation games are sometimes us...