From Methodological Symmetry to Gaia: Latour’s Legacy and Untapped Potential for IS Research

Abstract

A defining concern for information systems (IS) is how to theorize its primary object of study, the digital artifact. Historically, approaches in IS have oscillated between technological determinist and social determinist ones. Bruno Latour’s works contributed to recalibrating a more symmetrical treatment of the two, and he played a distinctive role in stimulating the evolution of empirically committed, process-oriented theorizing in the IS field. We commemorate Latour’s work by revisiting his early influence on IS research and discuss some of the direct and indirect influences on contemporary IS, such as infrastructure studies and sociomateriality. With the interest in agentic technologies via AI, Latour’s perspectives on technological agency are more relevant than ever. In addition, we explore ideas that are relevant to IS but have yet to be taken up, thus representing untapped theoretical and methodological potential for future IS research—for example, approaching data as circulating reference or how his work could contribute to sustainability discussions in IS.