Conference Paper · 2016
Wang, G., Henfridsson, O., & Nandhakumar, J. (2016). How do designers assemble representational practices to generate radical digital innovations? In Proceedings of the 37th International Conference on Information Systems (pp. 1–19). Association for Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2016/DigitalInnovation/Presentations/8/
Explore the original contribution
Interactive paper explorationStarting point
A team collects images, co-sketches, or models a leading product idea.
The paper’s insight
Conception, creation, and use need not stay with the same actor or original purpose.
What changes
Shared meaning becomes more coherent, while extra information or an unexpected mark opens a new direction.
Representational practices are often discussed as tightly linked activities: an actor conceives an idea, creates its representation, and uses it as intended.
The paper introduces combinatorial representational practice. Digital tools loosen the coupling among conception, creation, and use, enabling their recombination across actors and purposes. This can produce both clarity and unexpected discoveries.
Concept explorer
Select a concept to see its role in this paper’s contribution.
A flow of recombination of conception, creation, and use drawn from different representational practices.
Conception and creation can be distributed; created material can serve purposes its creator did not anticipate.
Intersection and triangulation of representations clarify a leading idea and align understanding.
Extra information, reinterpretation, and invention introduce valuable unanticipated ideas.
The model links data homogenisation and tool flexibility to loose coupling, then to recombination. Its contribution is the mechanism, not the invention of those technological properties.
Discussion and model, PDF pp.14–15; paper pp.14–15.
Heterogeneous representations can enrich an idea’s common meaning while their peripheral information or even mistakes invite new meanings. The study explains these paired effects.
Cohesive and serendipitous effects, PDF pp.11–15; paper pp.11–15.
The authors recommend learning devices that introduce additional information while keeping it connected to the core idea; removing all peripheral material can remove opportunities.
Practical implications, PDF p.16; paper p.16.
The case’s dedicated sketcher team helped people without drawing skills work with specialists, with detailed feedback and inexpensive revision.
Vignette 2 and implications, PDF pp.8,11,16; paper pp.8,11,16.
Why this matters
Digital innovation teams need ways to share a coherent direction while remaining receptive to new possibilities. The paper explains how the same representational work can support both.
Discuss this researchCompleted qualitative study of one Chinese entertainment company’s digital-theatre project, with 41 interviews and approximately 300 observation hours. It explains observed design practices, not a guaranteed recipe for radical innovation.
Research method and three detailed vignettes of representational recombination.
Paired effects, combinatorial model, practical implications, and unresolved questions.
This exploration is based on the author-supplied full text. It distinguishes the paper’s own contribution from established concepts it draws on. For formal citation, consult the publication.