We view an innovation as the manifestation of a set of beliefs and values about change. Thus when we refer to the innovation, we include not only pieces of software or hardware, but also all of those documents and practices that define and support its intended uses. At a minimum these include user’s guides, documented examples of previous use, training for users, and texts describing the innovation. But in the final analysis, we see an innovation as a process - the meeting ground of various interests and practices. What we need to investigate is the meaning of this broader sense of the innovation for the social systems in which the innovation is used.
This view raises some broad questions: Under what circumstances will a social system change, resist change, or change in unexpected ways? What is the role of innovations in producing change? What institutional factors promote or inhibit change? How can we best analyze the process of change when it does occur? What are the implications of these issues for the evaluation of innovations?
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