Abstract Public health surveillance based on data analytics plays a crucial role in detecting and responding to public health crises, such as infectious disease outbreaks. Previous information science research on the topic has focused on developing analytical algorithms and visualization tools. This study seeks to extend the research by investigating information practices in data analytics for public health surveillance. Through a case study of how data analytics was conducted for surveilling Influenza A and COVID‐19 outbreaks, both exploration information practices (i.e., probing, synthesizing, exchanging) and exploitation information practices (i.e., scavenging, adapting, outreaching) were identified and detailed. These findings enrich our empirical understanding of how data analytics can be implemented to support public health surveillance.

Wildlife management is becoming increasingly critical to improving the sustainability of biodiversity and the welfare of human beings. This paper uses affordance as a lens to explore the design of information systems that can assist in managing wildlife in protected areas. Through an action design research (ADR) study with a forest department, we develop and test design principles for a class of wildlife management analytics system (WMAS). We identify the initial design principles, including elements of the action potential, materiality, and boundary condition, and iteratively refine them based on an instantiation of WMAS through two iterations of design and implementation cycles. Through our work, we contribute to design knowledge by abstracting the artefacts, design principles in particular, and the ADR approach by generalising two new activities and corresponding principles when designing analytical models. Our findings can also be used to address a class of similar problems and systems in practice.

The recent pandemic has painfully reminded us of the need for IS design to be informed by possible futures and conscious of undesirable futures – Within months, many of the nice-to-have IS functionalities have become must-haves; Technology solutions in response to the pandemic have raised privacy and equality concerns. Although design science research fundamentally focuses on shaping artefacts and events to create a more desirable future, there has been limited guidance on how futures should be accounted for. This article addresses the gap by integrating insights from future-oriented IS research and futures research to develop guidelines for engaging with futures throughout the design science research process. The future-ready design research (FRDR) process prompts researchers to be more aware of futures, to foster the innovative foresight for actively pursuing the preferred future, and to espouse the responsible foresight for consciously avoiding undesirable futures. The guidelines are illustrated with a design science research project on outbreak analytics and the instantiated system’s subsequent adaptation and utilisation in COVID-19.

The perennial issue of information value creation needs to be understood in the contemporary era of a more networked user environment enabled by information technology (IT). This mixed‐methods study investigates information value cocreation from the social informatics perspective to surface sociotechnical implications for IT design and use, since cocreation is inherently social and technology‐mediated. Specifically, the cocreation of software as an information‐intensive product is examined. Data on the cocreation of Xiaomi's MIUI firmware were collected from two sources: 49 interviews of staff and user participants and web crawling of the cocreation platform. They were analyzed with interpretive analysis, topic modeling, and social network analysis for triangulation. Findings indicate three sociotechnical information practices co‐constituted by information, IT, people, and their activities. Each practice is instrumental in rapidly and continuously converting external information into cocreated information value. The adsorption information practice attracts new and diverse external information; the absorption practice integrates external and internal information rapidly by involving users; the desorption practice allows rapid adoption of the cocreated product so that information value can be realized and demonstrated for further cocreation. Critically analyzing these practices reveals unanticipated or paradoxical issues affecting the design and use of common cocreation technology such as discussion forums.

Knowledge embodiment, taking a social informatics perspective, refers to the transformation of knowledge into a form in which its value becomes evident. Knowledge embodiment in robotic systems with artificial intelligence (AI robotic systems) actualizes the value of knowledge much more powerfully than other entities, potentially altering the connections among people or even displacing professionals. To understand the effects of knowledge embodiment in AI robotic systems on connections among people and technology, this study addresses 2 cumulative research questions: (i) What is the nature of knowledge embodiment, that is, how are knowledge and AI robots assembled for knowledge work? (ii) How does knowledge embodiment affect connections among people and technology (that is, social informatics)? A case study of a large hospital that has employed different AI robotic systems in many parts of its healthcare service provision process indicates 4 forms of knowledge embodiment, each with a distinct focus. Further, a social informatics analysis suggests four ways knowledge embodiment affects connections among people and technology and reveals related social and institutional issues that go beyond technological determinism. Implications of these findings for research on social informatics and information science are discussed.

Although knowledge repositories typically seek to capture the knowledge employees acquire from working on their jobs, little consideration has been given to the influence of job characteristics. This study proposes a job knowledge contribution model that details the influence of different job characteristics on the duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution through their influences on different knowledge characteristics. The model was assessed with a survey of 255 employees working in knowledge-intensive industries. Identifying the knowledge mechanisms explaining the impact of job characteristics has implications for the theoretical development of knowledge contribution and indicates new directions for research.

Subsidized ICT access is often provided in less-developed regions of the world to bridge the digital divide. While such efforts can be helpful, their effectiveness depends on targeted users’ willingness to utilize the ICT provided. To better understand the phenomenon from users’ perspective, this study examines the factors influencing individual’s intention and behavior of using public internet kiosks in Mauritius. Having witnessed rapid growth in ICT recently, Mauritius is an appropriate context for this study. Findings indicate that self efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are significant in explaining ICT use. Although these factors have been studied in the developed world, their perception and assessment in the developing world differ and deserve more attention. This study adds to the limited empirical research in this part of the world. Implications for research and suggestions for encouraging ICT use in such regions are discussed.