ABSTRACT

Digital simulation models have become increasingly important to innovation processes. When used within organisations intent on innovating products, processes or services, the affordances of these technologies can enable the possibility to explain, experiment, and predict complex systems. As complex tools, however, models must become integrated into a social context characterised by differences in technical knowledge about when, how, and why the models are useful. In this paper, we draw on our experiences studying the labour of digital modelling work over the past 10 years to discuss some of the important social mechanisms through which models come to be trusted by stakeholders, and, consequently, integrated into innovation processes. By comparing three very different contexts we show that the work of trust-building requires modellers to create appeals to the credibility of the model’s analysis, the utility of its outputs, and to negotiate unavoidable political issues that emerge from differing values among parties in the innovation process. Revealing this labour positions models as social objects, and leads us to provide practical recommendations for scholars and practitioners who hope to use modelling as a key process for digital innovation.

摘要

数字仿真模型对创新过程变得越来越重要。当在旨在创新产品、流程或服务的组织中使用时，这些技术的可提供性可以使解释、实验和预测复杂系统成为可能。然而，作为复杂的工具，模型必须融入社会环境，其特点是关于何时、如何以及为什么模型有用的技术知识存在差异。在本文中，我们利用过去 10 年研究数字建模工作的经验来讨论一些重要的社会机制，通过这些机制模型得到利益相关者的信任，从而融入创新过程。通过比较三个非常不同的背景，我们表明建立信任的工作要求建模者对模型分析的可信度、其输出的效用提出呼吁，并就创新各方之间不同价值观产生的不可避免的政治问题进行谈判过程。揭示这种劳动将模型定位为社会对象，并引导我们为希望将建模作为数字创新关键过程的学者和从业者提供实用的建议。