ABSTRACT

The rise of the digital society is accompanied by incalculable social risks, but very little IS research has examined the implications of the new digital society. Drawing on concepts from Beck’s critical theory of the risk society and critical discourse analysis, this study examines the public discourse on risk events during the launch of NemID, a personal digital identifier for Danish citizens. This research illustrates our difficulties and challenges in managing some of the fundamental social risks from societal digitalisation. Limited institutional capabilities for digital technologies force public officials to depend on private companies motived by profit instead of the public interest. Beliefs in digital technology as the primary determinant of social and economic progress also present many public management dilemmas. When digital risk events occur and citizens’ fears are stoked by news media and public discourse, public officials seem to have no other strategy for managing the escalating fears than systematically distorted communication. The continued rise of the digital risk society demands that IS research respond to the challenge of generating knowledge for its public management.

摘要

数字社会的兴起伴随着无法估量的社会风险，但很少有 IS 研究考察新数字社会的影响。借鉴贝克的风险社会批判理论和批判话语分析的概念，本研究考察了 NemID（丹麦公民的个人数字标识符）推出期间关于风险事件的公众话语。这项研究说明了我们在管理社会数字化带来的一些基本社会风险方面的困难和挑战。数字技术的机构能力有限，迫使公职人员依赖以利润而非公共利益为动机的私营公司。将数字技术作为社会和经济进步的主要决定因素的信念也带来了许多公共管理困境。当数字风险事件发生并且公民的恐惧被新闻媒体和公共话语激起时，公职人员似乎没有其他策略来应对不断升级的恐惧，只能系统地扭曲沟通。数字风险社会的持续兴起要求 IS 研究应对为其公共管理生成知识的挑战。