Radical shifts in large information technology programmes or digital infrastructures are unusual, but they do occur, usually as a consequence of problems or misalignment. What we know less about is the role of discourse in these shifts. Our interest in this article is to investigate the role of discourse when digitalisation programmes encounter problems. Building on Foucault’s theory of discourse, our research question is: what is the role of discourse in the transformation of digital infrastructures? Our research approach is a critical realist case study, discussing three cases from eHealth innovation. We use Foucault’s archaeological methodology to identify the emerging discursive formations when a programme encounters difficulties. This enables us to analyse the causal relationship between discursive formations and other mechanisms in the infrastructure. We offer two contributions: first, we outline a framework to understand the role of discursive formations in digital transformation; second, we propose a set of configurations to explain how contextual factors and causal mechanisms contingently lead to the transformation of a digital infrastructure.

中文翻译：

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话语在数字基础设施转型中的作用

大型信息技术项目或数字基础设施的根本性转变并不常见，但它们确实发生了，通常是由于问题或错位的结果。我们不太了解的是话语在这些转变中的作用。我们对本文的兴趣是研究当数字化程序遇到问题时话语的作用。基于福柯的话语理论，我们的研究问题是：话语在数字基础设施转型中的作用是什么？我们的研究方法是一个批判现实主义的案例研究，讨论来自电子医疗创新的三个案例。当程序遇到困难时，我们使用福柯的考古方法来识别新兴的话语结构。这使我们能够分析话语结构与基础设施中的其他机制之间的因果关系。我们提供了两个贡献：首先，我们概述了一个框架来理解话语形式在数字化转型中的作用；其次，我们提出了一组配置来解释上下文因素和因果机制如何偶然地导致数字基础设施的转型。