Incompleteness and Unpredictability of Networked Communications in Use

Abstract

This chapter explores the use practices of networked communications, or more speci?cally, the use practices of a Web-based information system in large distributed pharmaceutical development projects. The analysis highlights the process in which the system in question is held together, extended and transformed into a working system for pharmaceutical projects. Assemblage is proposed as a productive concept in making visible the particularities of networked communications, their malleability, and the way in which they evolve in use through extensions, interferences, and unpredictable circumstances. The views presented here enhance an understanding of networked communications in use and consequently draw implications to further development strategies for such technologies.