How Industry Analysts Shape the Digital Future

Neil Pollock, who was originally trained in computing and Science & Technology Studies, is Professor of Innovation and Social Informatics at the University of Edinburgh Business School where he heads the Entrepreneurship and Innovation academic subject group. As well as leading a department of faculty specialising in the innovation and commercialisation of new technologies, he is also a founding member of the Edinburgh Social Informatics Cluster. He is primarily known for his interdisciplinary research on IT that sits at the intersection between Information Systems, Innovation Studies and Economic Sociology. Neil has published in the highest rated academic journals which includes MIS Quarterly, Organization Studies, Information Systems Research, Accounting, Organizations & Society, Organization, Social Studies of Science and Science, Technology & Human Values. He is associate editor of the journals Information and Organization and New Technology, Work and Employment.Robin Williams is Professor of Social Research on Technology and Director of the Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation (ISSTI) at the University of Edinburgh. He ran the Edinburgh PICT Centre under the ESRC Programme on Information and Communications Technologies (1987-95). Building on this he developed an interdisciplinary research programme on 'the social shaping of technology', with over 50 externally-funded projects, which culminated in the formation of ISSTI. His personal research has focused upon the development and implementation of a range of Information Technology systems and Infrastructures including Enterprise systems, mobile broadband, e-health technologies

• Prologue: King of the Hill? ; 1. The Social Study of Information Technology Markets ; 2. The Emergence of a New Expert ; 3. The Organisation of Analyst Work ; 4. The Professionalisation of Business Knowledge ; 5. The Business of Technology Expectations ; 6. Who Decides the Shape of Product Markets? ; 7. Marketing of Quantifications ; 8. Venues of High Tech Prediction ; 9. Give Me a 2x2 Matrix and I Will Create the Market ; 10. The Expertise Ecosystem ; 11. From IT Markets to the Sociology of Business Knowledge ; Appendix 1: List of Industry Analyst and IT Market Research Firms ; Appendix 2: Fieldwork Conducted

Overall this book seeks to present the world of (information) technology analysts as a subject worthy of academic, social scientific consideration ... a well-rounded, well-thought-through piece of critical social scientific research