Digital infrastructures in the roaring twenties: taking stock and moving forward

Over a decade ago, Tilson et al. and Hanseth and Lyytinen advanced a conceptualization of digital infrastructures and proposed a research agenda for their study. Lyytinen et al. extended this work by inviting a deeper scholarly engagement with digital infrastructures and their paradoxes. A pressing call, given the increased scope and reliance on digital infrastructures across most aspects of social, economic, and political life. In this chapter, we review the literature on digital infrastructures published in the decade after the publication of Tilson et al. and Hanseth and Lyytinen (2010–2020) based on a systematic coding and analysis of 273 articles. The review shows that information systems (IS) research has not properly kept up with the distinct and consequential changes that characterize the evolution of digital infrastructures since 2010. In particular, the literature review reveals a tendency in the field to (i) focus on the organization as the focal unit of analysis and (ii) take the viewpoint of the platform owner. This produces a fragmented view of the complexity and heterogeneity of digital infrastructures and fails to identify and address distinct systemic features of contemporary digital infrastructures. Based on this review, we refresh the research agenda around digital infrastructures in ways that recognize and address the growing complexity and dynamics of digital infrastructures and ultimately treats their design, use, and development as the results of collective action.