{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T17:01:18Z","timestamp":1777741278137,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":65,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,1]],"date-time":"2023-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1690848000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Information Polity"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The intangible and (often) young nature of socio-technical phenomena makes them difficult to understand and communicate. Researchers and practitioners have responded by applying metaphors, prescribing an epistemological structure to these phenomena. While metaphors are frequently applied, researchers have paid limited attention to their applications and limitations. To address this gap, we applied a mixed-method approach, exploring the communities\u2019 applications of metaphors for the conceptual development of socio-technical phenomena, using two communities: Open Government Data and IT Development and Maintenance. We synthesised 21 articles and two books into an emergent analytical framework, Communities\u2019 Applications Of Metaphors (CAOM). We collected empirical material for each community\u2019s academic and practical sides between 2015\u20132020, resulting in 100 articles and 263 documents. We conducted a word frequency analysis and an in-depth analysis of the empirical material, drawing on CAOM. The contributions are the emergent CAOM framework with the key concepts of metaphors\u2019 usage, expression, and assemblages of metaphors. We conclude that the application of metaphors in communities is influenced by community type and metaphors\u2019 role, while the topic influences metaphor selection. Metaphors are combined to create new ways of reasoning. We recommend that governments draw on action-oriented metaphors when writing policies for socio-technical phenomena, while digital government researchers should include action-oriented elements when they develop metaphors, which can help practitioners put new knowledge into practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3233\/ip-211534","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,24]],"date-time":"2023-03-24T12:29:25Z","timestamp":1679660965000},"page":"317-340","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Exploration of metaphors as a way to understand socio-technical phenomena: An emergent framework"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Mille Edith Kj\u00e6rsgaard","family":"Hansen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IT University of Copenhagen: IT-Universitetet i Kobenhavn","place":["Denmark"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jonathan","family":"Crusoe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Gothenburg","place":["Sweden"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ulf","family":"Melin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Link\u00f6ping University","place":["Sweden"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_1_2_2","unstructured":"Accenture Federal Services. (2018). Decouple to innovate how federal agencies can unlock it value & agility by remediating technical debt."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"AlbanoC. S. (2013). Open government data: a value chain model proposal. In Proceedings of the 14th annual in ternational conference on digital government research pp. 285-286.","DOI":"10.1145\/2479724.2479775"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2018.09.006"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2015.07.006"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"BlackM. (1955). Xii-metaphor. In Proceedings of the aristotelian society (Vol. 55 pp. 273-294).","DOI":"10.1093\/aristotelian\/55.1.273"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.17705\/1CAIS.03412"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2020.101479"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_9_2","unstructured":"CarraraW. ChanW. FischerS. & SteenbergenE. V. (2015). Creating value through open data: Study onthe impact of re-use of public data resources. EuropeanCommission."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_10_2","unstructured":"CarraraW. FischerS. OudkerkF. van SteenbergenE. & TinholtD. (2015). Analytical report 1: Digitaltransformation and open data."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"CharalampidouS. AmpatzoglouA. ChatzigeorgiouA. & AvgeriouP. (2017). Assessing code smellinterest probability: a case study. In Proceedings ofthe XP2017 Scientific Workshops 1-8.","DOI":"10.1145\/3120459.3120465"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_12_2","unstructured":"CreswellJ. W. & CreswellJ. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/157710.157715"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-170419"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_15_2","unstructured":"DaviesT. (2011). Open data: infrastructures and ecosystems. Open Data Research 1-6."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.giq.2016.01.003"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"DawkinsR. (2016). The selfish gene. Oxford university press.","DOI":"10.1515\/9781400848393-029"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/258557"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2020.2986613"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_20_2","unstructured":"FolmerE. ReuversM. QuakW. van den BroekT. & van VeenstraA. F. (2011). Walking the extra byte:A lifecycle model for linked open data. In FolmerE. ReuversM. & QuakW. (Eds.) Linked open data-pilotl inked open data nederland (pp. 95-111). Remwerk."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"FontanaF. A. FermeV. ZanoniM. & RovedaR. (2015). Towards a prioritization of code debt: A code smell intensityindex. In 2015 IEEE 7th International Workshop on Managing Technical Debt (MTD) 16-24.","DOI":"10.1109\/MTD.2015.7332620"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-200224"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327868ms0403_2"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"GuoY. & SeamanC. (2011). A portfolio approach to technical debt management. Proceedings of the 2ndWorkshop on Managing Technical Debt 31-34.","DOI":"10.1145\/1985362.1985370"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"HaackS. (1988). Surprising noises: Rorty and hesse on metaphor. In Proceedings of the aristotelian society(Vol. 88 pp. 293-302).","DOI":"10.1093\/aristotelian\/88.1.293"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/353927.353935"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_27_2","unstructured":"HandbookO. D. (2015). What is open data? Retrieved 2020-08-31 from http:\/\/opendatahandbook.org\/guide\/en\/what-is-open-data\/."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_28_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/fi4040900"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_29_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/isj.12133"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_1_30_2","first-page":"185","article-title":"Is there a conceptual difference between theoretical and conceptual frameworks?","volume":"38","year":"2014","unstructured":"Imenda. (2014). Is there a conceptual difference between theoretical and conceptual frameworks? Journal ofSocial Sciences, 38(2), 185-195.","journal-title":"Journal ofSocial Sciences"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_31_2","unstructured":"IzwainiS. (2003). A corpus-based study of metaphor in information technology. In Proceedings of the workshopon corpus-based approaches to figurative language corpus linguistics (pp. 1-8)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaarst-BrownM. L. & RobeyD. (1999). More on myth magic and metaphor. Information Technology & People.","DOI":"10.1108\/09593849910267251"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"KendallJ. E. & KendallK. E. (1993). Metaphors and methodologies: Living beyond the systems machine. MIS quarterly 149-171.","DOI":"10.2307\/249799"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_34_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-170406"},{"issue":"6","key":"e_1_3_1_35_2","first-page":"18","article-title":"Technical debt: From metaphor to theory and practice.","volume":"29","author":"Kruchten P.","year":"2012","unstructured":"KruchtenP. NordR. L., & OzkayaI. (2012). Technical debt: From metaphor to theory and practice. LeeeSoftware, 29(6), 18-21.","journal-title":"LeeeSoftware"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_36_2","unstructured":"LakoffG. & JohnsonM. (2008a). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_37_2","unstructured":"LakoffG. & JohnsonM. (2008b). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_38_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2015.25"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_39_2","unstructured":"LNyhlenS. & GidlundK. L. (2021). In conversation withdigitalization: Myths fiction or professional imagining? Information Polity Pre-press(Pre-press) 1-11."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_40_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"MagnussonJ. JuizC. GomezB. & BermejoB. (2018). Governing technology debt: beyond technical debt.Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference onTechnical Debt 76-84.","DOI":"10.1145\/3194164.3194169"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_41_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.orgdyn.2012.08.002"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_1_42_2","first-page":"1","article-title":"Engaged scholarship in is research.","volume":"20","author":"Matthiasen L.","year":"2008","unstructured":"MatthiasenL., & NielsenP. (2008). Engaged scholarship in is research. Scandinavian Journal of InformationSystems, 20(2), 1-18.","journal-title":"Scandinavian Journal of InformationSystems"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_43_2","unstructured":"MaxwellJ. A. (2012). Qualitative research design. SAGE. Publications Inc."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_44_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.320.7226.50"},{"issue":"3","key":"e_1_3_1_45_2","first-page":"377","article-title":"Systemic change, open data ecosystem performanceimprovements, and empirical insights from estonia:A country-level action research study.","volume":"25","author":"McBride K.","year":"2020","unstructured":"McBrideK. OleskM., K\\\u0308refauthor{missing}, , & ShyshD. (2020). Systemic change, open data ecosystem performanceimprovements, and empirical insights from estonia:A country-level action research study. InformationPolity, 25(3), 377-402.","journal-title":"InformationPolity"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_46_2","unstructured":"MorganG. (1998). Images of organization: The executive edition. Thousand Oaks CA."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_47_2","unstructured":"MyersM. D. (2013). Qualitative research in business and management. Sage Publications Limited."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_48_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"M\u00e9sz\u00e1rosI. (1966). Metaphor and simile: Preliminary notes to a discussion of norms and values. In Proceedings ofthe aristotelian society (Vol. 67 pp. 127-144).","DOI":"10.1093\/aristotelian\/67.1.127"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_49_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2575.2007.00266.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_50_2","unstructured":"ODI. (2019). Data ecosystem mapping tool the odi. Retrieved 2020-11-09 from https:\/\/theodi.org\/article\/data-ecosystem-mapping-tool\/#1561999285194-8defa99a-39a5."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_51_2","unstructured":"OgdenC. K. & RichardsI. A. (1923). The meaning of meaning: A study of the in uence of thought and ofthe science of symbolism. Harcourt Brace & World Inc."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_52_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1741-5446.1975.tb00666.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_53_2","unstructured":"PollockR. (2011). Building the (open) data ecosystem. Open knowledge foundation Blog 31."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_54_2","unstructured":"RapportD. GaudetC. ConstanzaR. EpsteinR. & LevinsR. (1998). Defining ecosystem health.RAPPORT D.; COSTANZA R.; EPSTEIN PR;GAUDET C 18-33."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_55_2","unstructured":"SaundersM. N. & LewisP. (2012). Doing research in business & management: An essential guide to planningyour project. Pearson."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_56_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-180095"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_57_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2016.05.043"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_58_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-170045"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_59_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"StubblefieldW. A. (1998). Patterns of change in design metaphor: a case study. In Proceedings of the sigchiconference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 73-80).","DOI":"10.1145\/274644.274656"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_60_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-150353"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_61_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"ThibodeauP. H. & BoroditskyL. (2011). Metaphors we think with: The role of metaphor in reasoning. PloS One 6(2) e16782.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0016782"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_62_2","unstructured":"TomE. AybukeA. & RichardV. (2012). A consolidated understanding of technical debt. In European conference on information systems (ecis) (pp. 1-13)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_63_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Van De VenA. (2007). Engaged scholarship: A guide for organizational and social research. Oxford UniversityPress on Demand.","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780199226290.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_64_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"VerdecchiaR. MalavoltaI. & LagoP. (2018). Architectural technical debt identification: The research landscape.2018 IEEE\/ACM International Conference onTechnical Debt (TechDebt) 11-20.","DOI":"10.1145\/3194164.3194176"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_65_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/ejis.1995.9"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_66_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3233\/IP-160391"}],"container-title":["Information Polity"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.3233\/IP-211534","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.3233\/IP-211534","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.3233\/IP-211534","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T11:28:46Z","timestamp":1777462126000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.3233\/IP-211534"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]},"references-count":65,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]}},"alternative-id":["10.3233\/IP-211534"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3233\/ip-211534","relation":{},"ISSN":["1570-1255","1875-8754"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1570-1255","type":"print"},{"value":"1875-8754","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]}}}