Story-Telling and Narrative: Alternative Genres Linking IS Publication and Practice

Genres of communications significantly influence the evolution of a field of research. In the Information Systems (IS) domain, a debate has recently emerged on the chance to implement alternative genres in the representation of IS publication and practice. We hence propose to apply story-telling and narrative as alternative genres to write publications reporting IS research. By presenting a narration exemplifying the implementation of these genres, we argue that the incremental introduction of their principles would be beneficial to IS research, enabling a revisited representation of IS themes that extends the boundaries of canonical genres. In parallel, thanks to the peculiarity of the story narrated, we claim that story-telling and narrative are also powerful instruments supporting IS practice. The mediating role of action research in enhancing the link between story-telling and narrative used as writing genres and practices will also be recognized.