The Challenge of Epistemic Divergence in IS Development.

The article discusses information system (IS) development, examining the challenges faced by organizations in addressing and managing mission-critical legacy systems. The informational aspect of an IS has a structure driven by dual concerns of both ontology and epistemology, the authors suggest. While ontology deals with the objects that make up the business domain, the epistemology addresses the system's knowledge of the ontology. Topics include fundamental assumptions of the mainstream approach to systems development and explaining epistemic divergence.