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Steffen Hornemann

Doctoral Research Fellow - Information Systems
Image of Steffen Hornemann
Username
Visiting address Gaustadalléen 30C 0373 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1080 Blindern 0316 Oslo

Research interests

My research explores the interplay between digitalization, work, expertise, and organizational practices. I am particularly interested in how technologies and information infrastructures become embedded in everyday life, and how people adapt, negotiate, and reshape these systems in practice.

Specific interests include:

  • Work, occupations, and changing forms of expertise
  • Information and documentation infrastructures
  • Public sector and bureaucracy
  • Gig economy
  • Material, spatial, and embodied dimensions of digitally mediated work
  • Datafication, automation, and AI

My research is grounded in qualitative (often ethnographic) approaches. I am particularly interested in following technologies into the places where they are actually used, and in looking at practical knowledge, improvisation, and seemingly mundane work in digitalization initiatives. I draw on theoretical frameworks from information systems, sociocultural anthropology, organizational studies, and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW).

PhD project

My PhD research examines the relation between digital transformation and records management in the public sector, and its implications for the records management occupation.

As organizational work becomes increasingly digital and distributed across systems and workflows, records professionals are moving from primarily managing records after they are created toward proactively shaping the processes and infrastructures through which documentation is produced and captured. I study how this shift affects professional expertise, occupational boundaries, and the role of records management within the digital transformation of the public sector.

Background

I hold a BA in International Cultural and Business Studies from Passau University, Germany, and a MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oslo. My master's thesis, "Moving Meals, Moving Bodies: Navigating the Gap between the Digital and the Material in Food Delivery Platform Work," explored the experiences of food delivery gig workers and the role of algorithmic management in shaping their embodied interactions with the urban environment.

Prior to my master's studies, I worked as a User Experience Researcher in a technology company, conducting applied qualitative research for digital products and services related to the Internet of Things. 

I currently hold a position as Contributing Editor at the Society for Cultural Anthropology, where I produce content for the Fieldsights division.

 

Tags: Information systems, Anthropology, CSCW, Digitalization, Public sector, ethnography

Publications

  • Hornemann, Steffen (2026). The Liminality of Occupational Change: A Jurisdictional Perspective on Records Management in Norway. In Islind, Anna Sigridur; Pries-Heje, Jan & Kempton, Alexander Moltubakk (Ed.), The proceedings of the 17th Scandinavian Conference on Information Systems (SCIS). Association for Information Systems (AIS). ISSN 9781958200162. doi: https:/aisel.aisnet.org/scis2026/3/. Full text in Research Archive

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Published Oct. 10, 2024 2:03 PM - Last modified Sep. 22, 2026 5:48 PM

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