Our paper is structured as follows: First, we explain the theoretical basis, covering the characteristics of digital artifacts and their relevant ecosystems. Our question in this context is: What are the basic conditions for digital artifacts and their ecosystems that need to be fulfilled in order for them to be constantly created and used, thus providing the greatest possible benefit to sustainable development? Individuals and organizations are crucial for digital artifacts, since they artificially create digital artifacts in the first place and the sole purpose of the existence of digital artifacts is for these to be used by other individuals and organizations. This means that digital artifacts are influenced not only by the technical components, but also the social ecosystem of people and institutions, through their acts of creation and use. In particular, digital artifacts are not self-contained and are embedded in wider, constantly changing ecosystems (Kallinikos et al. These digital artifacts have a number of specific characteristics resulting in various benefits and downsides compared to traditional media. Thus, digital artifacts have become the basic incarnations of knowledge in our times. We define digital artifacts as entities that consist of strings of 0 and 1, which can be interpreted by technical devices, like computers, to provide some meaning. It is estimated that in 1993, only 3% of the world’s recorded information was stored digitally this figure had increased to approximately to 94% by 2007 (Hilbert and Lopez 2011). With the ever-increasing use of computer infrastructures, a growing proportion of recorded information has become digital. In our view, knowledge has to be seen as a resource that itself should be sustainable, to preserve its value for society and ensure that it can permanently contribute to the goals of sustainable development.
Knowledge and the impact of technology on the creation and use of such knowledge could be considered as a vehicle to support sustainable development (Melville 2010 Elliot 2011 Seele 2014).
With respect to this critique, solution-based ideas are needed in the context of the ways in which knowledge is accumulated, made accessible, and exploited. ( 2014), for example, criticized that many scholars remain rather vague in demanding a further accumulation of knowledge to cope with environmental and societal issues. However, the specific role of knowledge and its use remain somewhat non-specific. In that report, knowledge and technology are addressed as means of supporting sustainable development. The Brundtland Report provides the most popular definition of sustainable development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987, p. A number of suggestions for future studies on digital sustainability are also put forward. The paper concludes with a research agenda identifying topics for sustainability scholars and information systems academics, as well as practitioners. We then apply those characteristics to four exemplary cases: Linux kernel development, Bitcoin cryptocurrency, the Wikipedia project, and the Linking Open Drug Data repositories. Based on these insights, we propose ten basic conditions for sustainable digital artifacts and their ecosystem to ensure that they provide the greatest possible benefit for sustainable development. A theoretical foundation for digital artifacts and their ecosystem allows us to present the relevant research on digital information, knowledge management, digital goods, and innovation literature. In our view, the sustainability of digital artifacts improves their potential impact on sustainable development. While over-consumption is a problem facing natural resources, with sustainable digital artifacts, underproduction, and underuse are the biggest challenges. In this conceptual paper, we argue that digital artifacts themselves ought also to be considered as resources, which also need to be sustainable.
To date, sustainability literature has treated knowledge-and in particular digital artifacts-mainly as a means to the end of achieving sustainable development.
The modern age has heralded a shift from the industrial society, in which natural resources are crucial input factors for the economy, towards a knowledge society.
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