Liminal innovation in practice: Understanding the reconfiguration of digital work in crisis

As conditions of crisis disrupt established practices, existing ways of doing things are interrupted and called into question. The suspension of routine sociomaterial enactments produces openings for liminal innovation, a process entailing iterative experimentation and implementation that explores novel or alternative materializations of established work practices. We draw attention to three distinct tensions on the ground that arise in conditions of crisis — pragmatic, tactical, and existential — and show how these may be leveraged to produce liminal innovations in practice. While the process of liminal innovation can be challenging, it can also be generative, creating opportunities for the reconfiguration of digital work in conditions of crisis. • Conditions of crisis generate opportunities for creative reconfiguration of work. • Liminal innovation allows iterative experimentation and implementation in practice. • Leveraging tensions on the ground can enable alternative material enactments of established routines.