Innovation in Search of a Context: The Early History of Lexis

Lexis, the first commercial online full-text legal information service, illustrates how the purpose of and the audience for a system were configured by distinct relevant social groups with different goals and perspectives. This article traces the early history of Lexis in light of the social construction of the system and the mutual shaping that resulted from the reciprocal interactions of users and the technology. It analyzes how system users’ identities changed from anyone needing free-text search capability to legal professionals in large law firms and government agencies and how users influenced the design and development of the system.