Information Systems Development from a Semiotic Point of View - Essay Example

?Running head: SEMIOTICS AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS Information systems development from a semiotic point of view Insert Insert Grade InsertTutor’s Name February 21, 2012 Information Systems Development from a Semiotic Point of View Introduction Semiotics is one of the disciplines in the social sciences. It may be difficult to get a straight-to-the-point definition of the term semiotics as the concept applies to various settings. In simple terms, semiotics can be regarded as the study of signs. However, this definition still raises more questions that need to be addressed. When the term “sign” is mentioned, people’s minds often rush to the signs encountered in everyday social life such as road signs, parking symbols, or pub signs (Chandlers, n.d). A sign is something that stands for another thing in respect or capacity. To this end, semantics can be viewed as the use of visual signs including drawings, paintings, and photographs. Nonetheless, there is more to it than visual images. Semiotics involves the use of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects as well as their interpretations. Information systems are increasingly being adopted in the operations of organization across various sectors. Information systems are essential in the proper management of organizational data to help in decision-making process to accomplish the missions and functions of the organization. Telecommunication systems, process control systems, environmental control systems, and command and control systems are some of the common information systems in businesses (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2010, p.1). Business organizations need information systems to communicate to their customers, suppliers, or the shareholders whereas governments need the systems to provide services to its citizens at low costs (Information System, 2012). In either case, the accuracy, validity, and reliability of information are essential. The development of information systems applies theories and principles derived from semiotics. Computer-based information system is described as ‘a sign system embedded in an artifact with action capabilities for organizational purposes’ (Liu, 2002, p.64). Semiotics concerns signs and interpretation of their meanings. Likewise, the design and analysis of information systems involves development of signs (digital codes) and a translation of these signs to some level of construct. The semiotic principles help in understanding the representation of information through some data and a better understanding of the information through appropriate interpretation. It is also important to understand that changes occur in the settings in which these information systems are used similar to the applications of signs at different settings. This paper focuses on semiotics as it applies to information system development. The development and growth of semiotics The development of this field of study is greatly attributed to a Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and an American pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) (About.com, 2012). Other theorists have made significant contribution towards the development of modern semiotics. Some of these are Roland Barthes (1915-1980), Algirdas Greimas (1917-1992), Umberto Eco (b.1932), and Julia Kristeva (b.1941) among other theorists (Chandlers, n.d). The individuals worked independently to understand how meaning is developed from the structures that are used. Saussure developed a two-part model of sign that consists of a signifier (the sign) and the signified (the concept that is represented by the sign). The agreed practice enables the meaning to be derived. A sign is, thus, a ‘recognizable combination of a signifier with a particular signified’ (Chandlers, n.d). According to Saussure, there is no relationship between the signifier of a meaning (words or symbols) and the actual meaning (About.com). The framework of the model developed by Saussure provides the famous difference that has been observed between language and speech. Language refers to a set of laws and principles in communication that have been developed independent of the users while speech is attained when these rules are applied in a given instance (Chandlers, n.d). In semiotics, such a distinction is observed between a code and the message it conveys. Codes can take different meanings depending on the context of their usage and the conventions. On his part, Peirce considers that the kind of relationship between signs and the actual meaning result into three different signs - an icon, an index, and a symbol. An icon is a sign with similarity in shape or appearance to the intended meaning, an index shows a cause and effect relationship whereas a symbol has an arbitrary meaning (About.com, 2012). Thus, icons provide a direct communication of an idea. In the contemporary society, semioticians are still concerned with how the meanings are derived from the signs. They express concern in the communication as well as the construction and maintenance of reality (Chandler, n.d). As such, semiotics shows a common concern of signs with semantics and other traditional branches of linguistics. Semiotics relates to semantics (understanding the relationship between signs to what they represent), syntax (the relationships between signs), and pragmatics (how signs relate to interpreters). Information system development from a semiotic point of view Firms have shown evolving use of information technology in their business operations over the years. Information Technology is first applied in the execution of the internal processes of an organization. The technology is then extended to the development of better products and services and improving the delivery of these services. It has been stated that semiotics covers the wider concept of using signs to communicate. This involves an analysis of the creation of these signs, their processing and eventual usage with much focus on the effects of the signs. Semiotics involves use of this signs to have a better understanding of the social world and be able to relay information about the world. Three players are involved in the process each of them working at the same time. The three components are signs (signhood), the object (actuality), and the interpretation (designhood) (Chandlers, n.d). The three have a relationship that the sign will represent a given object depending on the norms (modes of interpretation) through which reference is made. These methods of semiotics are applicable in the development of Information Systems. An Information System (IS) is an ‘integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and for delivering information, knowledge, and digital products’ (Information System, 2012). Essentially, a typical organization has three systems or levels of operations. These are the informal systems, the formal systems, and the automated systems. Informal systems are concerned with the development of organizational values, norms, adoption of procedures, and definition of individual responsibilities. Formal systems are generalized and rationalized procedures such as clearing cheques in a financial institution. Unlike the informal systems, operations here are governed by a predefined structure and set of rules. Automated systems are machine-controlled systems applied to the operations of formal systems. This brings in the concept of information technology in organizational operations. The development of an effective information system requires an understanding of the relationship between these three different systems. Organizational semiotics involves an integration of the methods and theories in semiotics in the study of an organization and its processes. Information has an abstract notion and individuals only understand it after it has been acquired. Information is not a primitive notion and yet it can be represented by sign, a rather primitive notion. Some signs will be used to show some piece of information. Organization comprises individuals or group of people that have to communicate to each other in some way. The process of information processing and communication in a given organization involves the development, use, and interpretation of signs (Liu, 2000, p.1). This then calls for an understanding of the meaning and implications of the signs as they apply in a given organizational setting. The analysis, design, and development of an information system involve the translation of these signs to abstract levels. Semiotics is essential in understanding the nature of information and interpretation of this information. Significant developments have been recorded in the theories and methods of modern information systems over the traditional approaches. Information systems form part of the virtual world and they cannot be represented passively (Gazendam, n.d). Similarly, the use of sign structure also takes a different perspective. Organizations are considered as ‘virtual organizations that exist in the non-virtual domain as well as in the virtual domain created by imagination’ (Gazendam, n.d, p.4). The effects of the new perspective on information system development and virtual organization can be seen through an examination of the resulting architecture levels. The architecture illustrates the subdivision of a system into subsystems and the functionality of each subsystem. The levels are derived from the semiotic ladder developed by Stamper (1973, cited in Gazendam, n.d). They include social, pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, empiric, and physical levels (Gazendam, n.d). The levels can be categorized into two groups as human information function and information technology context. The first three levels, social, pragmatic, and semantic, correspond to the virtual organization architecture while syntactic and empirical levels correspond to the component architecture (Gazendam, n.d). The physical level defines the technical infrastructure within an organization. Problem solution in these different aspects From the semiotics perspective, an organization is social system developed using information and it consists of individuals with varied character ad behavior. Developing and adopting information system at a given workplace involves several stages that are defined differently by different people. Most recently, the researchers and developers have focused more on the analysis of the requirements and specification of the intended users of the systems (Liu, 2000). This follows the fact that the problems encountered in information processes have little attributes to incorrect codes with much attributes to wrong functional specifications and requirements analysis. Generally, the development of these information systems involves activities that include ’conceptualization of systems scope, requirement analysis, systems design, implementation, validation, acceptance, maintenance, and obsolescence’ (Liu, 2000, p.37). The researchers have a come up with some program, MEASUR, designed to deal with all these aspects of information systems development. MEASUR defines the procedures for software development and modeling of business systems through well-established norms as well as requirements and specification (Liu, 2000). The semiotic framework provides the connection between the physical and social worlds by way of communication methods adopted. All the above six levels of architecture play significant roles in understanding the development of information system in an organization. The framework is applicable in understanding the use and potential benefits of information systems and the difficulties involved in the adoption of these systems. Diagnosis at the social level The problems at the social level involve the norms to be adopted at the organization and the expectations of different employees of the organization. The major point of concern is the behavior of the individuals as well as what is expected of them. At this stage, it is important to consider the fundamentals that form the basis for the development of the organization units and information systems (Gazendam, n.d). There is need to understand that the actors are diverse in their capabilities and responsibilities in the organization. The development and adoption of Information System will be influenced greatly by the culture that has been established in the organization (Liu, 2000, p.42). When Information Systems are introduced into an organization, some of the members will have high expectations for the system while others will respond negatively. The negative response could result from factors such as computer illiteracy among the staff members. The design of the system should take into consideration the interests of both the parties. There is need to consider the legal provisions that govern the implementation and operations of the systems. The developer also needs to ensure security of information that is processed or stored on the system. It is also important to understand other social factors like the cultural values observed by the users of the system. The problems at this level are addressed in the MEASUR model Diagnosis at the pragmatic level The major concern at this level is the intentional behavior of the user and the desired behavior of the information systems. Pragmatics involves understanding the meaning and language use by the users (Noth, 1995, p.100; SIL International, 2004). There is need to understand the level of support that the system will draw from the users and the responsibilities of each of the users. The introduction of information systems is often accompanied by state of chaos and misunderstandings among the users. The users develop different attitude concerning the value of the systems and they tend to have conflicting goals for the systems. To manage the issues, the system developers have to specify the behavior of human actors and expected response from the systems. The developers use signs to indicate the desired behavior in terms of norms, system protocols and the interaction patterns (Gazendam, n.d). A proper analysis of the different interactions that may be encountered suffices to solve the problem of confusion on the interaction levels. The solution also consists in resolving the arising conflicts by drawing management support for the system through funding. Strategic planning and proper design of the organization and information system provides a solution. Diagnosis at the semantic level Semantics has to do with the meanings of artifact as used in a communication setting (Harindranath & Zupancic, 2002). The individuals from diverse backgrounds and with different understanding are required to work together and derive some common meaning. The diagnosis involves performing inquiry and giving specification on the human actors and virtual actors (Gazendam, n.d). Different representation styles such as direct, language or conceptual representations are used to define the world models of these actors. The conceptual representations are essential in developing the world model of information systems, often given in terms of an object model (Gazendam, n.d). Specification of semantic linkages between various design domains is necessary to prevent semantic transaction losses resulting from transformation from one design to another (Charrel & Galarreta, 2007) The main concern here is to model the syntactic structures to semantic structures based on the system use. The security issues of the users as well as the software are addressed here. An application of the Semantic Analysis Method (SAM) is appropriate in managing problems at this level (Bayerl et al, 2003). This involves definition of the semantic problem, examining the user requirements, performing a norm analysis, and incorporating the norms into system operations. The organizations also need to be flexible and respond to the changes observed such as technological advances, new market patterns and the consumer behaviours. The requirements of the users can be identified through consultation, system documents, and domain knowledge or market studies Syntactic level diagnosis Syntax is concerned with the sentence structure in a given language. It defines the order of words and phrases to form a sentence. In programming language, syntax is a set of rules that specify the arrangement of words and symbols to form statements and expressions (Computer Language Company Inc, 2010). Syntactic provides the connection between conceptual and formal rules in system development. The major concern is to manage chaos by ensuring order and regularity in the system. The developers have to provide the requirements and formalize the system specification through a written document. The document should be written by a high level (simple) language that is understandable by all the users, not just the developers. Diagnosis at the empiric level Empiric is concerned with the management of the uncertainties and risks that are likely to be encountered while using the systems. The system developers have to understand and provide an estimated measure of uncertainty from random factors. They should develop mechanisms of overcoming the uncertainties. To achieve this, the developers need to estimate the number of data fields that are required by the users within a given period and their volumes. They also a need to understand and specify the data transmission speed and the systems’ performance in relation to the expectations of the users. The users often value usability, security, reliability, efficiency, verifiability, interoperability, flexibility, portability, or maintainability among other desirable qualities. Physical level diagnosis Physical factors include the infrastructural facilities that will enhance the adoption of the systems and include the electronic devices that will be used in storage and processing of data. The major concern is the media that will be used in carrying and storage of the signals. There is need to consider the system networks, hardware, software, the physical facilities, power supply and the existing media policies. A replacement or upgrading of communication systems, information security through data encryption, and data back up systems are addressed here. Some issues such as the volumes of transmitted data and speed of transmission emanate from the device capabilities. The system developers and the management have to consider disaster recovery mechanisms, fire detection measures, and licenses for the software. The information that is stored or processed by the system should reflect what is on the ground. There is need to have communication links between various departments of an organization. The infrastructural design of places of work within the organization should enhance communication between the users. Conclusion Generally, the development of information systems is derived largely from methods and theories in semiotics. Semiotics is the study of the nature of signs and the laws governing the interpretation of these signs. It involves an examination of anything that stands for something else. Semiotics plays a central role in the developing new approaches for inquiry and design of practical organizational structures and information systems at different levels. This fills the gap left by the traditional methods and theories that were applied in the design and adoption of the information systems in business organizations. New perspectives emerge at the social, pragmatic, and semantic levels of the semiotic framework that defines the virtualization of organization. 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