Martin Thellefsen

Concept theory and semiotics in knowledge organization

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the basics of semiotic analysis and concept theory that represent two dominant approaches to knowledge representation, and explore how these approaches are fruitful for knowledge organization., – In particular the semiotic theory formulated by the American philosopher C.S. Peirce and the concept theory formulated by Ingetraut Dahlberg are investigated. The paper compares the differences and similarities between these two theories of knowledge representation., – The semiotic model is a general and unrestricted model of signs and Dahlbergs model is thought from the perspective and demand of better knowledge organization system (KOS) development. It is found that Dahlbergs concept model provides a detailed method for analyzing and representing concepts in a KOS, where semiotics provides the philosophical context for representation., – This paper is the first to combine theories of knowledge representation, semiotic and concept theory, within the context of knowledge organization.

Emotion, information, and cognition, and some possible consequences for library and information science

We present our semeiotic‐inspired concept of information as 1 of 3 important elements in meaning creation, the 2 other concepts being emotion and cognition. We have the inner world (emotion); we have the outer world (information); and cognition mediates between the two. We analyze the 3 elements in relation to communication and discuss the semeiotics‐inspired communication model, the Dynacom; then, we discuss our semeiotic perspective on the meaning‐creation process and communication with regard to a few, but central, elements in library and information science, namely, the systems‐oriented perspective, the user‐oriented perspective, and a domain‐oriented perspective.

The significance-effect is a communicational effect: Introducing the DynaCom

The paper presents the concept significance-effect outlined in a Peircean inspired communication model, named DynaCom. The significance effect is a communicational effect; the formal conditions for the release of the significanceeffect are the following: (1) Communication has to take place within a universe of discourse; (2) Utterer and interpreter must share collateral experience; and (3) The cominterpretant must occur. If these conditions are met the meaning of the communicated sign is likely to be correctly interpreted by the interpreter. Here, correctly means in accordance with the intentions of the utterer. The scope of the significance-effect has changed from knowledge effects caused by technical terms to emotional effects caused by lifestyle values in brands, for example.

The Fallacy of the Cognitive Free Fall in Communication Metaphor: A Semiotic Analysis

This paper is a theoretical analysis of the cognitive free-fall metaphor, used within the cognitive view, as a model for explaining the communication process between a generator and a receiver of a message. Its aim is to demonstrate that the idea of a cognitive free fall taking place within this communication process leads to apparent theoretical paradoxes, partly fostered by unclear definitions of key information-science concepts—namely, tokens, signs, information, and knowledge and their interrelatedness—and a naïve theoretical framework. The paper promotes a semiotically inspired model of communication that demonstrates that what takes place in communication is not a cognitive free fall, but rather a fall from a pragmatic level of knowing or knowledge to a level of representation or information. The paper further argues that the communication process more ideally can be expressed as a complex interrelation of emotion, information, and cognition.

A Pragmatic Semeiotic Perspective on the Concept of Information Need and Its Relevance for Knowledge Organization

The concept of information need is a core concept in library and information science (LIS) that describes the state of uncertainty or anomalous knowledge state that precedes a user’s information seeking behavior. Information need is, however, an intricate concept, and is only addressed in the LIS literature as some kind of elusive cognitive state. The present paper argues that the concept of information need may profit from a pragmatic and semeiotic perspective. The paper thus discusses the concept of information need through four premises that is formulated based in Peirce’s pragmatic semiotic. Introduction The general conception of knowledge organization means bringing knowledge into some kind of order or structure. However the knowledge considered for organization is that which is materialized in different kinds of media, and therefore knowledge organization is more precisely defined as the research area within information science that has a particular interest in the organization of recorded knowledge, which in principle is the same as information. Even more precisely, though, knowledge organization is really focused on types of systems, modes of representation, purpose of information architecture, interaction design etc., in fact knowledge organization despite its terminology is very little concerned with knowledge as phenomenon, how it is communicated and interpreted within communities, but mostly concerned with general and nomothetic features of information systems in order to accommodate users in their information seeking process. Consequently, evaluation of KOS tends to be more concerned with how well objects of knowledge are represented within a particular semantic structure, than with how the KOS in principle acts as sender in a communication process. As such, the basic function and purpose of KOS can be summarized as: 1) facilitating information retrieval (IR-function), 2) providing information about documents (document information function document surrogate (representation)), and 3) providing shelf arrangements (ordering function) (Broughton et al., 2005). In the terms of Buckland (1991), these aspects of KOS all relate to the ‘information as thing’ paradigm. Following this line of thought, information is related to physical items, or immanent qualities of objects. Information in relation to knowledge or knowing, however, changes the perception of information, because knowledge or knowing implicates intelligible conduct. Intelligent conduct, use, consumption, interaction, communication and meaning adds complexity to information, and the object as such becomes secondary. Consequently, investigating KOS disregarding the implications of knowledge, and the processes of becoming knowing through interaction, where the actor’s level of knowledge intentionally and purposefully is reflected, and altered by how representations are offered in KOS architecture, tells only one side of the story 1 Martin Thellefsen is Associate Professor at the Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg, Denmark.

Formal conditions for the significance-effect

Abstract The significance-effect is the right effect of meaning caused upon an interpreting mind. The right effect is understood as the right interpretation of an intended meaning caused by a sign communicated by an utterer. In the article, which is inspired by Charles S. Peirces doctrine of signs, his semeiotics and his theory of communication, we account for the formal conditions that have to be present for the release of the significance-effect.

Clues as information, the semiotic gap, and inferential investigative processes, or making a (very small) contribution to the new discipline, Forensic Semiotics

Abstract In this article, we try to contribute to the new discipline Forensic Semiotics – a discipline introduced by the Canadian polymath Marcel Danesi. We focus on clues as information and criminal investigative processes as inferential. These inferential (and Peircean) processes have a certain complexity consisting of the interrelation between the collateral observations of the investigator, e. g., his background knowledge concerning criminal and technical analysis, the context that the investigator acts within or in relation to (the universe of discourse), e. g., the scene of crime or the criminal law, as well as the clues as information that will cause the inferential processes in the first place. We believe that this focus can tell us something about crime solving that is not just sensitive to epistemological factors (how to know), but also ontological (what to know) and normative factors as well (how to value the processes of crime solving).

The meaning creation process, information, emotion, knowledge, two objects, and significance-effects: Some Peircean remarks

Abstract What is the relation between emotion, information, and knowledge? The aim of the paper is to focus on the meaning creation process, which involves emotion, information, and knowledge. The paper shows how the meaning creation process is an intricate relation between information and knowledge, how information is the catalyst for knowledge, and how knowledge can effect information, while emotion is the flavor of information and knowledge, respectively. The paper also presents a concept of information based on Peirce’s semeiotic.

Dynamics of the Collateral Encyclopedia

Abstract Both Umberto Eco and Charles S. Peirce have been concerned with the notion of background knowledge. Eco refers to background knowledge as the encyclopedia; Peirce’s term of reference is collateral experience. The aim of this article is to investigate the degree to which these two concepts are comparable. We focus on one major metaphysical issue, viz. the fact that Eco defines collateral experience, which is the first step in any process of cognition, as private, whereas Peirce, as a realist, would never accept the concept of private thoughts, feelings, etc. We suggest that freeing collateral experience from its nominalistic nomenclature makes possible a comparison and synthesis of Eco’s and Peirce’s conceptions when seen from the perspectives of their cognitive type, nuclear type, and molar content.