Tracing of Emerging Meanings by Computer: Semiotic Foundations

The paper presents a semiotic approach to the study of knowledge creation and sharing processes. These processes are aimed to generate goal-oriented knowledge system (GOKS) in different domains. A GOKS is generated by an expert collective that creates new meanings using a changeable constellation of signs including personal (expert), collective, and conventional signs, their sign-forms and sign-meanings (Zatsman 2009a: 77). During knowledge creating process, experts are tracing an emerging meaning evolution by computer. In recent years, a number of authors have explored knowledge creation and sharing using computerized support (e.g., Tang 2005: 437-443). Habitual approaches presuppose usage of keywords as semiotic signs with stable relationships between their sign-meanings and sign-forms. In contrast, the paper takes an entirely different approach to the study of knowledge creation and sharing. The main emphasis is placed on computer-fixed relationships between emerging meanings and their denotata defined by experts. Emerging meanings are here non-conventional, unstable, changeable concepts in contrast to traditional (conventional) concepts that have time-stable representation forms. During knowledge creating process, emerging meanings can hardly have timestable representation forms and be volatile because of their denotata can be changeable. The objective of the paper is to specify a trace space for emerging meanings of a GOKS and their evolution using computer-fixed relationships between emerging meanings and their denotata. The trace space is based on a semiotic model that has been developed during research of knowledge incompleteness phenomena (Zatsman & Durnovo 2010: 309–311). The semiotic model is meant for a relation description between a denotatum, a signified, a signifier and their computer digital codes. The model has been built on insights from: • mental, social, material, and digital media; • signified of mental medium, signifier of social medium, denotatum of material, social or digital medium, and computer codes of digital medium; • three interfaces: “signifieds – signifiers”, “signifiers – computer codes” and “signifieds – computer codes”. In the full-text paper the trace space for emerging meanings of a GOKS and their evolution will be described as a multidimensional space, which is called Frege’s space (Zatsman 2009b: 87–101). Each point of that space fixes computer codes of a time-dependent state of three following entities at a given time moment: • personal, collective or conventional sign-meaning of a GOKS generating by an expert collective (in short a GOKS concept); • a sign-form, corresponding to the GOKS concept; • a denotatum, corresponding to the GOKS concept. In the full-text paper needs and technology drivers of knowledge creation will be described.