3 "Humans are no longer the only and lonely ones that are capable of, and to some degree dependant on, the interpretation of signs." Frieder Nake

There are many attempts to explain success and failure in information systems. Many of these refer to a purported sociotechnical gap. In this chapter, we develop an alternative approach that does not impose such a strong dichotomy, but regards social and technical rather as dimensions along which to study work practices. The developed theory involves not only the “social” and “technical” constr...

The emergence and evolutionary history of semiotic systems and processes are among the topics that attract the most remarkable number of researchers in a variety of theoretical and experimental fields. As 'behavior associated with the language does not fossilize' (Hauser et al., 2000), the most important developments are theoretical, comparative and computational modeling (Christiansen & Kirby,...

The contemporary phenomenon of ‘brand’ is addressed within a Peircean semiotic framework, showing ‘brand’ to be an inherently unstable composite of tangible (e.g. product) and intangible (e.g. brand name) values. The professional literature of brand strategy is drawn upon for definitions, and branding work in an Internet-focused ‘New Economy’ consultancy is described. Three phenomena of brandin...