Digitalisation, Innovation, and Transformation

Information systems have played an important role in organizations, especially in the business field. Organizational semiotics is one of the social technical approaches that considers information through the signs, norms or activities performed within an organization. This paper proposes a conceptual design of the boundary between information systems and organizational semiotics. To perform this task, a Point of Sale (POS) information system for a restaurant was developed as a case study in Apurimac Peru. The system allows the waiter to customize the food and drink orders. To validate this proposal three type of techniques were performed: document review, observation and interview. Also participated in the proof of concept the following people: waiter, customer, owner, cashier and cook. The collected results highlight the three layers and the morphology in the restaurant information system linked to organizational semiotics.

Human information interaction is a dynamic and complex process and is affected by various factors including social and cognitive factors. This study provides a new approach to study human information interaction from a social semiotic perspective and views human information interaction as a social semiotic process. Language, as a most important information carrier, is viewed as a social semiotic system and plays a key role in human information interaction. It not only carries and stores information, but also construes information. This study analyzes the role of language in human information interaction by exploring human judgment in native language and foreign language, which implies that language affects human judgement and thinking that conducts human information activities. The effect depends on the natural logic which limits the meaning-making process of language. Language, to an extent, affects the meaning creation at information interface through which human interact with information content and process information.

Situated in the diversity and adversity of real-life contexts facing crisis situations, this research aims at boosting the resilience process within communities supported by digital and social technology. In this paper, eight community leaders in different parts of the world are invited to express their issues and wishes regarding the support of technology to face social challenges. Methods and artefacts based on the Organisational Semiotics (OS) and the Socially-Aware computing have been applied to analyse and consolidate this data. By providing both a systemic view of the problem and also leading to the identification of requirements, the analysis evidences some benefits of the OS-based approach to consolidate perspectives from different real-life scenarios towards building a socio-technical solution.

Abduction is a logical reasoning process that allows the discovery and creation of new knowledge. However, the function of knowledge is not explicitly developed in the existing research on abduction. Developing information architecture is a scientific inquiry in a practical context as it engages multiple stakeholders. However, the current research in information architecture does not appear to be underpinned by sound theoretical foundations. This paper proposes a norm-based abduction process (NAP) where norms are seen as knowledge in developing information architecture. A case study of a UK hospital is used for illustration purposes. The key contribution of this paper is to incorporate norms in the existing abduction process, to assert abduction as the foundation of a logical reasoning process and to derive a theoretical proposition for information architecture.

The growth of mobile technologies and smartphones is reshaping the individual and organisational behaviour which affect the business environment. One of the key challenges of mobile payment is how to understand and manage user expectations and technology acceptance. Therefore, to better understand mobile payment use and acceptance, we need to analyse the factors and barriers that influence technology use. The investigation uses Technology Acceptance Model in conjunction with Organisational Semiotics, a socio-technical method of design, to overcome possible limitations addressed in research. This approach offers methods that can help to develop a research model for mobile payment use focusing on technical and social aspects.

Healthcare professionals may employ therapeutic games as playful activities to promote rehabilitation for their patients. However, despite the importance, currently the literature does not provide multidisciplinary approaches to support designing these games. To overcome this scenario, we propose a semiotic-based approach to aid stakeholders with different backgrounds on designing therapeutic digital games. The approach results from a study of the literature and reports of the experience of a multidisciplinary team on the creation of therapeutic games. It explores Participatory Design and Organizational Semiotics methods and artifacts to promote the Problem Clarification, Interaction Modeling, Design Materialization, and Evaluation as fundamental design practices of effective solutions. The approach was evaluated to design new therapeutic games and the results suggest that it helps the team on identifying therapeutic objectives and reaching them.

We have entered a new innovation regime: that of acceleration and intensification. These situations of intensive innovation and disruption question the identity of the objects. The question of the identity of objects directly refers to epistemological questions. In particular, how objects happen in the world - do they exist before their descriptions? But the question of identity also refers to semiotic questions. In this paper, we will present a semiotic framework in order to analyse the question of how business or IT or Space systems emerge in an interdisciplinary environment. Namely we will present a multi-viewpoints semiotics. In parallel to this approach we will introduce an innovative design theory initiated by Armand Hatchuel and Benoît Weil: The C-K theory. We will then try to better understand what brings the two approaches closer together and what separates them.

Patient safety and accidental harm or iatrogenic errors are increasingly important healthcare issues resulting in high costs and mortality. The way clinical workflow and actions are communicated can impact patient safety. Although much work has been done to identify the individual human factors and recommendations are made to control and reduce human factor errors, little work has been done to provide a structured methodology to analyse and control human factor influencing patient safety outcomes. In this paper, we build on the previous work on automatic development of clinical pathways, semiotic approach to modelling norm-base clinical pathways and propose a Human Factor Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (HFMA) which offers a systematic approach to define, design and incorporation of human factors into formal design of clinical pathways. Organisational semiotics methods specifically NAM and SAM are applied to identify and analyse controls to reduce the adverse impact of human factors in healthcare settings. This is achieved through modelling and integration of human factors into clinical pathways. This will result in more rigorous control the care process ensuring completeness, consistency and patient safety by enabling the mapping of formal and informal/safety controls into clinical pathways.

Interoperability is the ability of entities in organisation to work together that covers aspects ranging from the technical to the business level. Over the last decades, the interoperability concept and its context have been changing rapidly. It expands from the largely IT-focused area to business-focused area. The evaluation of interoperability is a rising concern in various research domains. There is increasing number of researchers that have been started concentrating on not just digital aspects, but also business related, human related, and social environment related aspects. Our previous investigation reveals in that interoperability issues from those perspectives are becoming a rising concern. When we study information sharing and business collaboration within organisations, the business activities and operations in organisation, which directly affect business performance, are driven by business processes. Therefore, the interoperability between business processes is the key to information sharing assurance. This paper proposes a framework from a new perspective - semiotics perspective, for enhancing interoperability evaluation. The framework derives from a feasibility study that investigates interoperability barriers in organisation. The framework offers the capabilities of analysing, measuring, and assessing the interoperability between business processes.

The social layer of Stampers ladder addresses the problem of responsible agents interacting with each other. It is the layer at which in organizations decisions are made and transformations negotiated. The method we present supports this human interplay. It combines principles of actualism, ontology charts, the knowledge in Formation process model and the Cynefin framework to gather and combine quantitative data with qualitative data, expressing attitudes and perceptions in meaningful diagrammatic representations of business processes. The analytic tool Sensemaker can be used to support decision making.

Ontology Charts are a powerful model element in Organisational Semiotics used to depict a stable and precise view of a business system. They show affordances and ontological dependencies as, respectively, nodes and links between them. Spite their apparent simplicity, they are many times hard to create. In this paper we refer to some common issues regarding the creation of Ontology Charts. Nevertheless, they have a hidden power of defining anchors for a stable information system supported by the affordance concept. In NOMIS – a NOrmative Modelling of Information Systems – affordances are transformed to states and environmental states and used as stable state paths within an information system. This paper shows how this transformation takes place and some advantages and possibilities of using it.

Since its emergence, Cloud Computing (CC) has revolutionized organization through offering them a large range of easily accessible, scalable, and non-expensive services. As CC has been gaining popularity, it has an impact on the strategic and operational level of every organization. Thus, wondering about its impact on the organizational strategic alignment is a must. This study develops the Cloud Computing framework of Strategic Alignment Model, where strategic fit between operational and strategic levels in organization is achieved through cloud-enabled multiple iterative processes. The study aims to understand whether cloud computing increases operational and strategic efficiencies of organization and if yes then how. After presenting the theoretical background, the hypotheses, and the built cloud framework, we discuss the way strategic alignment theory helps us to better understand how information flows within the strategic fit of business and IT and what is the role of CC in it. This study addresses the strategic alignment as well as the cloud computing literature.

As digital technology continues to pervade many organisations, new collaborative models such as digital business ecosystems (DBEs) emerge. DBE is a socio-technical network of digital platforms, processes, individuals and organisations from different industries that collectively create value. In DBEs, participants interdepend on each other and technology platforms to develop individual capabilities required to deliver value to end-users. Notwithstanding the benefits of DBE, a key challenge for focal partners is how to assess the social impact of the various interdependencies. Social impact refers to the social effect of interdependencies on DBE participants. More often, the focus has been on assessing the operational impact of interdependencies while limited attention has been paid to the social perspective. However, we argue that the social impact of interdependencies is equally important since it can significantly affect value co-creation. In this study, we develop a framework to help focal partners assess the social impact of interdependencies in DBEs. An empirical case study of a port DBE is used to illustrate our framework.

The ability of existing strategy concepts to analyse strategy, design strategy and execute strategy within organisations has an alarmingly poor historical track record. Based on the long-standing semiotics and ontology research work of the Global University Alliance (GUA) and its members, a Strategy Lifecycle is introduced. The Strategy Lifecycle, underpinned by ontology and semiotics incorporates all the constructs that can be found in the most popular strategy concepts and frameworks. It explains the value of the underlying strategy ontology and the relationship between the strategy meta model, the Strategy Lifecycle and various artefacts used around strategy work. The paper concludes with future scope and application that lies ahead for the Strategy Lifecycle.

The affordability, reliability, access and mass adoption of information and communication technological advances is a key trigger to digitisation. Digitisation significantly influences the global economy, as it impacts interpersonal and organisational relationships, disrupts organisational practices, and enables innovation. Digitization is transforming a firm’s interaction with its external partners (including users), through the use of digitally-enabled business processes, online chats, digital services, online tools/applications and automated systems. This paper focuses on the role of digitisation in innovation in services, because services account for a significant proportion of GDP and employment in developed economies. In specific, the paper explores the topic in the context of Knowledge-Intensive Business Service (KIBS) firms (that exhibit high levels of innovations as users, producers and diffusers of innovation). This conceptual paper explores how KIBS firms can maximise the value extracted from external knowledge/collaboration through digitisation (since KIBS firms demonstrate the highest degree of adoption of digital technologies) to enhance process innovation outcomes. Process innovation is chosen because it plays a fundamental role in delivering efficiency and market share. This paper proposes that digitisation will moderate the relationship between collaboration (breadth of external partners and depth of user engagement) and internal resource commitment to enhance the benefits derived from process innovation.

Both the national competitiveness paradigm and cluster theory have prompted decision-makers in emerging countries to take a closer look at the cluster approach, and to consider the possibility of using this approach to boost economic growth. However, this has not led to wider use of cluster analysis as a major instrument for studying complex economic processes in these countries. The reason for this is that the majority of the reviewed concepts of cluster development implemented in emerging countries, such as Kazakhstan and Russia, use of the cluster approach based on foreign experience disregarding the importance of initial local conditions. Thus a more formal study of clusters in emerging countries, taking into account the impact of institutional factors and the individual structural uncertainty of economic systems, recurrent crises and market shocks, is required This research fills the gap by proposing a cluster node as a unit of analysis that allows subdivision of any big industrial and commercial groups, of economic sectors, and of multinational enterprises (MNE) and other structures, into interconnected nodes of a smaller scale, and applying this up to the smallest nodes that are of interest to researchers. This concept will create theoretical foundations for the transformation of national economic clusters, which is strategically important for national governments seeking to attract foreign investments (FDI) and increase local content, thus attracting MNEs to invest in national economies. This research demonstrates how the concept of cluster nodes can be applied to the analysis of linkages between oil and gas industry (O&G) and industries responsible for the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in Kazakhstan.

A novel approach to programming computing machinery is demonstrated by the Enguage^TM language engine: programming by utterance. The running of a command is modeled as a deductive process; the mechanism by which meaning is ascribed to utterance—induction—is described. A full example of the factorial function is given. The paper then develops utterance not only as a form of issuing commands to hardware, but also of storing, retrieving, and manipulating spoken information—a programmable UI. Because such utterances can be generated by speech-to-text software, such interactive computation does not require a program as a written artifact.

The rapid development of new digital technologies has increased the expectations of academic research outputs. To meet these pressures, researchers have greater expectations of their digital work environments. In this paper we outline the drivers for digital transformation at our institution and how this manifested itself in a series of exploratory projects called digital initiatives. Based on our findings we propose a Digital Research Initiative framework to support research institutions in assessing and implementing digital transformation.

Ontologies are central artifacts in modern information systems. Ontology networks consider the coexistence of different ontology models in the same conceptual space. It is relevant that computational systems specified with distinct models based on different methods, as well as divergent metaphysical assumptions, exchange data to interoperate one with the other. However, there is a lack of techniques to enable the adequate conciliation among models. In this paper, we propose and formalize a metamodel to enable the construction of data models aiming to support the interoperability at the technical level. We present the use of our metamodel to conciliate, without explicit transformations, Ontology Charts from Organizational Semiotics with Semantic Web OWL ontologies and less structured models such as soft ontologies. Our results indicate the possibility of identifying an entity from one model into another, enabling data exchange and interpretation in heterogeneous ontology network.

One of the challenges faced by designers when creating technology is to be aware of social responsibilities when proposing a new digital artefact. With the popularization of computational technology among children, the challenge gains new proportions. Varied digital solutions have been presented for children at hospitals to lessen anxiety, stress and loneliness caused by hospitalization. If designers do not consider the broader view of the context, the social consequences of the use of their solutions might worsen users’ initial situation. In order to better understand the context and obtain a more comprehensive view from the state of the art in this subject, we used a Semiotic Framework and the Principles for Affectibility to analyze artefact solutions proposed for hospitalized children. As a result, we identified gaps that represent new opportunities for research. The results are discussed towards more social awareness towards new, contemporary interfaces that defy traditional interaction forms.

The main idea behind the Open Source model of software development is to promote open collaboration in a decentralized process of coding. Varied endeavors have taken place in order to encourage, support and maintain the Open Source initiative, always focusing on the programming part of software development. Little to none has been said regarding decentralized, open collaboration in the system design process as a whole. Aiming at understanding what an OpenDesign initiative for information systems design would be, this article further explores the SAwD tool in a case study that considers the context of designing IoT solutions for airports. Organisational Semiotics and the Socially Aware Design constitute the theoretical basis of this work.

Articulated within this paper is a qualitative investigation into using structuration and semiotic theories that suggests improvements to communication when developing new software. Forming the analysis, an Information System (IS) designed using the Unified Modelling Language (UML) allied with the Agile software development process exposed a key factor: the need for effective communication. This factor caused a negative outcome when developing a new IS necessary to support the digitalisation of a business. Analysing the conditions and adjusting requirements modelling with structuration and semiotic theories, team members expressed with clarity requirements for their new IS as real-world effects and causes. Such cause and effect statements align to Peircean interpretant signs that facilitated effective communication.

Compliance is important for organisations but models and tools to aid understanding of compliance behaviour is limited. This paper argues that the understanding of the interaction between subjects and objects and their intention to comply with requirements of rules and regulations may be a predictor of compliance behaviour. Thus, a Conceptual Compliance Assessment Model (CAM) is developed by extension of Technology Acceptance Model and Activity theory for assessment of compliance behaviour. Data collected and evaluated showed that the awareness and understanding of the mediational tool is critical in realizing the outcome. It also showed that other factors like the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, the community and the management set up also affected compliance behaviour. Essentially, the use of CAM will be useful in assessing the compliance activities of subjects which may aid in formulation of behaviour support systems to improve compliance behaviour.

Within the built environment, the Engineering and Construction (E&C) companies are very natural resource-intensive in terms of their business operations. In this paper, we focus on publicly listed E&C companies and analyse the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities on their corporate financial performance. The analytical framework is built around the economic theory of private provision of public goods. A basic Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is used to empirically examine the testable hypothesis with a panel data comprising 17 major E&C companies with monthly data over 2000-13. The results indicate that CSR activities can influence financial performance significantly after controlling for the firm size variable. We make use of several measures of CSR activities to test robustness. The broad results are robust to a range of alternative model specifications.

As the foundation and basis for developing architecture products and data, designing operational activities and processes is the key in architecture design. Current research lacks the optimization design method about them. To solve this problem. Firstly, this paper analyzed the data meta-models related to operational activities, proposed the process of optimal design of the operational activities and processes. Secondly, the objective function of the optimization of operational activities and processes are studied considering the time, success rate and cost. Thirdly, the process of simulation evaluation of operational activities and processes is designed, then we propose the method of how to convert activity-related architecture data into object Petri-net simulation model. Finally, three means of improving the operational activities and processes are given to arrive the optimal design objectives.

This study draws on organisational semiotics and design science methodology informed by abductive reasoning to develop a business intelligence (BI) architecture. Organisational semiotics research has so far paid limited attention to BI in general and its architecture in particular. Moreover, BI research in information systems (IS) focuses largely on either technical or social activities. Organisational semiotics offers frameworks and model which can be used to develop a BI architecture with combined technical and social views. This study therefore develops a BI architecture based on knowledge hierarchy, semiotic framework, and semiotic activity hierarchy. The paper uses a manufacturing company’s BI experience as a case study to inform and evaluate the proposed architecture. The study’s contribution stems from its development of the organisational semiotics informed BI architecture and its implications for research and practice.

We investigated the potential of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), ANN to forecasts in chaotic series of the price of copper; based on different combinations of structure and possibilities of knowledge in big discovery data. Two neural network models were built to predict the price of copper of the London Metal Exchange (LME) with lots of 100 to 1000 data. We used the Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) algorithm and Cascade Forward Neural Network (CFNN) combining training, transfer and performance implemented functions in MatLab. The main findings support the use of the ANN in financial forecasts in series of copper prices. The copper price’s forecast using different batches size of data can be improved by changing the number of neurons, functions of transfer, and functions of performance s. In addition, a negative correlation of −0.79 was found in performance indicators using RMS and IA.

Data visualization has been widely utilized in various scenarios in data analytics for business purposes, especially helping novice readers make sense of complex dataset with interactive functions. However, due to an insufficient theoretical understanding of the process of developing interactive functions and visual presentations, interactive data visualization tools often display all available automatic graphing functions in front of users, instead of guiding them to choose a visualization based on their demands. Thus, this paper is intended to construct a process of developing interactive visualization with a specific focus on enabling the interoperation between design and interpretation. Stemmed from organizational semiotics, an abductive process will be portrayed in this paper to interpret the process of developing interactive data visualization. Especially the interactive functions will be employed in an iterative process, where producers can be aware of and respond to readers’ information demands on semantic, pragmatic and social levels.

This paper focuses on developments of open government data (OGD) at city, municipal, county, federal state, regional and provincial levels around the world. This is in line with recent OGD trends where local government authorities, especially in developed countries, are launching separate OGD web portals to complement central governments’ efforts at liberating public data. Focusing on early LGOD adopters, an inventory audit of contents and functionalities in use at LGOD web portals was conducted. The data generated was analyzed for trends and (dis)similarities among early LGOD adopters. The results of the study points to a general sense of heterogeneity among LGODs across the world in terms of adherence to OGD web publishing standards. There is also a lack of uniformity in terms of OGD web portal functionalities and contents even among local government authorities within a same country.