Download Jeffry Babb INFO790- Communication Theory of Information Feb 4

Jeffry Babb
INFO790- Communication Theory of Information
Feb 4, 2004
A Focus On Empirics
While it is nearly impossible to separate the topic of empirics, with respect to the
Communication Theory of Information, from Stamper’s semiotic “ladder,” there are
those researching information systems that appropriate some, or all, of Stamper’s ideas
on semiotics. I would best summarize, in a phrase, empirics as “getting the message
right.” In an inverse sense, we can also consider this to be “sending the message right.”
In terms of entropy, distortion, signal-to-noise ratio and other such concepts, empirics is
concerned with accuracy in delivering information.
One paper, which seems an excellent start given the context of study in information
systems, is an IFIP report on a proposed basic framework (FRISCO) for the study of
information systems (and, to a degree, on the meaning of information) (Falkenberg et al.
1998). This report characterizes an information system as subject to interpretation and
confounded by contrasting meanings. These meanings are construed, according to this
report, through communication. Empirics is said to be concerned with the transmission
and reception apparatus of computer and telecommunications technology (Falkenberg et
al. 1998). Examples are the various protocols in place which facilitate reliable
transmission and reception of data packets, such as TCP/IP. The FRISCO report actually
offers a reasonably succinct discussion of the physical signs aspect of empirics.
Empirics, in the sense that it is concerned with the transmission of signs detected in the
most basic layer of the semiotic ladder, is a natural concern in physics and engineering.
Advances in this area are as much responsible for the proliferation of information
systems as optimizations in the cost of reliable signal processing increase the availability
and capability of information systems.
Empirics aims to increase information flow by improving the codification of real physical
signals across a communication channel. Efficiency in encoding, transmission and
redundancy in case of failure are all marks of empirics within the semiotics ladder.
In a more focused treatment, an article from Baranauskas, Keching Liu and Samuel
Chong looks at empirics and semiotics from an HCI perspective (Baranauskas et al.
2002). In terms of a user’s experience at a given website, empirics, within the Stamper
semiotic framework would be concerned with questions related to(Baranauskas et al.
2002):
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“Is time spent downloading from and updating a site acceptable?”
“What percentage of communication errors due to transmission happen during an
exchange to or from a given web server?”
“Is this site fully functional with respect to its parts (i.e. links, addresses, features,
functions)?
Further in the study of HCI is a discussion concerning the various types of signs present
in a user interface (Malcolm et al. 2002).
If channel capacity, optimal sign transmission, correctness of transmission, reduction of
noise in transmission and so on are the focus of empirics, then empirics are mostly
concerned with “getting the message right.” I also encountered a few other works related
to semiotics with relevant discussions of empirics: (Liu 2000; Liu et al. 2002)
Bibliography
Baranauskas, M.C.C., Liu, K., and Chong, S. "Website Interfaces As Representative of
Organizational Behavior," Campinas, Brazil, 2002, p. 21.
Falkenberg, E.D., Hesse, W., Lindgreen, P., Nilsson, B.E., Oei, J.L.H., Rolland, C.,
Stamper, R.K., Assche, F.J.M.V., Verrijn-Stuart, A.A., and Voss, K. "A
Framework of Information Systems Concepts," International Federation for
Information Processing, Department of Computer Science, University of Leiden,
The Netherlands, p. 223.
Liu, K. Semiotics in Information Systems Engineering Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, U.K., 2000.
Liu, K., Sun, L., and Bennet, K. "Co-Design of Business and IT Systems," Information
Systems Frontiers (4:3) 2002, pp 251-256.
Malcolm, G., and Goguen, J.A. "Signs and Representation: Semiotics for User Interface
Design," Liverpool, UK, 2002, p. 10.