The control revolution: technological and economic origins of the information society
The control revolution: technological and economic origins of the information society
Computer science as empirical inquiry: symbols and search
Communications of the ACM
Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
The deep structure of business processes
Communications of the ACM - Two decades of the language-action perspective
International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
Formated technology and informated action: The nature of information technology
International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
In-formation on the prairie: Signs, patterns, systems and prairie dogs
International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
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This paper describes part of a larger body of theoretical work which provides a new perspective on the nature of informatics, an umbrella term used to stand for the overlapping disciplinary areas of Information Systems, Information Management and Information Technology. We argue for an area of interest located at the intersection of signs and systems, which involves the enactment of forma (the substance of a sign), informa (the content of a sign) and performa (the use of signs within coordinated action). This conceptual scheme is reflected against work not traditionally covered by theory-making within informatics: that of animal communication. We use the well-documented case of the dance of the European honeybee to help ground our discussion. This examination leads to an understanding of the central position of communication amongst organisms as well as the place of human communication in the broad evolution of communication systems. This allows us to highlight crucial features of the concept of a data system as well as the important distinction between persistent and non-persistent data systems within communication processes.