Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Information and information systems -- 1.2 Problems and challenges in information systems -- Shameful numbers -- 1.3 Approaches and methods for information systems development -- 1.4 MEASUR: a semiotic approach to information systems -- 1.5 About this book -- Part one Semiotic framework and methods -- 2 Understanding semiotics -- 2.1 Signs and their functions -- 2.2 Semiosis and learning -- 2.3 Semiotics in computing -- 2.4 Semiotics in organisations and information systems -- 3 A semiotic framework for information systems -- 3.1 Philosophical stance -- 3.1.1 Objectivist paradigm -- 3.1.2 Subjectivist paradigm -- 3.1.3 Radical subjectivist paradigm -- 3.2 The semiotic framework -- 3.2.1 Physics -- 3.2.2 Empirics -- 3.2.3 Syntactics -- 3.2.4 Semantics -- 3.2.5 Pragmatics -- 3.2.6 The social level -- 3.3 An example of semiotic analysis -- 4 A semiotic approach to information systems development -- 4.1 MEASUR -- 4.2 How MEASUR can help in information systems development -- 4.2.1 Infrastructure analysis -- Semiotic diagnosis -- Organisation and context valuation -- Relationships between unit systems -- System component analysis -- 4.2.2 Systems analysis, design and implementation -- 4.3 Summary -- 5 Knowledge representation and information analysis -- 5.1 Some basic considerations in knowledge representation -- 5.1.1 Expressive adequacy and notional efficiency -- 5.1.2 Semantic primitives -- 5.1.3 Types of knowledge -- 5.2 Representation approaches -- 5.2.1 Typical examples -- 5.2.2 Conceptual graphs -- 5.3 Some fundamental issues of information analysis -- 5.4 The role of information analysis -- 6 Semantic Analysis -- 6.1 Theoretical aspects of Semantic Analysis -- 6.1.1 Affordances -- 6.1.2 Ontology and some other fundamental notions -- 6.2 NORMA.

6.2.1 Well-formed formula -- 6.2.2 Affordance and ontological dependency -- 6.2.3 Semiotic behaviour -- 6.2.4 Time -- 6.2.5 Determiner and identity -- 6.2.6 Generic-specific relationship -- 6.2.7 Defining authority and responsibility -- 6.2.8 Graphic representation - ontology chart -- 6.3 Using LEGOL to specify norms -- 6.4 Conducting a Semantic Analysis -- 6.4.1 Understand the problem domain -- 6.4.2 Generating candidate affordances -- 6.4.3 Candidate grouping -- 6.4.4 Ontology charting -- 6.4.5 Norm Analysis -- 6.5 Commentary on Semantic Analysis -- 7 Pragmatics and communication -- 7.1 Human communication -- 7.2 Other approaches to communication -- 7.2.1 Speech Act Theory -- 7.2.2 Functional approach -- 7.2.3 Deontic logic for communication -- Deontic logic -- Standard DL -- Dyadic DL -- Dynamic logic approach to deontic logic -- Impact and applications of deontic logic -- 7.3 Pragmatic aspect of human communication -- 7.4 The Norm Analysis method -- 7.4.1 The concept of norms -- 7.4.2 Norms in business organisations -- 7.4.3 Norm Analysis -- 1 Responsibility analysis -- 2 Proto-norm Analysis -- 3 Trigger analysis -- 4 Detailed norm specification -- 7.4.4 Norms in computer systems -- 8 The social layer: modelling organisations as information systems -- 8.1 Organisations as information systems -- The informal information systems -- The formal information system -- The technical information system -- 8.2 The notion of responsibility -- 8.3 An organisational morphology -- 8.4 Modelling the organisation -- 8.5 Summary: requirements for an effective information modelling method -- Part two Applications -- 9 From semiotic analysis to systems design -- 9.1 The semantic aspect of databases -- 9.2 Capturing the semantic aspect -- 9.3 Capturing the time aspect -- 9.4 Ontological modelling for conceptualisation.

9.5 Intentions, propositional attitudes and consequent operations -- 9.6 Other aspects of databases: facts, beliefs, and knowledge -- 10 Semantic temporal databases -- 10.1 Databases -- 10.1.1 Developments in database management systems -- 10.1.2 Semantic temporal databases -- 10.2 The semantic templates -- 10.2.1 Defining a semantic template -- 10.2.2 ST for database design -- 10.3 Systems construction -- 10.4 LEGOL -- 10.4.1 Basic syntactic structure -- 10.4.2 Some important operations -- Binary operators -- Unary operators -- Functions -- 11 Normbase: a new approach to information management -- 11.1 The Normbase concept -- 11.2 The Normbase system -- 11.2.1 The Normbase engine -- Semantic Analyser -- Norm Analyser -- LEGOL interpreter -- 11.2.2 The semantic temporal database -- 11.2.3 The norm store -- 11.3 Information management with the Normbase system -- 11.4 Using semiotic methods with other approaches -- 11.4.1 Relational database for implementation -- 11.4.2 Object-oriented methods for design and implementation -- Object-oriented design -- From Semantic Analysis to OO design -- 12 Case study: development of a land resources information system -- 12.1 Background -- Brief description of the problem -- 12.2 Semantic Analysis for requirements modelling -- Starting point - the problem definition -- Study problem definition -- Identify semantic units -- Classify semantic units -- Identify ontological dependencies -- Complete the semantic model -- Check the model -- 12.3 Norm Analysis -- Types of norms -- Locus of structure - semantic model versus norm structure -- Identification of norms -- 12.4 System design and implementation in the Normbase approach -- 12.4.1 From semantic model to database design -- STDB -- Queries -- Norms -- Generation of a STDB -- Keeping historical data -- Non-destructive update -- 12.5 Discussions and conclusions.

13 Case study: development of a test construction system -- 13.1 Background -- 13.1.1 CONTEST project -- 13.1.2 User requirements -- 13.1.3 Why choose Semantic Analysis -- 13.2 System analysis -- 1 Study problem description -- 2 Identify semantic units -- 3 Group semantic units -- 4 Construct the semantic model -- 13.3 System design -- 13.4 System construction -- 13.5 Discussion and conclusions -- Appendix A Semantic templates and surrogate specification -- A.1 Definition of ST -- A.2 Examples of using ST in discourse modelling -- A.3 Examples of surrogates -- Appendix B LEGOL applications in the CRIS case -- B.1 Questions and LEGOL statements -- B.2 Output from the Normbase -- Bibliography -- Index.