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The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to provide a nuanced understanding of the information concept that encapsulates both its universal foundations and context-dependent intricacies, and second, to propose a theoretical framework that integrates these diverse viewpoints, thereby contributing to the theoretical discourse and practical applications in information science/studies (IS).

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between universalism and pluralism in connection with semiotics. The paper adopts a conceptual approach based on semiotics to address the long-standing debate over the definition of information in IS. By engaging with two foundational semiotic theories—C.S. Peirce's pragmatic semiotics and Ferdinand de Saussure's structuralist semiotics – the research seeks to bridge the conflicting perspectives of universalism and pluralism within the field.

The findings reveal that Peirce's semiotics, with its universalist core, views information as dynamic and shaped by context, while Saussure's approach, which is rooted in linguistics, emphasizes the relational aspects of sign systems and connects them to pluralism. This comparative analysis facilitates a broad understanding of information that transcends the limitations of singular perspectives. In conclusion, the paper seeks to demonstrate that the integration of universalist and pluralist perspectives through semiotics offers a more holistic approach to the study of information in IS. It contributes to the field by suggesting that the tension between these perspectives is not only reconcilable but also essential for a richer and more complete understanding of information. This theoretical foundation paves the way for future research and practical advancements in IS and advocates for approaches that recognize the complexity and multifaceted nature of information.

The study engages with theoretical frameworks, predominantly semiotic theories by C.S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure. While this provides a deep conceptual understanding, the lack of empirical data may limit the practical applicability of the findings. The research focuses on two semiotic perspectives, which, although foundational, do not represent the entirety of semiotics or information theory. Other significant semiotic theories and perspectives could provide alternative or complementary insights. The concepts of universalism and pluralism in information science are highly intricate and multifaceted. This study's approach to synthesizing these concepts, while comprehensive, might oversimplify some aspects of these complex paradigms.

The paper's originality lies in its unique integration of semiotic theories into the discourse of IS. This integration offers a novel perspective on understanding the concept of information, bridging the gap between universalist and pluralist approaches. The study presents a new conceptual framework for understanding information that combines elements of universalism (consistent, objective understanding of information) and pluralism (context-dependent, subjective interpretations). This dual approach is relatively unexplored in IS literature, providing fresh insights into the complex nature of information.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate an analytical framework for the information concept based on the semiotic theory.

The paper is motivated by the apparent controversy that still surrounds the information concept. Information, being a key concept within LIS, suffers from being anchored in various incompatible theories. The paper suggests that information is signs, and it demonstrates how the concept of information can be understood within C.S. Peirce’s phenomenologically rooted semiotic. Hence, from there, certain ontological conditions as well epistemological consequences of the information concept can be deduced.

The paper argues that an understanding of information, as either objective or subjective/discursive, leads to either objective reductionism and signal processing, that fails to explain how information becomes meaningful at all, or conversely, information is understood only relative to subjective/discursive intentions, agendas, etc. To overcome the limitations of defining information as either objective or subjective/discursive, a semiotic analysis shows that information understood as signs is consistently sensitive to both objective and subjective/discursive features of information. It is consequently argued that information as concept should be defined in relation to ontological conditions having certain epistemological consequences.

The paper presents an analytical framework, derived from semiotics, that adds to the developments of the philosophical dimensions of information within LIS.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and clarify a possible realist foundation of domain analysis and knowledge organization, and in this vein, investigate into how the concept of information is to be understood at a lower but necessary conceptual level in domain analysis.

The paper investigates into the foundation of domain analysis as formulated by Birger Hjørland, and develops a realist framework for domain analytical information and knowledge organization based on critical realism.

Information can meaningfully be considered as the prerequisite for domain analysis, and critical realism may provide for a realist ontological framework for domain analysis and knowledge organization.

The paper includes new insights into the foundation of information and domain analysis.

The purpose of the paper is to examine and compare Nicholas Belkin's information concept and his concept of communication with the authors' semeiotic inspired communication model – the Dynacom.

The authors compare the two communication models by comparing the requirements given by Belkin and the conditions of the Dynacom.

The authors conclude that Belkin's idea of information and his idea of communication lack the social aspect. Based on his theory, he is unable to point out how information becomes knowledge. These are two major issues the authors believe they can elaborate on by introducing the Dynacom and their semeiotic inspired concept of information.

No one has previously specifically analyzed Nicholas Belkin's concept of information and compared it to a semeiotic ditto.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the basics of semiotic analysis and concept theory that represent two dominant approaches to knowledge representation, and explore how these approaches are fruitful for knowledge organization.

In particular the semiotic theory formulated by the American philosopher C.S. Peirce and the concept theory formulated by Ingetraut Dahlberg are investigated. The paper compares the differences and similarities between these two theories of knowledge representation.

The semiotic model is a general and unrestricted model of signs and Dahlberg's model is thought from the perspective and demand of better knowledge organization system (KOS) development. It is found that Dahlberg's concept model provides a detailed method for analyzing and representing concepts in a KOS, where semiotics provides the philosophical context for representation.

This paper is the first to combine theories of knowledge representation, semiotic and concept theory, within the context of knowledge organization.

This study aims to focus on the interpretation component of Peirce’s triadic model of sign to identify: the components affecting the interpretation of an object and the components affecting the meaning creation by people for use in ontologies. Ashura was selected because it is a historical event and a meaningful sign in Iranian religious culture.

This qualitative study was conducted in two steps. In the first step, the Instagram pages of five groups of people were chosen as the sample and examined using qualitative content analysis. In the second step, 18 creators of Ashura works were selected, their lived experience in creating these works was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analysed through phenomenology method.

Based on the results, the concept is context-oriented; one cannot interpret the signs according to one’s personal preferences because the context, social rules and habits limit this interpretation. Accordingly, the use of reference systems and rules of logic, as well as artificial intelligence and computer science tools alone cannot help represent meaning in ontologies. Rather, individual characteristics, contexts, presuppositions and components existing in personal, social and technological worlds are effective on concept formation and meaning creation. Thus, these factors must be considered in ontology, especially for multi-faceted and context-oriented concepts, such as Ashura.

This research adopted a new approach and method to study ontology. This study focused on interpretation and adopted Peirce’s sign model for ontology design.

This paper aims to address a fundamental research question on behavioral branding, as how behavioral branding experience in reference to self-congruence, brand attributes and vogue leads to a positive influence on behavioral branding.

This study is based on the qualitative information gathered from 25 purposively selected respondents using semi-structured research interviews in the Mexico City. The respondents belonged to the young executive segment within the age group of 20-40, who had trendy knowledge of fashion accessory brands and exhibited behavior toward buying high profile consumer brands. The respondents were located in the northern (Roma Sur) and southern (Coyoacan) municipalities of Mexico City representing 28 per cent male and 72 per cent female sample population.

Brands following the vogue in the market engage consumers emotionally toward its use and public expressions. The effect of vogue in fashion accessories was found to be greater for women. This effect influences personality traits, and comparison of appearance and social status. Brand attributes reveal a set of characteristics that identify the physical character and personality traits of the brand, congruent with the consumer emotions through which consumers identify themselves. Brand personality traits include brand image, responsiveness and trust among consumers. Consumer brand knowledge during the survey was explored in reference to the behavioral branding by gathering answers to what consumers identified as their favorite fashion accessory brands. Consumer perception on brand image, perceived use value and societal recognition to the brand drive the brand attachment feeling among consumers. Consumers personify the brands at an accelerated pace, and they get associated to these brands.

Like many other empirical studies, this study also has some limitations in reference to the research methodology, sampling, data collection and generalization of the findings. As this study is qualitative in nature, there are possibilities of subjectivity in the responses, which might not be compatible with the quantitative data, if researched with such methodology.

This study prompts specific managerial implications allowing managers with insights to better understand the consumer perceptions on fashion brands, vogue and the cognitive dimensions in adopting the behavioral brands of the fashion industry. The study demonstrates that the process of co-creation of fashion brands, and setting up vogue in the society is based on the social needs and consumer engagement in the vogue.

There is paucity of qualitative research literature on brand behavior in reference to hispanic consumers in general and in reference to Mexican consumer in particular. Hence, this paper contributes to the existing literature. There are not many empirical studies that have addressed these questions either in isolation, or considering the interrelationship of the above factors. The determinants of brand behavior analyzed in this study can be further explored broadly with the consumer value and lifestyle management.

Information scholars frequently make use of “conceptual imports” – epistemological and methodological models developed in other disciplines – when conducting their own research. The purpose of this paper is to make the case that social semiotics is a worthy candidate to add to the information sciences toolkit.

Both traditional and social semiotics are described in detail, with key texts cited. To demonstrate the benefits social semiotic methods may bring to the information sciences, the digital display screen is then employed as a test case.

By treating the display as a semiotic resource, the author is able to demonstrate that, rather than being a transparent window by which the author may access all of the data, the screen actually distorts and conceals a significant amount of information, and severely restricts the control users have over software packages such as online public access catalogues. A programming paradigm known as language-oriented programming (LOP), however, can help to remedy these issues.

The test case is meant to provide a framework by which other information sciences issues may be explores via social semiotic methods. Social semiotics, moreover, is still evolving as a subject matter, so IS scholars could also potentially contribute to its continued development with their work.