What’s in a face? Making sense of tangible information systems in terms of Peircean semiotics

Abstract

Within this paper, we utilise a delimited area of philosophy to help make sense of a delimited area of design science as it pertains to a class of contemporary information systems. The philosophy is taken from that of Charles Sanders Peirce; the design science is directed at the construction of visual devices in that area known as visual management. The utilisation of such devices within their wider visual management systems we take to be instances of what we refer to as tangible information systems. Tangible information systems use tangible artefacts, such as whiteboards and magnetic tokens, to accomplish information. We particularly use Peircean semiotics to analyse the use of tangible emoticons articulated upon performance boards within a large-scale manufacturing facility. We infer from our analysis of these informative artefacts that certain integrated aspects of Peircean philosophy offers an alternative way of framing notions of a proper design science, design theory, and design artefact for the discipline of information systems.

Recognizing non-designers’ contribution in the process of designing information on visual management boards: a metaphorical approach

“…Such information has inclusive and democratic purposes by supporting personnel in understanding and being involved in various organizational activities, ongoing development work, and continuous improvements. Despite the conviction of the positive effects of visual information, there is a significant need for visual studies in this context (Bell & Davison 2013; Davison, McLean & Warren 2015; Beynon-Davies & Lederman 2017; Beynon-Davies 2018; Eriksson & Fundin 2018).…”

“…In this section, a theory for analysis is outlined providing central terms and concepts to study how participants may relate to the visual outputs they generate in the participatory design process. There are several possible theoretical approaches in the context of VM, for instance, a semiotic approach (Beynon-Davies 2018) or a rhetorical approach (Bell & Davison 2013). This paper introduces a theory for analysis based on previous research that concludes that metaphors play a role in managers’ and co-workers’ understanding and use of work-related information on VM boards (see Söderlund & Hansson 2021).…”

“…There is a need for future studies combining theories and methods to analyze and explain the visual outputs generated by participants when involved in designing VM board information. Beynon-Davies (2018) proposes a semiotic approach to VM studies based on Pierce's sign relations, which can be combined with the metaphorical approach suggested in this paper. Other relevant theories are visual rhetoric and visual narration, which can be applied to explore and explain the visual output generated in a participatory design process.…”

“…In practice, the colors green, yellow, and red are applied to visualize all sorts of states, conditions, and results. This color code can also be combined with emoticons, representing happy and sad faces, see, for example, the study by Beynon-Davies (2018). The color coding will be considered in this paper and the study presented herein.…”