Sense Making and Meaning

An evolving “normal”: making sense of renal dialysis via online discussion boards

by Natalya Godbold

Godbold, N. 2010, ‘An evolving “normal”: making sense of renal dialysis via online discussion boards’, in M. Vaccarella & M. Deng (eds), Relational Concepts in Medicine, Interdisciplinary Press, Oxford, UK.

Patients’ experiences and coping strategies are usually examined via interviews, which obtain snap shots of... more Patients’ experiences and coping strategies are usually examined via interviews, which obtain snap shots of participant’s perspectives at one point in time. Acknowledging that situations and perspectives are not static, a description is offered of how contributors to renal discussion boards make sense of their illness over time. The study takes a social constructionist perspective, in which making sense is seen as a process where meaning is co-constructed within communities. In the renal discussion boards observed, contributors make sense of their situation using typed narratives to which other contributors respond. These exchanges allow contributors to develop intra-subjective assessments of each other’s situations and options. Contributors provide ongoing reports of their situations, through which their sense making narratives can be observed, changing and developing. This ‘naturally occurring’ data allows analysis of interactions between peers in communities of the chronically ill, a population generally difficult to access. Individuals appear to actively seek the socially developed ‘truths’ of the community of their peers, while also contributing to that changing body of experiential knowledge. The longitudinal approach reveals shifting ways in which contributors describe and cope with their experiences and allows progressions of sense making themes to emerge. This early analysis describes ways that conceptions of ‘normality’ are used by contributors to make sense of their experiences.

Online communication: –Applying Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology to metatheory, research, and design

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

The values of urban water

by Pieter Lems

Presented at the International Conference on Urban Drainage in 2008.

Urban water is inextricably bound up with the urban area. The research on urban water management is concentrated on... more Urban water is inextricably bound up with the urban area. The research on urban water management is concentrated on the integration of the urban water system. However, the implementation of the urban water system requires in addition an understanding of its relationship with the urban area. Stakeholders involved in the use, maintenance and development of the urban area have to make space available for use by the water professionals. This paper elaborates a contextual principle which enables those involved in urban water management to disclose the values of urban water to other stakeholders. Consequently, this paper distinguishes and illustrates eleven categories of values which clarify the relevance of urban water for stakeholders. An inward as well as an outward approach is necessary to implement and contextualize an integrated technical urban water system. However, these approaches lead to conflicting outcomes for the system.

Commentary: Making Sense of Identity Dialogues

by Mariann Martsin

Identity in Dialogue

by Mariann Martsin

Information as Ontologization

by David J. Saab

Co-authored with Uwe V. Riss. This is a preprint of an article published in the Journal of the American Society of Information Science and Technology (JASIST).

The traditional view of data, information and knowledge as a hierarchy fosters an understanding of information as an... more The traditional view of data, information and knowledge as a hierarchy fosters an understanding of information as an independent entity with objective meaning—that while information is tied to data and knowledge, its existence is not dependent upon them. While traditional conceptions assume a static nature of information, expressed by the equation information = data + meaning, we have argued that this understanding is based on an ontologization of an entwined process of sense-making and meaning-making. This process starts from the recognition of a pattern that is interpreted in a way that influences our behavior. At the same time, the process character of meaning-making makes us aware of the fact that this ontologized hierarchy is in fact an interwoven process. We conclude that the phenomenological analysis of this ontologization that makes into being data, information, and knowledge has to go back to this process to reveal the essential underlying dependencies.

Where Does Lap Go When You Stand Up? : Meaning Making Expression and Communication beyond a Linguistic Constraint.

by Martyn Woodward

Embodied approaches to perception and understanding, and ultimately communication, maintain that meaning-making is... more Embodied approaches to perception and understanding, and ultimately communication, maintain that meaning-making is rooted and emergent within our very embodied experience. Such approaches require a shift away from linguistically regulated models of experience, as seen in semiotics, in which we derive our meaning not from reality but from a linguistic, sign based context, to more contingent models culled from the ecological sciences and philosophy. This paper is concerned with the nature of meaning making and communication in light of this shift in approaches to perception and meaning brought about within an animal-environment systems theory approach. It aims to outline a thesis into which models of meaning making can move beyond a linguistic constraint of direct human experience, to embrace a more ecologically contingent methodology. An ecologically contingent model of meaning making through essences is outlined. This model is then contrasted to linguistic meaning making models used within current linguistic models, highlighting a fundamental flaw within the latter to successfully communicate our emergent contingent human experience. It concludes with an intervention arguing for more generative, ecological models of meaning making that go beyond current semiotic models

Information and Meaning

by Christophe Menant

Publication of 2002 presentations:
- Foundation of Information Science Forum (http://crmenant.free.fr/FIScience/Index.htm)
- 5th European System Science Congress (http://www.afscet.asso.fr/resSystemica/Crete02/Menant.pdf)

We propose here to clarify some of the relations existing between information and meaning by showing how meaningful... more We propose here to clarify some of the relations existing between information and meaning by showing how meaningful information can be generated by a system submitted to a constraint. We build up definitions and properties for meaningful information, a meaning generator system and the domain of efficiency of a meaning (to cover cases of meaningful information transmission). Basic notions of information processing are used.

Introduction to a Systemic Theory of Meaning -

by Christophe Menant

Working paper. Jan 2010 update