scholarly journals Productive perils: on metaphor as a theory-building device

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-111
Author(s):  
Claudio J Rodríguez H
Keyword(s):  
Theory Change ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Semiotic Theory ◽  
The Way

AbstractMetaphors constitute a relevant method for both building and making sense of theories. Semiotics is not exempt from their influence, and an important range of semiotic theories depends on metaphors to be meaningful. In this paper, we wish to examine the place of theory-constitutive metaphors considering the interaction view and the extent to which some areas of semiotics, particularly, the semiotics of culture and biosemiotics, are enriched by having metaphors dominate the way we think about them. The intention of the paper is not to document the different metaphors that have built semiotic theory, but rather to observe through a number of examples that semiotic research contains theory-building metaphors and that these are productive means of developing semiotic thinking further, with the caveat that theory change can be unexpected based on how we build metaphors for our theories.

scholarly journals Measuring the Openness of Innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Bellantuono ◽  
Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo ◽  
Barbara Scozzi
Keyword(s):  
Theory Building ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Building Model ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Innovation Project ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Concepts Of Knowledge ◽  
Innovation Practices ◽  
The Way

Measuring the openness of innovation is essential to understanding whether and under which conditions increasing openness is beneficial for organizations. However, no consensus has been so far achieved on which dimensions characterize the openness of innovation, which approach should be used to measure it, or which unit of analysis should be adopted. This paper proposes an approach, named ATOM (Aggregative Technique for Openness Measurement), to characterize and measure the openness of innovation, rooted in the concepts of knowledge supply (KS) and innovation practice (IP). As prescribed by the confirmation phase of theory building model, the approach has been successfully applied to a real innovation project. The paper contributes to clarifying the concept of innovation openness and attempts to improve its measurement by adopting a micro-level unit of analysis (i.e., single KS within an innovation project) as well as dimensions that extant literature considers relevant to managing external collaborations. The proposed approach can also support firms involved in an innovation project to (i) identify and measure the criticality of knowledge supplies, (ii) assess the openness of the adopted innovation practices, and (iii) support ex-post learning on the way the project was managed.

Making Sense of the Sourcing and Shoring Maze

2010 ◽  
pp. 126-157
Author(s):  
Subrata Chakrabarty
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Global Sourcing ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Sourcing Strategies ◽  
Corporate World ◽  
Holistic Perspective ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Way

Many terminologies have grown out of the outsourcing and offshoring bandwagon. While the corporate world continues to experience these phenomena, the academic world continues to research the same. An attempt has been made to give an overview of the various outsourcing and offshoring alternatives. We first discuss the basic sourcing strategies (insourcing and outsourcing) and the shoring strategies (onshoring and offshoring). We then move deep and wide into the maze and unravel the multiple alternatives that businesses exercise in order to get the best deal for their information system (IS) needs. Approximately 50 terminologies that are related to this growing maze have been discussed. The literature was scanned for various sourcing alternatives and terminologies. The purpose of this chapter is to compile and elucidate the various facets of domestic and global sourcing of IS needs. The reader will gain holistic perspective of a phenomenon that is continuously changing the way business is carried out globally.

scholarly journals Deliberating Our Frames: How Members of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Use Shared Frames to Tackle Within-Frame Conflicts Over Sustainability Issues

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Zimmermann ◽  
Nora Albers ◽  
Jasper O. Kenter
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Environmental Valuation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The World ◽  
Joint Decisions ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Carbon Retention ◽  
The Way

Abstract Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) have been praised as vehicles for tackling complex sustainability issues, but their success relies on the reconciliation of stakeholders’ divergent perspectives. We yet lack a thorough understanding of the micro-level mechanisms by which stakeholders can deal with these differences. To develop such understanding, we examine what frames—i.e., mental schemata for making sense of the world—members of MSIs use during their discussions on sustainability questions and how these frames are deliberated through social interactions. Whilst prior framing research has focussed on between-frame conflicts, we offer a different perspective by examining how and under what conditions actors use shared frames to tackle ‘within-frame conflicts’ on views that stand in the way of joint decisions. Observations of a deliberative environmental valuation workshop and interviews in an MSI on the protection of peatlands—ecosystems that contribute to carbon retention on a global scale—demonstrated how the application and deliberation of shared frames during micro-level interactions resulted in increased salience, elaboration, and adjustment of shared frames. We interpret our findings to identify characteristics of deliberation mechanisms in the case of within-frame conflicts where shared frames dominate the discussions, and to delineate conditions for such dominance. Our findings contribute to an understanding of collaborations in MSIs and other organisational settings by demonstrating the utility of shared frames for dealing with conflicting views and suggesting how shared frames can be activated, fostered and strengthened.

Introduction: The role of methodology in semiotic theory building

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-32
Author(s):  
Karin Boklund-Lagopoulou ◽  
Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Theory Building ◽  
Semiotic Theory

A Comment on Fry's “The Role of Caring in a Theory of Nursing Ethics”

Hypatia ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-158
Author(s):  
Jeannine Ross Boyer ◽  
James Lindemann Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Ethics ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Way

Our response to Sara Fry's paper focuses on the difficulty of understanding her insistence on the fundamental character of caring in a theory of nursing ethics. We discuss a number of problems her text throws in the way of making sense of this idea, and outline our own proposal for how caring's role may be reasonably understood: not as an alternative object of value, competing with autonomy or patient good, but rather as an alternative way of responding toward that which is of value.

scholarly journals Sound as Signifier: Communication and Expression Through the Sound of Clothing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tala Kamea Berkes
Keyword(s):  
Original Film ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Film Score ◽  
Visual Aesthetics ◽  
Visual Characteristics ◽  
Sound Objects ◽  
Semiotic Theory ◽  
The Way

Fashion, clothing, and dress have traditionally been evaluated on visual characteristics. This paper focuses on the aural qualities of clothing and on what is being communicated through sound. Semiotic theory, in particular denotation and connotation, discusses the ability of clothing to communicate through sound. Philosophical ideas of expression through music and sound emphasized the significance of feeling and experience in art and fashion. Five garments were designed as sound objects to explore this link between sound and clothing. The garments are featured in a video in which two musicians dance in the pieces. Musician Born Gold created an original film score from the recorded sounds of the pieces. These works attempted to direct the focus of fashion experience towards sound, without disregarding the cultural emphasis on visual aesthetics. The intention is to shift the way individuals relate to their clothing, to a fuller and more cognizant sensory experience.

1. Making Sense of Earth’s Politics: A Discourse Approach

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
The Way

This edition examines the politics of the Earth through reference to discourses based on the argument that language matters, that the way we construct, interpret, discuss, and analyze environmental problems has all kinds of consequences. The goal is to elucidate the basic structure of the discourses that have dominated recent environmental politics, and to present their history, conflicts, and transformations. The text discusses four basic environmental discourses: environmental problem solving, limits and survival, sustainability, and green radicalism. This introduction provides an overview of the changing terms of environmental politics, questions to ask about discourses, the differences that discourses make, and the uses of discourse analysis.

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