Information Field Complements Information Flow Paradigm in Getting Requirements of Networked Information Systems

This paper argues the suitability of the information field view of organizational semiotics (OS) paradigm, as a complement to the information flow view of objective methods in determining requirements of NISs. This for the requirements specification of NISs opens the way to argue social and organizational issues, particularly semantic and pragmatic issues, as dominators and essential complements to the objective requirements specifications of NISs. The paper first, magnifies the social and organizational perspective, in contrast with the technological objective perspective for NISs requirements specifications. Then it presents the OS paradigm to study an organization as an information system. After that it illustrates how information of an organization is produced based on analyzing a process of producing the organization´s object world from its subject system. Next, it delivers an approach for getting business requirements of NISs. Finally, it shows how the approach can be applied to a hospital case study.