Communication Models for Computer-Mediated Information Systems

The article argues the relevance and utility of communication theory and models in the research, design and development of computer-mediated information systems. Toward this end, the underlying communication model of early management information systems (MIS), termed the information-transfer (IT) model, is derived. In particular, MIS are examined from seven aspects: epistemological and ideological bases, context, agents, problems addressed, nature and role of communication. The widely acknowledged failures of early MIS are traced to shortcomings of the underlying IT model. A model reflecting recent developments in communication theory is also presented, and state-of-the-art information systems are described and critiqued with reference to both communication models. The critique suggests directions for information-system development based on sounder communication theory.

[1]  Carolyn Marvin,et al.  Telecommunications policy and the pleasure principle , 1983 .

[2]  Linda L. Putnam.  Paradigms for organizational communication research: An overview and synthesis , 1982 .

[3]  B. F. Barton,et al.  What is technical writing? Prolegomenon to a contextual definition , 1981 .

[4]  Joe Kelly.  How managers manage , 1980 .

[5]  C. D. Porterfield.  Toward the Integration of Communication and Management , 1980 .

[6]  Lawrence J. Korb,et al.  The Polaris System Development , 1973 .

[7]  Virginia Alm Book.  Supplement to the 1980 Bibliography of Technical Writing. , 1982 .

[8]  Carolyn R. Miller.  A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing , 1979 .

[9]  Dwight W. Stevenson.  Courses, Components, and Exercises in Technical Communication. , 1981 .

[10]  Michael E. Pacanowsky,et al.  Organizational communication as cultural performance , 1983 .

[11]  Robert P. Bostrom,et al.  Mis problems and failures: a socio-technical perspective , 1977 .

[12]  M. Crozier.  The Bureaucratic Phenomenon , 1964 .

[13]  P. Frost.  Toward a Radical Framework for Practicing Organization Science , 1980 .

[14]  Raymond E. Miles,et al.  Theories of Management: Implications for Organizational Behavior and Development by Raymond E. Miles , 2009 .

[15]  Leonard C. Hawes.  Social collectivities as communication: Perspective on organizational behavior , 1974 .

[16]  Michael E. Pacanowsky,et al.  Communication and organizational cultures , 1982 .

[17]  J. Kotter,et al.  What effective general managers really do. , 1982, Harvard business review.

[18]  Henry C. Lucas,et al.  Why information systems fail , 1975 .

[19]  Gerald Holton,et al.  Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein. , 1976 .

[20]  M. Leff.  In search of Ariadne's thread: A review of the recent literature on rhetorical theory , 1978 .

[21]  Michael A. Overington.  The Scientific Community as Audience: Toward a Rhetorical Analysis of Science. , 1977 .