A Language/Action Based Approach to Information Modeling

INTRODUCTION There are several different views of the functional role of information systems. Two of the most important ones are the model view and the communicative action view. According to the model view, the primary purpose of an information system is to provide a model of a Universe of Discourse (UoD), thereby enabling people to obtain information about reality by studying the model. In this respect, an information system works as a passive repository of data that reflects the structure and behaviour of the UoD. In contrast, the communicative action view states that the major role of an information system is to support communication within an organisation by structuring and coordinating the actions performed by the organisation’s agents. The system is seen as a medium through which people can perform social actions, such as stating facts, making promises, and giving orders. In certain cases, the system can itself take on the role of an agent and perform actions on its own initiative. Most representation techniques used in systems development are based on the model view of information systems. For example, Entity-Relationship diagrams or object-oriented class diagrams are used to represent the static and structural aspects of a UoD. Other examples are entity life cycle diagrams and interaction diagrams, which describe the behaviour of objects. Another technique, which also addresses communicative aspects, is the data flow diagram technique by which the information and control flow between agents in an organisation can be represented. These types of techniques have received widespread acceptance and are now important parts of several systems development methodologies. However, the techniques have also been heavily criticised, see for example (Auramaki, 1988) and (Coad, 1990). One