Table 1 Semiotic ladder layers and... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Semiotic ladder layers and examples from related studies

Semiotic ladder layer	Focus	Examples from prior studies
Physical world	Concerns the material properties of signs	Physical infrastructure in web IS (Arantes, 2013), and physical devices in assistive technology development (Paim and Prietch, 2020)
Empirics	Concerns the statistical and technical properties of signs	Bandwidth, transmission efficiency (Arantes, 2013), throughput capacity, and signal-to-noise ratios (Luo and Liu, 2009)
Syntactics	Concerns the structural rules and formal representations used to organise signs	Programming languages, markup languages, file systems, and browsers in web IS (Arantes, 2013)
Semantics	Concerns the meaning of signs and what they represent	Interpretation and contextualisation of information to support decision-making and business processes (Liu, 2000; Mingers and Willcocks, 2017)
Pragmatics	Concerns the intentions and practical consequences associated with the use of signs	User intentions (Arantes, 2013), design requirements, and application customisation needs (Nicastro et al., 2015)
Social world	Concerns how signs shape human interactions, social structures, norms, and obligations	Cultural norms, belief systems, legal frameworks, and obligations emerging from communicative practices (Arantes, 2013; Mingers and Willcocks, 2017)

Semiotic ladder layer	Focus	Examples from prior studies
Physical world	Concerns the material properties of signs	Physical infrastructure in web IS (Arantes, 2013), and physical devices in assistive technology development (Paim and Prietch, 2020)
Empirics	Concerns the statistical and technical properties of signs	Bandwidth, transmission efficiency (Arantes, 2013), throughput capacity, and signal-to-noise ratios (Luo and Liu, 2009)
Syntactics	Concerns the structural rules and formal representations used to organise signs	Programming languages, markup languages, file systems, and browsers in web IS (Arantes, 2013)
Semantics	Concerns the meaning of signs and what they represent	Interpretation and contextualisation of information to support decision-making and business processes (Liu, 2000; Mingers and Willcocks, 2017)
Pragmatics	Concerns the intentions and practical consequences associated with the use of signs	User intentions (Arantes, 2013), design requirements, and application customisation needs (Nicastro et al., 2015)
Social world	Concerns how signs shape human interactions, social structures, norms, and obligations	Cultural norms, belief systems, legal frameworks, and obligations emerging from communicative practices (Arantes, 2013; Mingers and Willcocks, 2017)

Source(s): Authors’ own work