New article: Institutional ontology for conceptual modeling
The article “Institutional ontology for conceptual modeling” – authored by Owen Eriksson, Paul Johannesson and Maria Bergholtz – has been published in the Journal of Information Technology (2018).
The purpose of the article is to propose an institutional ontology that can support the design of information infrastructures. The ontology is theoretically informed by institutional theory and a communicative perspective on information systems design, as well as being empirically based on several case studies. A number of guidelines for modeling institutional reality, and institutional facts are also proposed.
The authors suggest a contemporary ‘‘institutional turn’’ for conceptual modeling, because of the large impact that implemented conceptual models have on institutions, information infrastructures, and in the creation of institutional facts. Institutional facts are real in the sense that they have consequences for social interaction, not because they have a mass and extension in space (like material things). This distinction between institutional facts and material things is significant for conceptual modeling and ontology.
Conceptual modeling is often considered a technology-related activity that belongs to the domain of software engineering. However, conceptual modeling is critical for information systems, social science and society at large, as conceptual models have a prescriptive role in designing institutional reality, and in the creation of institutional facts. These models form shared conceptions in which meaning is created in social interaction, provide a basis for regulating social interaction, and help to produce and reproduce norms and values. Recognizing the impact of institutional modeling on institutional reality opens up a new research agenda. For example, one topic deserving further attention is how the transition process from paper to digital is changing the way we think about, and create institutional facts, and how this affects institutional reality and institutional change.
The research is performed within the field of “Digital institutionalization”, which is a field under development within the Department of Informatics and Media.
Institutional ontology for conceptual modeling. Journal of Information Technology 2018, pp 1-19.
Owen Eriksson is senior lecturer at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University.