This polemic calls for an end to our enchantment with Theory in the IS field. My critique uses Barthes’ structuralism to argue that theories are myths which order, interpret and normalise the world. I address the fundamental question “what is a fact”, drawing on the epistemology of Ludwik Fleck, which deserves more recognition in IS, supplemented by the structuralism of Roland Barthes. A “fact”...

for hearing us out as we ventured into territory far more familiar to him than it was to us and helping us out with many valuable suggestions and guideposts. Summary: This paper examines the semiotic nature of the hypertext document from two points of view, both of which are based on Roland Barthes' ELEMENTS OF SEMIOLOGY. From the more conventional point of view, the hypertext document is discu...

In her article "Photography in Wang's Chang Hen Ge (Song of Everlasting Sorrow)" Hong Zeng analyzes Wang's novel in the context of imagery following the theoretical framework of photography as proposed in the work of Xun Lu and Roland Barthes. According to both Xun Lu and Roland Barthes, the spectacle of photography is tied to the notion of the "the theater of the dead." Further, according to W...

In his Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916, Saussure postulated the existence of a general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics would form only one part. Semiology therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ri...