The separation of data and information in database systems under an organisational semiotics framework

Some significant problems in database systems research, such as query answering capability, connection traps, lossless transformation, and normalisation are difficult to explain, answer, solve, or explore further within the current context where data and information are fused, or even taken as the same thing. It would appear that a fresh and new perspective that distinguishes between data and information, and takes data as a type of sign, which bear (carry) information, is beneficial. The ideas of organisational semiotics (OS) enable this. We will discuss the reasons for separating data and information, and for investigating the relationship between the two. We will look at how and why the contemporary, seemingly muddled view, on the relationship between data and information might have hampered the progress on a number of database research issues. We conclude that looking at data and information within an OS framework sheds light on these issues and helps investigate them with a sound theoretical ground.