The fixation of knowledge: the general shape of information and its practical consequences for information design

Abstract

Though professional communication theorists typically borrow from other disciplines (linguistics, rhetoric, cognitive or social psychology, etc.) we might develop a freestanding theory of information design, related perhaps to other disciplines, but still independent, in the way that organic chemistry is a freestanding discipline separate in many ways from general chemistry. I propose a base for such a theory in C.S. Peirce's general model of inquiry (1877). Useful information is shaped by a definitive question (topic) which moves an audience to search information for answers. Professional communication theory can be independently driven by the kinds of questions it seeks answers to.