the codification of meaning

[Loet Leydesdorff]

Metaphors and Diaphors in Science Communication: 

Mapping the Case of Stem-Cell Research 

Science Communication (forthcoming)

Loet Leydesdorff & Iina Hellsten 

 <http://www.leydesdorff.net/stemcell/stemcell.pdf> click here for pdf

 

“Stem-cell research” has become a subject of political discussion in recent
years because of its social and ethical implications. The intellectual
research program, however, has a history of several decades. Therapeutic
applications and patents on the basis of stem-cell research became available
during the 1990s. Currently, the main applications of stem-cell research are
found in marrow transplantation (e.g., for the treatment of leukemia). In
this study, the various meanings of the words “stem cell” are examined in
these different contexts of research, applications, and policy debates.
Translation mechanisms between contexts are specified and a quantitative
indicator for the degree of codification is proposed.

 

Anticipatory Systems and the Processing of Meaning: A Simulation Study
Inspired by Luhmann’s Theory of Social Systems 

 <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/2/7.html> Journal of Artificial Societies
and Social Simulation vol. 8, no. 2
<http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/2/7.html> 

Meaning can be communicated in addition to -- and on top of -- underlying
processes of the information exchange. Meaning is provided to observations
from the perspective of hindsight, while information processing follows the
time axis. Simulations of anticipatory systems enable us to show how an
observer can be generated within an information process, and how
expectations can also be exchanged. Cellular automata will be used for the
visualization. The exchange of observations among observers generates (a)
uncertainty about the delineations in the observed system at each moment in
time and (b) uncertainty about the dynamics of the interaction over time. 

 <http://www.leydesdorff.net/anticipation/JASSS_8_2_7.pdf> <click for the
pdf-version here> 

 

 

  _____  

Loet Leydesdorff
Honory Chair of the City of Lausanne (March - July)
Université de Lausanne, School of Economics (HEC),
BFSH 1, 1015 Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland
Tel.:+41-21-6923469
 
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX  Amsterdam
Tel.: +31-20-525 6598; fax: +31-20-525 3681
 <mailto:loet at leydesdorff.net> loet at leydesdorff.net;
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net

 
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