Cross-Cultural and Cognitive Aspects of the Semiotic Information Interpretation

Abstract

In this paper the authors consider the cross-cultural and cognitive aspects of the semiotic information transmission, namely, how information is exchanged and interpreted by representatives of different cultural groups in the context of business processes. The article deals with the issues of subjective perception of information, the visual effectiveness of business process models and their informative content, and the way cultural factors affect the complexity or simplicity of models’ perception. The study includes models and drawings as illustrations of processes. The semantic content of some notations for describing business processes, the pictogram language, and associative drawings are given on specific examples. A hypothesis is proposed about the relationship and influence of certain objective and subjective factors over the semiotic content of business processes and the ability to manage those factors for more effective solutions for better addressing the relevant business challenges. The concepts of knowledge, information and data are considered in relation to the research topic for a clearer understanding of the subject area. The authors note the general goal of using process models in the form of the processes notations and schematic images in the form of drawings and pictograms with differences in the levels of semantic support and emotional context based on identical simple cognitive mechanisms: visual associative series, text, and the location of objects. The research can be useful for the design of cultural and context-dependent types of communication, both the imperative and motivational (posters, signs) and also the descriptive (information about processes, instructions, messages, etc.).