Study of information retrieval (IR) interaction from a viewpoint of an appropriate discipline of human communication, such as semiotics, should be useful. Application of semiotic categories to IR reveals that the basic distinction in the retrieval interaction is between the two particular types of 'language games' (speech acts) known as 'denotations' and 'prescriptions'. The denotative act in IR is needed to transmit information from the database to the user of the system. The prescriptive act, however, can be used to 'invent' new connections between documents that constitute documentation systems and, thus, to create new knowledge. The research project being carried out by the present author applies semiotic concepts and tools to the IR systems design problem. IR systems design practice is viewed as a social practice in which the main disjunction is between the two conflicting acts of denotation and prescription. It is the aim of the reported project to balance these two conflicting language games within the framework of the Okapi experimental information retrieval system.
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