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Examining the potential of applied cultural semiotics for social action within the larger paradigm of qualitative modes of enquiry, this three-part study compares "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to multileveled problem solving and policy making in the modern democratic society. Comparison of think tanks as intersectorial research units to alternate communities of practice and learning illustrates the pragmatic shift occurring in the definition, and redefinition, of knowledge as well as the conflicting modern and postmodern perspectives in governance issues pertaining to knowledge, political power, and cultural representation in government policy making. Common to both interpretive, qualitative and quantitative, stances lie the deeper issues of creativity and innovation in the information and communication age as the overriding finality of the knowledge industry. A summary overview of the action-research literature further demonstrates the multiple complementarities of cultural semiotics with information and knowledge management processes as well as with complex problem-solving methods and current approaches to creativity development in organizational settings. These shared methodological traits stem from the implementation of systemic approaches to culture and organizations as well as to the subsequent questioning of hypothetico-deductive models for resolving complex culture-related issues. The concept of system, common to both cultural semiotics and action-research, sets the theoretical and methodological frame for the articulation of 'sense-making" processes between academic researchers, professional organizations, community representatives, and government decision makers.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9404-6_38

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