Martin Muderspach Thellefsen

Martin Muderspach Thellefsen

MLISc, PhD

  • Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 København S

  • Karen Blixens Plads 8

    2300 København S

Personal profile

CV

Education:

  • 2010: PhD., Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg, DK
  • 1998: Master of Library and Information Science (MLISc)
  • 1994: Suppleringsuddannelse i Retorik, Kommunikation og Formidling
  • 1990: Graduated Librarian

Employment:

  • 2000 - 2004: External Professor - Department of Communication, Humanistic Informatics, Aalborg University
  • 2000 - present: Associate Professor, Department of Information Studies, Royal School of Library and Information Science, Aalborg
  • 1999 - 2000: Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Media, Royal School of Library and Information Science.
  • 1995 - 1999: Librarian, Department of Music and Music Therapy, Aalborg University 
  • 1994 - 1995: Librarian, Department of Communication,  Aalborg University
  • 1993 - 1994: Librarian, Aalborg TVR

Primary fields of research

My research centers around the conceptual and theoretical development of Domain Analysis of Information and Technology (DA&IT), an analytical framework that explores the intersections of information, knowledge, and technology through a domain-analytical perspective. I conceptualize 'domain' as a boundary of interest, which allows for an examination of information and technology not just in terms of empirical data but also through the lens of critical realism—a philosophical approach influenced by Roy Bhaskar’s work on the real, the actual, and the empirical.

Central to my research is the integration of semiotics—the study of signs and meaning systems—into the analysis of information and technology. I explore both human and non-human sign systems, applying a critical realist framework to investigate how these systems influence knowledge and information structures. This approach addresses longstanding issues in information studies, such as the distinction between data, information, and knowledge, particularly in the context of digital information environments.

Key Research Areas:

  • Information Theory and Philosophy of Information
  • Knowledge Technology and User Studies
  • Social Semiotics and Digital Semiotics
  • Critical Realism and Pragmatism in Information Studies
  • Formal Ontology and Knowledge Representation

 

Teaching

Teaching areas:
  • Theories and methods of information science
  • Understanding technology and users in context
  • Knowledge organization and information seeking
  • Internet and society

Primary fields of research

Domain analysis, information and technology (DA&IT)

DA&IT express a framework for investigating information, knowledge and technology from a domain analytical perspective. For the lack of a better terminology, I use the ‘domain’ concept to express a border or demarcation of interest. DA&IT considers knowledge and information as core concepts and relate these concepts to semiotics. By semiotics, is meant the study of meaning of signs in the broadest sense, including human as well as non-human sign systems.

 

Themes that are central to DA&IT:

 

  • Information theory (philosophy of information)
  • Knowledge, Technology & User studies (epistemology)
  • Social semiotics
  • Information and representation (e.g., digital semiotics)

External positions

ekstern lektor, Aalborg University

1 Sep 201731 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Faculty of Humanities
  • information science
  • knowledge organization
  • computer semiotics
  • pragmatic information theory

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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