Ronald K Stamper

Pioneer in organizational semiotics and information theory, Stamper is recognized for applying semiotics to information systems in a way that transformed the field.

Born in Nottingham, England, 1934, Stamper studied mathematics and statistics at Oxford University. He worked in hospital administration, where he was a pioneer in the use of computing and operational research methods. Then, in the steel industry, he led a management service team and became deeply involved in information systems work.

To remedy the industry's desperate shortage of specialists, he created the first UK courses in systems analysis geared to improving user performance rather than computer sales. This course became the basis of the national programme of Systems Analysis training.

Stamper left a career as an industrial manager to join a team creating a research and teaching programme in information systems at the London School of Economics. Concerned about the emphasis on information technology without a corresponding concern for the information resources it manipulates, he aimed to establish a better balance in both teaching and research in the new discipline.

He approached these problems in an entirely new way for the field, via semiotics—the theory of signs—which was the basis of his 1973 book "Information" (2nd edition to be published by Blackwell). Stamper has written extensively about the nature of information resources, methodology of analysis and design, the semantics of data, and computers and law.