[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-85736-en":3,"doc-seo-85736-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},85736,5909877438554,"Maeve","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/5600025385ad2bf12a7?_k=1778553567797529272",8,"Research & Report","A Realist Theory of Digital Objects, Digital Systems, and Digitalized Systems","As reliance on information technology increases, the nature of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems must be understood clearly to support reliable research, management, control, and prediction. The paper proposes a realist theory built by adopting, adapting, and extending existing work in ontology, semantics, and semiotics. It explains the nature of digital entities precisely while rejecting independent existence of nonmaterial or hybrid objects, generating different insights and predictions to guide further empirical studies.","Data & Knowledge Engineering 165 (2026) 102629  \nContents lists available at ScienceDirect Data & Knowledge Engineering  \njournal [homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/datak](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/datak)  \n| A realist theory of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems\u003Cbr>Roman Lukyanenkoa,* , Ron Weber b,c\u003Cbr>a University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, United States\u003Cbr>b Monash University, Faculty of Information Technology, 25 Exhibition Walk (Building 63), Clayton Victoria 3800, Australia c The University of Queensland, UQ Business School, Level 2, Colin Clark Building, St Lucia Queensland 4072, Australia |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| A R T I C L E I N F O |  | A B S T R A C T |\n| Keywords: Digital object\u003Cbr>Digital system Digitalized system Realism Materialism Ontology Semantics\u003Cbr>Semiotics\u003Cbr>Symbol\u003Cbr>Non-iconic sign Bitstring construct Bitstring instance Bitstring symbol Quantum bitstring Function\u003Cbr>Form\u003Cbr>Mechanism Classical computing\u003Cbr>Quantum computing Sign |  | As human reliance on information technology (IT) increases, having a clear, precise, and comprehensive understanding of the nature of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems becomes more critical. Otherwise, our ability to research, manage, control, and make reliable predictions about them will be limited. Accordingly, in this paper, we propose a new theory of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems based on the adoption, adaptation, and extension of existing theories of ontology, semantics, and semiotics. The theory provides precise explanations of the nature of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems. Ours is a realist theory that does not countenance the independent existence of nonmaterial or hybrid objects in the world. Accordingly, we are at odds with much of the prevailing discourse about digital phenomena. We show how our theory generates different insightsand predictions from this the dominant discourse on the nature of the digital. Our predictions lay the groundwork for further empirical studies on the design, use, and impact of IT on individuals, organizations, and society. |\n\nAlthough we jump to notice the role of power, identity, and other familiar social constructs in light of new technologies, such as large language models in organizations, few bother to delve into the technology deeply enough to understand precisely how the new technology is different from previous as it interacts with social variables. ([1], p. 1518) (our emphasis)  \n1. Introduction  \nAs digitalized products and services have become more pervasive and complex, scholars have attempted to understand their nature (e.g., [2–5]). In part, their motivation has been to enable better understanding of the ways that digitalization has diffused and infused  \n* Corresponding author.  \nE-mail addresses: [romanl@virginia.edu](romanl@virginia.edu) (R. Lukyanenko), [Ron.Weber@monash.edu](Ron.Weber@monash.edu), [uqrweber@uq.edu.au](uqrweber@uq.edu.au) (R. Weber).  \n[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2026.102629](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2026.102629)  \nReceived 8 March 2025; Received in revised form 19 May 2026; Accepted 2 July 2026 Available online 3 July 2026  \n0169-023X/© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license  \n([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)).  \nand its growing impact on individuals, organizations, and society (e.g., [1,6–14]).  \nDespite these efforts, many issues pertaining to the nature of digitalization remain unclear and contested. For example, in information systems (IS) research, digital objects are often deemed to be hybrid objects that are partially composed of material and nonmaterial objects (e.g., [4]). As such, do we now have a new type of reality—a hybrid reality—that is the “digital world”? If so, how do the three worlds relate—the material, the nonmaterial, a","cbCaiaIkVquuUaZ7","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaIkVquuUaZ7","pdf",1957262,1,24,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Motivation and research gaps\n## Goals of the proposed theory","[{\"question\":\"Why is a precise theory of digital objects, digital systems, and digitalized systems needed?\",\"answer\":\"Because growing dependence on IT requires clear understanding to enable better research, management, control, and reliable predictions about digital phenomena.\"},{\"question\":\"What core stance does the proposed theory take toward the existence of digital objects?\",\"answer\":\"It is a realist, materialist theory that does not accept independent existence of nonmaterial or hybrid objects in the world.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the theory relate to prevailing discourse about digital phenomena?\",\"answer\":\"It deliberately contrasts with much of the dominant discourse and generates different insights and 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