Or discourse. I wrote a paper on software ethics where I used the idea of software as discourse. Then argued that FOSS can be used as a viable platform for software ethics.
Brian F. Fitzgerald, a professor at Southern Cross University in Australia, defines software as discourse -- "software is a discourse that acts to construct meaning amid the new architecture of knowledge". He uses the following definition of discourse:
"A discourse is a group of statements which provide a language a particular kind of knowledge about a topic. When statements about topic are made within a particular discourse, the discourse makes it possible to construct the topic in a certain way. It also limits other ways in which the topic can be constructed. A discourse does not consist of one statement, but of several statements working together to form what Foucault called discursive formation. Discourse is about the production of knowledge through language. But it is itself produced by a practice: discursive practice – the practice of producing meaning."
The core concept to keep in mind here is the "practice of producing meaning". We act in this process through language. In a digital environment software is providing us with a framework for understanding and knowing and thus becomes a part in this process of meaning making. Using this idea Fitzgerald shows us that software can be seen to be a mode of understanding or a methodology for constructing meaning. He cites several legal cases and points to the reality where most people do not want to understand what a line of source code would direct a computer to do. Most people simply want to use the software in some tasks. According to Fitzgerald, this conceptualization of software fails to appreciate the representative and discursive competence of software. "Software is a medium for communication, for representing meaning. No matter how embedded or hidden the function of software, it is simply to construct meaning – to make something obvious. That is discourse". Fitzgerald uses his idea of software as discourse to understand how law might regulate software.
more http://bar.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLJ/1999/25.html
--sharif