From the Search for Technosignatures to the Search for Information Signatures: A Program for Detecting Symbolic Organization in Astrophysical Data

This preprint proposes a new conceptual framework for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by shifting the primary analytical question from "What produced this signal?" to "Does this signal exhibit formal information organization?" Rather than focusing on the physical origin of anomalous astrophysical signals, the paper argues that the detection of symbolic information structure constitutes a logically independent scientific problem that can be investigated without prior assumptions about source or mechanism. The manuscript introduces Information Astronomy as a complementary research program to conventional technosignature studies. It defines symbolic organization using principles from information theory and proposes six formal criteria for identifying structured information within observational data, including discreteness, recurrence, transition constraints, hierarchical organization, and informational redundancy. A systematic five-stage analytical methodology is presented, together with a cumulative classification framework (I0–I5) for reporting evidence of information organization while remaining agnostic about interpretation. The framework integrates established methods from algorithmic information theory, hidden Markov modeling, sequence analysis, and compression-based complexity estimation, and discusses potential applications to archival SETI observations, fast radio bursts, the cosmic radio background, and future large-scale radio astronomy facilities. The paper is intended to stimulate interdisciplinary research at the intersection of astronomy, information theory, signal processing, and astrobiology by establishing information structure itself as a primary object of astronomical investigation.