Week One Weblog

Summary

The readings, lectures and discussions present two main branches of concepts to consider as an introduction to Information Studies. The first branch revolves around the definitions, terminology and structures of "information." The second delves into the recent expansion of "information technology" and how it shapes and is shaped by society/ies. I feel comfortable with the general definitions of information that were discussed and that can be found in the readings. I also grasp the direction we will take concerning information technology within society. Overall, the first week was a sufficient introduction to the subject.

Dividing the readings into the two categories mentioned above we have:

Information Defined

Lester & Koehler, Jr. Chapter 2: The Fundamental Concepts of Information.
Buckland. Information as Thing.
Braman. Defining Information: An Approach for Policymakers.

Information Technology (& Society)

Lester and Koehler, Jr. Chapter 1: The Impact of Information in Society.
Borgman. The premise and promise of the Global Information Infrastructure.
Braman. Defining information: An approach for policymakers.

The first class meeting focused on the definition of information. We all brainstormed the question, "What is Information?" We also were asked to consider information as compared to "knowledge."

The second class meeting impressed the concepts of information technology and its implications. We started these weblogs (a first for some of us), took an online survey that sparked a discussion of alternative information seeking techniques, and participated with a Library Science class in describing our techniques researching for a paper.

Thoughts

Majoring in Anthropology, I couldn’t help thinking of comparing the difficulty of defining “culture” in that field to defining “information” in this one. Both are lofty tasks. The most commonly accepted, simple introductory definition of culture is

Culture…, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. (Edward Tylor from Primitive Culture, 1871).

It would be nice if such a definition for “information” was available to us now. Albiet, after the readings and classes, I am acutely aware of the necessity to have multiple defininitions.

The articles surrounding the definition of information are involved and introduce a fair amount of new terminology and concepts. Nevertheless, I find them fascinating. I particularly like Buckland’s Figure on the Four Aspects of Information (pg. 352) because it nicely incorporates his three main uses of the word (information-as-knowledge, information-as-process, information-as-thing) and presents a distinction between information in the context of mind versus information of the artificial. On page 357 of the article (2nd column, 1st full paragraph) the two meaningful senses of information-as-thing are wonderful because they give a clear understanding of how information might be defined and how it can be used as a word itself.

While reading Buckland’s article I attempted creating a symbolic model of how information can flow between sender and receivers. I was delighted to find the Vickery Information Transfer Model (Lester/Koehler: Ch. 2, pg. 19) to be a sophisticated version of my own. I will present my model and compare it to the Vickery model next Wednesday when I lead the class discussion. Also, in the Lester/Koehler book, I found the Information Pyramid (pg 14) particularly useful along with the quote, “Facts are processed into data, which are processed into information. Information is integrated into knowledge” (pg 15). This helped me understand the difference between knowledge and information immensely.

In the history of Anthropology, there came to be a distinction between what is known as Culture (the dominant/forceful hegemony) versus culture (the general definition). It seems the same thing is brought up in our introductory readings on information in society. Lester/Koehler bring up that “not everyone has equal access to the information and information devices that can provide the needed information, nor is there equality of access for individuals to the skills necessary to locate and interpret information” (pg. 5). Borgman asserts that “information are essential for all manner of human affairs, including commerce, education, research, participatory democracy, government policy, and leisure activities" and that, "access to information for all these purposes is at the center of the discontinuity-continuity debates” (pg 3). Those debates are of central concern to all of us and it is reassuring to see Borgman argue a view that lies between the two. Also, Braman’s article Defining Information was very encouraging because it calls for a close to the conflictive attempts to define information for dominance and rather pursue a “pluralistic and hierarchical approach” for the cause of creating cooperative, global information societies.

As the class continues it is good to know we will be examining the positive ways to approach information in society/ies, not only the nuts and bolts.