An Introduction to Information Science
Abstract
Information science is a relatively new field and has its origins in various branches of study. Mathematical communication theory (Shannon, Claude F. and Weaver, Warren, The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980) gave impetus to the notion of information as a measurable quantity, one related to uncertainty. Hence, information was looked upon as data that reduces one's uncertainty. The development of automated bibliographic retrieval systems (Kent, Allen, Information Analysis and Retrieval. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1971) focused on the storage and retrieval aspects of information, and introduced methods of data organization and "labeling" (indexing) as well as methods of querying data bases. The study of business information systems (Davis, Gordon B., Management Information Systems: Conceptual Foundations, Structure, and Development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), both operational-e.g., payroll program-and managerial-e.g., management information systems (MIS) and, more recently, decision support systems (DSS)-introduced notions of data processing and the use of data in decision making. These disciplines are primarily concerned with information as an external commodity, data in a data base that can be manipulated, retrieved, transmitted, and "used." This text addresses questions of interest to all three themes. The empasis is on external information systemes, in contrast to human information processing, i.e., cognitive psychology. It is anticipated that as both fields progress the meld between external information systems (usually automated) and the internal human information processing system will increase, with each posing problems and solutions for each other.
The text presents information as data that enables efficient action. It assumes the use of a model relevant to a given situation. The model specifies what data is relevant. As the introduction to Section I indicates, the need for data arises from blocked actions. This need is formalized in a question, and the search for data is the search for an answer to that question.
Developing the course material has been a lengthy process of selection, trial, and revision. The outline of the text reflects a combination of pedagogical and consistency considerations. The intent was to find an intuitively appealing structure that could also integrate the various disciplinary strains with the phenomenon of information as the central focus. The process of question-answering served both purposes: the search for information begins with blocked action (blocked through lack of knowledge, not because of physical incapabilities); the blocked action is a problem, a "knowledge problem"; the problem is voiced in the formed of a question, the information need; the surfacing of the need stimulates the information seeking behavior, i.e., the collection of data (or the identification of an appropiate model followed by the search for data); the data, suitably manipulated, provides the answer to the question, and, assuming the answer to be appropiate, the initial blocked action is resumed. If such situations are expected to arise in the future the relevant data and model may be stored in order to replace future processing by retrieval,