IS 201 Information Structures Winter 2000 Information Characteristics, Uses, and Management Instructors: Jonathan Furner & Anne Gilliland-Swetland

Overview Definitions of information Characteristics of information objects Types of information needs Information processing activities Societal roles and practices of information institutions

There are Many Competing Definitions of Information Information as feedback--the ability of a machine to use the results of its own performance as self-regulating information and adjust itself as part of its ongoing process --Norbert Weiner, Cybernetics, 1949 Information is whatever can be coded for transmission through a mechanical channel connecting a source with a receiver--Shannon, 1949 “Information is commonly used to denote some population of objects to which some significant probability of being usefully informative in the future has been attributed.” -- Buckland, Unlike ‘knowledge’ or ‘belief’ “the concept of information has connotations of neutrality--it is homogeneous and noncontroversial. The reality, of course, is more complicated”--Agre, 1995

Knowledge Data -> Information -> Knowledge -> Understanding Knowledge is personal, subjective, and conceptual--based on belief The processes of communication and internalization of information are somehow bound up with the creation of knowledge Knowledge is associated with ways of knowing and a sense of purpose Knowledge can be represented and recorded in a variety of ways that can then be used to derive new knowledge

Worlds of Knowledge (from Popper’s Objective Knowledge) World 1 is the physical world World 2 is subjective knowledge or experience--mental states and processes. World 3 is objective knowledge--recorded knowledge, public knowledge--created by people.

Concepts of Information (Rowley & Farrow, 2000) Information as subjective knowledge - held in the mind of the individual and translated into objective knowledge through public expression Information as useful data - data that has been processed and then communicated for a particular purpose Information as a resource - an objective resource that can be managed Information as a commodity- information takes on different values as it moves through its life cycle Information as a constitutive force in society - information is embedded in a social structure, and information policy decisions are inextricably linked with culture and values

What is Information and What are Information Objects (Buckland, 1991)?

Characteristics of Information Objects Content: Description of a resource in terms of its information content and intrinsic characteristics, e.g., script, language, aesthetic qualities Context: Information extrinsic to the resource, especially the contexts of its creation and use in and over time Structure: The formal set of associations within or among individual resources. Can be system-imposed Organization: The way in which resources are grouped together, represented, or otherwise organized

Characteristics of Information Objects of Particular Importance for Users Objectivity: The degree to which information is accurate and reliable Accessibility: Intellectual and physical accessibility of information (is it available and am I able to use it?) Relevance: Is the information pertinent to the user’s need or task? Is the information complete and at an appropriate level of detail? Currency: Information is most useful for particular information needs at different points in its life cycle. Is it still current, or is it outdated? Does it become more valuable to the user as it ages?

Types of Information Need (Lancaster & Warner, 1993) Known-item need - need to locate and obtain a copy of a particular document for which the author or title are known –information retrieval capability –document delivery capability Subject need - need to locate documents on a particular subject or that are capable of answering a particular question –current awareness searches –retrospective searches need for a single factual item need for one or more items on a subject, but not for a comprehensive search need for a comprehensive search

Information Processing Validating, organizing, storing, describing and otherwise adding value to information to make it more useful and usable, e.g., –classification of data –arranging/rearranging/sorting data –summarizing/aggregating data –performing calculations on data –appraisal and selection of data

What Helps us to Process or Organize Information? Information structures, e.g., –intellectual form –system-imposed structures Forms of representation, e.g., –abstracts –indexes –catalog records –controlled vocabularies –classification schemes

“Information is not a natural category whose history we can extrapolate. Instead, information is an element of certain professional ideologies, most particularly librarianship and computing, and cannot be understood except through the practices within which it is constructed by members of those professions in their work” --Agre, 1995.

Societal Mission of Institutions Libraries –Provide access to the world’s published knowledge –Promote equity of access to information –Promote intellectual freedom –Support education and continuous learning and research –Support the development of information literacy in society –Serve as focal points for communities and promote community interests

Societal Mission Archives –Identify, select, preserve, and make available documentary materials of long-term value (essential evidence) to the organization or public that the archives serves. –Ensure the accountability of government by preserving public records and making them available to the citizenry as is legally and ethically appropriate –Preserve unique or collectible documents –Serve as memory institutions for a culture –Support scholarly, administrative, and personal research

Societal Mission Museums –Promote cultural, community, and familial identity and understanding –Provide experiences where visitors can make connections between content and ideas –Preserve unique, collectible, or representative objects –Serve as memory institutions for a culture –Support formal and informal learning and research –Serve as focal points for communities and promote community interests

The Information Practice Pie LIBRARIES ARCHIVES & MANUSCRIPT REPOSITORIES MUSEUMS BUSINESS & PERSONAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Digital Resources… Who Manages Them and How?

Integrating Digital Resources Within Traditional Institutions and Practices

Adapted from Introduction to Metadata (Getty Information Institute, 1998): 5. Life Cycle Information Management

Institutional Practices- Terminological Differences Librarians catalog and classify Archivists arrange and describe Museums register and catalog

Institutional Practices

Some Different Domains and Professions Engaged in Information Organization Indexers/abstractors -> primarily journal articles, essays in anthologies, specific formats of materials (e.g., dissertations, newspaper articles) -> description, summarization. Catalogers -> historically books, journals, etc., but also music, and other materials to be found in a library collection -> description, summarization (highly standardized). Archivists -> official records and manuscripts -> collective description at different levels and contextualization. Historical bibliographers -> rare and antiquarian books -> more exhaustive textual description and annotation Historical and science museum curators -> three dimensional materials -> highly idiosyncratic methods of description at different levels. Systems analysts and database designers -> multimedia electronic information and processes -> information processing, structural algorithmic manipulation.