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---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2013 11:08:59 -0400 From: Karen Weaver <[log in to unmask]> "People" not the equivalent of "Users" "Information" not the equivalent of "Knowledge" Names of an organization do not define "information science" either- why would it? Why is "documentation" in your "technology section" ? Bibliography was always associated with "documentation" roots btw much more than "technology" jumped that bandwagon Just some morning thoughts/ponders, cheers KW On 9/7/13, Gretchen Whitney <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Greetings, > I am just reporting observations, and not being critical or judgemental. > > But I wonder if these phrases form a decent definition of information > science, so elusive after 60 years. > > I first ran into this triumvirate twenty years ago (get the UTK thing?) > and at that time it was my first exposure to the intersection of these > ideas under Jose-Marie G. It was exciting. No one that I had run into > before had ever pulled this Venn diagram together. > Twenty years later, I'm seeing the same thing presented at Penn State > (http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/courses/A/IST/110) as an undergraduate > course as a Brand New Concept. > The triumvirate is also presented as "information, people, and > technology" at the current iSchools website at > > http://ischools.org/ > > I looked at ALISE.org, and it doesn't have a mission statement, and > doesn't include these words (or any others, for that matter). > > I looked at the ASIST.org web site, and they are still celebrating the > name change to "and Technology" which happened what, a decade ago? "This > year's conference theme offers an opportunity to reflect on all the > changes that impact on human information interaction and their > implications for information science and technology." Sort of the right > words. > > In other words, there is still not a good definition of "information > science" out there. > > > I googled "information technology people" and came up with a journal at > http://www.itandpeople.org/ > which might be worth paying attention to, in its 26th year of > publication. > > I googled "users technology knowledge" which turned up a bunch of > articles containing one or two terms but not three. > > I looked at the Wikipedia article for the definition of "information > science" and it was the usual mishmash of unconnected topics. The ideas > here are not bad, and not irrelevant. I wonder what they would look like > if they were re-organized under the people - users/information - knowledge > /information technology framework. > > Is there a decent definition of information science in this mess? I > think that there is. In multiple layers. > > First layer. Venn diagram and explain the intersection of users - > people/information - knowledge/information technology. > > Second layer. Explain these sectors. Yes, in full this means in the > information - knowledge section how publishing works, where books come > from, how books are published via the web, history of books, meaning of > bibliography, the whole nine yards. How cultures are preserved via the > written word. In full in the information technology section this means > going back to hieroglyphics and the creation of and preservation of the > written word, but also telegraphs and their relationship to text msging, > the written vs spoken word (the telephone), representation of language and > letters (ASCII eg), verbal vs graphic representations of information, > computing as priesthood and personal computers, networked information. I > know very little about users and how they process/acquire information. > > Third layer: How these three sectors interact. > > > This foundation for a definition of "information science" in the > intersection of "people - users/information - knowledge/ information > technology" both avoids, and embraces folks who try to distinguish > between informatics, computer science, natural or engineered information > systems, philosophical systems regarding epistemology. The history of > science goes in the Knowledge section. Documentation goes in the > Technology section. Everyone has a place. > > The base phrase is "information science." It is defined as the > intersection between "people, information, and technology". > > We're done for the night. Happy Saturday, everyone. > > --gw > > > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired > School of Information Sciences > University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA [log in to unmask] > http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/ > jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html > SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > Karen Weaver MLS Digital Projects Assistant, Systems Duquesne University, Gumberg Library 600 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh PA 15282 Email: [log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]