instructor: prof. johan l. bollen office hours: tuesdays, 2-3.30pm info east rm. 304
DESCRIPTION
Instructor: Prof. Johan L. Bollen Office hours: Tuesdays, 2-3.30PM INFO East Rm. 304 Class meets: Wednesday, 4-7PM I107 (Informatics West) Resources: http ://informatics. indiana .edu/jbollen/ I501 Oncourse.iu.edu. Overview of 1996-2009 timeframe: - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Instructor:
Prof. Johan L. Bollen Office hours:
Tuesdays, 2-3.30PM INFO East Rm. 304
Class meets:
Wednesday, 4-7PM I107 (Informatics West)
Resources:
http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Oncourse.iu.edu
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Preliminaries
Overview of 1996-2009 timeframe: 1993-1994: Autonomous robots, VUB AI Lab - Luc Steels 1995-1999: Global brain, cybernetics, VUB - Francis Heylighen 1999-2001: Active recommender systems, LANL - Luis
Rocha/Rick Luce 2001-2005: Digital libraries/usage data mining, ODU/LANL 2006-present: MESUR - Scientific program to track scientific
activity, LANL/Herbert Van de SompelLOLA
Global Brain
SFX recommender
Funded byAndrew W. Mellon
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
And you?
Tell me about your- background- interests- what do you expect from this course?
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
OverviewThe course deals with the foundations of Informatics as an interdisciplinary field. It deals with concepts such as Information, Technology, Knowledge, Modeling, as well as their impact on science and society. The course will also attempt to define and understand what computational thinking can bring to science and society. In particular, we will focus on the National Science Foundation's definition of Computational Thinking as "a set of bold multidisciplinary activities that,[...] promise radical, paradigm-changing research findings. [...] Applied in challenging science and engineering research and education contexts, computational thinking promises a profound impact on the Nation’s ability to generate and apply new knowledge
AimsThe course is designed to present and discuss the history, methodology and impact of informatics; students are introduced to various approaches to informatics via interaction with faculty working on diverse problems, as well as the appropriate literature. Finally, students are expected to develop a understanding of what constitutes research in the field, via a familiarization with relevant funding opportunities.
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
How did we get here? From cybernetics to informatics The logical mechanisms of nature and society
The nature of information From semiotics to Shannon
Information and Technology The cyborg species?
Technology as Problem Solving Next-generation computer science? Various flavors of informatics
Computing Models of the World Next-generation science?
New computation paradigms The Limits of Computation Research in a nascent field
Computational thinking, what is it?
Syllabus Overview
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Participation: 20%. Based upon attendance and participation.
Assignments: 30% 2 assignments during the semester.
Research grant: 50% Pre-proposal, as if to submit it to the NSF Program: Cyber-
Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI). This research pre-proposal should be developed in consultation with an appropriate faculty member, and should focus on a Computational Thinking approach to a research question.(http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08604/nsf08604.htm)
Evaluation
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Lecture notes and slides See course web page and blog Resources tab OnCourse
This week McCulloch, W. and W. Pitts [1943], "A Logical Calculus of Ideas
Immanent in Nervous Activity". Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 5:115-133.
Coutinho, A. [2003]. "On doing science: a speech by Professor Antonio Coutinho". Economia, 4(1): 7-18, jan./jun. 2003.
Heims, S.G. [1991]. The Cybernetics Group. MIT Press. Chapters: 1,2, 11, and 12.
Schwartz, M.A. [2008]. "The importance of stupidity in scientific research". Journal of Cell Science, 121: 1771.
Course materials
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Attendance We expect that students will approach the course as they should
a professional job – attend every class.
Academic Integrity As with other aspects of professionalism in this course, you are
expected to abide by the proper standards of professional ethics and personal conduct. This includes the usual standards on acknowledgment of joint work and other aspects of the Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct. Cases of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Office of Student Ethics, a branch of the Office of the Dean of Students.
Rules, rules, rules
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
An incomplete (`I`) final grade will be given only by prior arrangement in exceptional circumstances conforming to university and departmental policy which requires, among other things, that the student must have completed the bulk of the work required for the course with a passing grade, and that the remaining work can be made up within 30 days after the end of the semester.
Incomplete grade
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Grading
A+AA-
98%94%90%
Excellent Work. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner.
B+BB-
85%80%75%
Very Good Work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
C+CC-
70%65%60%
Good Work. Student performance meets designated course expectations and demonstrates understanding of the course materials at an acceptable level.
D+DD-
55%50%45%
Marginal Work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
F <45% Fail
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
How did we get here?
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Informatics:a possible parsing
Complex Systems
Data & Search
Data Mining
HCID
Social Informatics
Security
Bio-
Chem-
Geo-
Music-
Health-
towards problem solving beyond computing for computing’s sake into the natural and social synthesis of information technology
By Erik Stolterman/Luis Rocha
“Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems.”
“the sciences concerned with gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and classifying recorded information”
“the study of information processing; computer science.”
“Computer Science in Europe” ;-)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Post-war science Synthetic approach
Engineering-inspired: science of the artificial Supremacy of mechanism
Postwar culture of problem solving Interdisciplinary teams Cross-disciplinary methodology
All can be axiomatized and computed Mculloch & Pitts’ work was major influence
Significant advances in:EngineeringCommunication and Information theoryComputingCognitive science/AILogistics of large social systems
Inter-disciplinary, synthetic scienceEmergence of cybernetics and systems science
Macy Conferences (1943-1953)
William Ross Ashby (psychiatrist), Gregory Bateson (anthropologist), Julian Bigelow (electro technician), Heinz von Foerster (biophysicist),Lawrence K. Frank (social scientist), Ralph W. Gerard (neurophysiologist), Molly Harrower (psychologist), Lawrence Kubie (psychatrist), Paul Lazarsfeld (sociologist), Kurt Lewin (psychologist), Warren McCulloch (chair-psychatrist), Margaret Mead (anthropologist), John von Neumann (mathematician), Walter Pitts (mathematician), Arturo Rosenblueth (physiologist), Leonard J. Savage (mathematician),Norbert Wiener (mathematician), Max Delbrück (geneticist and biophysicist), Erik Erikson (psychologist), Claude Shannon (information theorist)Seated (L-R): Walther Nernst, Marcel Brillouin, Ernest Solvay, Hendrik Lorentz, Emil Warburg, Jean Baptiste Perrin, Wilhelm Wien, Marie Curie, and Henri Poincaré.Standing (L-R): Robert Goldschmidt, Max Planck, Heinrich Rubens, Arnold Sommerfeld, Frederick Lindemann, Maurice de Broglie, Martin Knudsen, Friedrich Hasenöhrl, Georges Hostelet, Edouard Herzen, James Hopwood Jeans, Ernest Rutherford, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Albert Einstein, and Paul Langevin.
Solvay Conferences (1911-2008)
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Some examples
Engineering Radar-guided anti-aircraft/missiles Servo-control mechanisms Blurring of biology/machine boundary Science of the natural vs. science of the artificial
Computing Digital computers: Eckard & Mauchly, Neumann Science of computation/encryption: Turing, Neumann Tantalizing possibility of substrate-independent intelligence
Cognitive science Neural networks, neuroscience Psychology: behaviorism, theories of learning
Social Sciences Game theory Computational approaches to large-scale social problems,
sociology
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
Created new fields analytical in methodology synthetic interdisciplinary concepts useful in constituent fields
Cybernetics
AI ORCS
I501 – Introduction to Informatics
[email protected]://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501
Informatics and computing
lecture 1 – Fall 2009
McCulloch, W. and W. Pitts [1943], "A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity". Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 5:115-133.
Coutinho, A. [2003]. "On doing science: a speech by Professor Antonio Coutinho". Economia, 4(1): 7-18, jan./jun. 2003.
Heims, S.G. [1991]. The Cybernetics Group. MIT Press. Chapters: 1,2, 11, and 12. Schwartz, M.A. [2008]. "The importance of stupidity in scientific research". Journal of Cell Science, 121: 1771.
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