LIS 60001- Access to LIS 60001- Access to InformationInformation

Instructor: Dr. Belinda BoonFall 2009

Dr. Boon’s Office HoursDr. Boon’s Office Hours

Monday and Tuesday 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

By appointment

Welcome to LIS 60001!Welcome to LIS 60001!

IntroductionsCourse Overviewvista8.kent.edu What is Information?Information Access

DEFINING DEFINING INFORMATIONINFORMATION

DiscussionDiscussionWhat is information?How is information used?

InformationInformation--can be any difference you perceive,

in your environment or within yourself. It is any aspect that you notice in the pattern of reality.

Case, Looking for Information (2007), 5.

Introductory Concepts in Introductory Concepts in Information Science (Norton)Information Science (Norton)It is not the intention here to attempt a

definite declaration of what information or information science is, but…stimulate a constructive and creative discourse upon both topics

An open mind and an open hand will serve as better aids in examining these complex topics than any endeavor at strait-jacket definitions.

DefinitionsDefinitions“Information seems to be everywhere.

We talk of its being encoded in the genes … disseminated by media of communication … exchanged in conversation … contained in all sorts of things … Libraries are overflowing with it, institutions are bogged down by it, and people are overloaded with it … [yet] no one seems to know exactly what information is.”

Fox, Information and misinformation (1983). In Case, Looking for Information (2007), 39.

Problematic Issues Problematic Issues

Utility: Must information be useful? Must it reduce uncertainty or, if not, be useful in another way (e.g., provide entertainment?)

Physicality: Must information take on

some physical form? Be observable?

Case, Looking for Information (2007), 49.

Information transferred from RNA to DNA in a cell

Problematic Issues Problematic Issues Structure/Process: Must

information be structured in some way? Is it a process?

Intentionality: Must the intent be to communicate it to another entity? (threatening clouds)

Truth: Must information be true? Untrue – misinformation?

Case, Looking for Information (2007), 49.

Information Types Information Types (Brenda (Brenda Dervin)Dervin)Objective, external

information: that which describes reality (but never completely so).

Subjective, internal information: represents our picture or cognitive map of reality, the structures we impute onto reality.

Dervin, B. (1976, 1977). In Case, Looking for Information (2007), 43.

Information Types Information Types (Brenda (Brenda Dervin)Dervin)Sense-making information: reflects

the procedures and behaviors that allow us to “move” between external and internal information to understand the world, and usually to act on that understanding as well.

Dervin, B. (1976, 1977). In Case, Looking for Information (2007), 43.

Information Types Information Types (Marcia (Marcia Bates)Bates)

Embedded information: The pattern of organization of the enduring effects of the presence of animals on the earth; may be incidental, as a path through the woods, or deliberate, as a fashioned utensil or tool.

Embodied information: The corporeal expression or manifestation of information previously in encoded form.

Encoded information: Natural information that has symbolic, linguistic, and/or signal-based patterns of organization.

Bates, M. “Fundamental Forms of Information” (2005), 1063.

Information Types Information Types (Marcia (Marcia Bates)Bates)

Enacted information: The pattern of organization of actions of an animal in, and interacting with, its environment, utilizing capabilities and experience from its neural stores.

Experienced information: The pattern of organization of subjective experience, the feeling of being in life, of an animal.

Bates, M. “Fundamental Forms of Information” (2005), 1063.

Information PyramidInformation Pyramid(Encoded information, organized patterns, meaningful information)(Encoded information, organized patterns, meaningful information)

WISDOM

KNOWLEDGE

INFORMATION

DATA

SYMBOLS

Source: Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining

LOCATING LOCATING INFORMATIONINFORMATION

Discussion QuestionsDiscussion Questions

What can information be?

What can be information?

EExercisexerciseMake a list of all of the activities

that you have undertaken to this point in your day that have involved using information in some way

See You Next See You Next Week!Week!