Information Without Information Studies

A method is suggested of conducting a meta-analysis of contributions to the literature on the nature of information—one that involves identification of authors’ ontological commitments. A framework is proposed for defining the range of ontological possibilities for things that have been called “information”; the ontological commitments of some of those whose work may be less familiar to the Library and Information Science (LIS) community are examined; and some residual confusion about the nature of the relationships among different conceptions of information is cleared up. It is tentatively concluded that any approach to conceptualizing information that downplays the contributions of LIS—i.e., information without information studies—is needlessly impoverished, not least on account of the range of ontological possibilities that it misses.

[1]  Claude E. Shannon,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[2]  Marcia J. Bates,et al.  "Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences", Marcia J. Bates, Mary Niles Maack, Boca Raton, 2010 : [recenzja] / Weronika Pawłowicz. , 2010 .

[3]  F. Steier.  Cybernetics as...Mutualling , 1992 .

[4]  Marcia J. Bates,et al.  Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences , 2009 .

[5]  S. French,et al.  Identity in Physics: A Historical, Philosophical, and Formal Analysis , 2006 .

[6]  Rafael Capurro.  Information : ein Beitrag zur etymologischen und ideengeschichtlichen Begründung des Informationsbegriffs , 1978 .

[7]  Jonathan Furner,et al.  Philosophy and information studies , 2010, Annu. Rev. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[8]  Michael J. Loux.  Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction , 1997 .

[9]  Michael K. Buckland,et al.  Information as Thing , 1991 .

[10]  Jonathan Furner,et al.  Information Studies Without Information , 2004, Libr. Trends.

[11]  L. Floridi.  Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information , 2003 .

[12]  J. Tambling.  How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics by N. Katherine Hayles (review) , 2001, Modern Language Review.

[13]  T. Stonier.  Beyond Information: The Natural History Of Intelligence , 1992 .

[14]  Tom Stonier,et al.  Information and Meaning , 1997, Springer London.

[15]  Jennifer Rowley,et al.  What is information , 1998 .

[16]  G. Bergmann.  The Logic of Quanta , 1947 .

[17]  Suzanne Briet,et al.  Qu'est-ce que la documentation? , 1951 .

[18]  Gordon F. Scarrott.  The Need for a ‘Science’ of Education , 1986, J. Inf. Technol..

[19]  Donald O. Case,et al.  Chapter 3 The Concept of Information , 2012 .

[20]  Robert K. Logan,et al.  What Is Information?: Why Is It Relativistic and What Is Its Relationship to Materiality, Meaning and Organization , 2012, Inf..

[21]  R. Hartley.  Transmission of information , 1928 .

[22]  E. J. Lowe,et al.  The rationality of metaphysics , 2009, Synthese.

[23]  G. Bateson,et al.  STEPS TO AN ECOLOGY OF MIND COLLECTED ESSAYS IN ANTHROPOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY, EVOLUTION, AND EPISTEMOLOGY , 2006 .

[24]  T. L. Short.  Peirce's Theory of Signs , 2007 .

[25]  José M. Díaz Nafría.  What is Information? A multidimensional concern , 2010 .

[26]  A. Lagache.  What is Information , 1997 .

[27]  Martin Frické,et al.  The knowledge pyramid: a critique of the DIKW hierarchy , 2009, J. Inf. Sci..

[28]  Birger Hjørland,et al.  The concept of information , 2005, Annu. Rev. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[29]  Thomas M. Cover,et al.  Elements of Information Theory , 2005 .

[30]  Tom Stonier.  Information and Meaning , 1997 .

[31]  Anatol Rapoport,et al.  What is information? , 2004, Synthese.

[32]  Norbert Wiener,et al.  Cybernetics: Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. , 1949 .

[33]  E. J. Lowe,et al.  The four-category ontology : a metaphysical foundation for natural science , 2006 .

[34]  Donald O. Case,et al.  Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behavior , 2012 .

[35]  C. E. SHANNON,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[36]  T. Stonier.  Book-Review - Information and the Internal Structure of the Universe - an Exploration Into Information Physics , 1990 .

[37]  Marcia J. Bates,et al.  Fundamental forms of information , 2006, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[38]  Robert K. Logan,et al.  Collaborate to Compete: Driving Profitability in the Knowledge Economy , 2003 .

[39]  William P. Alston,et al.  Knowledge and the Flow of Information , 1985 .