asking’the’rightques.on:’ whatis’informaon?’ or whatis...

Asking the right ques.on: What is informa.on?

OR What is it that you are calling informa.on?

João Álvaro Carvalho Departamento de Sistemas de Informação

Escola de Engenharia Universidade do Minho

Portugal

Informa.on systems

a.k.a.

•  Management Informa.on systems a.k.a.

•  Informa.on Systems and Technology a.k.a.

•  …

Informa.on Systems and Technology

•  Transforming human ac.vi.es (individuals, groups, enterprises, society, …) through the use of informa(on technology (IT).

•  Involves: –  Fostering change in human/enterprise/society ac.vi.es;

–  Conduc.ng the adop.on of IT ar.facts; – Managing the use of IT ar.facts (IT applica.ons); – Designing and construc.ng (typically through the assemblage

and intertwining of high level IT components) of IT ar.facts.


•  Integrated master program (1st + 2nd cycle program) in Engineering and Management of Informa0on Systems;

•  Master program (2nd cycle program) in Informa0on Systems for students with background in non IT-‐related programs.

•  …

This presenta(on is related to teaching!


•  The term “informa.on” is in the name of the field.

•  Informa(on is surely a key concept in the field.

•  So, what is informa.on?


•  Let’s look into textbooks and other academic books in the field (or in related fields) (informa.on systems and technology, management, organiza.onal studies, economy, informa.on science, communica.on studies and journalism, computer science, …)

•  There are plenty…

C. Shannon, A mathema.cal theory of communica.on, Bell Systems Technology Journal 27, 1948. Gordon B. Davis, Margrethe H. Olson, Management Informa(on Systems: Conceptual Founda(ons, Structure and Development,

McGraw-‐Hill Interna.onal Edi.ons, 1984. K.J. Arrow, Informa.on and economic behaviour, in Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow: The Economics of Informa(on,

Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1984. P. Layzell, P. Loucopoulos, System Analysis and Development, Chartwell-‐Brai, 1989. David Benyon, Informa(on and Data Modelling, Blackwell Scien.fic Publica.ons, 1990. Jonathan Libenau, James Backhouse, Understanding Informa(on: An Introduc(on, MacMillan, 1990. Ian O. Angell, Steve Smithson, Informa(on Systems Management: Opportuni(es and Risks, Macmillan Informa.on Systems, 1991. J. Harrington, Organiza(onal Structure and Informa(on Technology, Pren.ce-‐Hall, London, 1991. Lynda Davies, Paul Ledington, Informa(on in Ac(on: SoM Systems Methodology, Macmillan Informa.on Systems, 1991. Henry C. Lucas Jr, The Analysis, Design, and Implementa(on of Informa(on Systems, McGraw-‐Hill Interna.onal Edi.ons, 1992. Chris Edwards, John Ward, Andy Bytheway, The Essence of Informa(on Systems, Pren.ce Hall, 1995. Frank Stowell, Informa(on Systems Provision: The Contribu(on of SoM Systems Methodology, McGraw-‐Hill Book Company, 1995. Steven R. Gordon, Judith R. Gordon , Informa(on Systems: A management approach, The Dryden Press 1996. Donal Flynn, Informa(on Systems Requirements: Determinta(on and Analysis, McGraw-‐Hill, 1998. Eckhard Falkenberg et. al., A Framework of informa(on systems concepts: The FRISCO Report, IFIP, 1998. James A. Senn, Informa(on Technology in Business: Principles, Prac(ces and Opportuni(es, Pren.ce Hall, 1998. Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak, Working Knowledge, Harvard Bussiness School Press, 1998. Albert Borgmann, Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Informa(on at the Turn of the Century, The Chicago University Press, 1999. Larry P. English, Improving Data Warehouse and Business Informa(on Quality: Methods for Reducing Costs and Increasing Profits,

Wiley Computer Publishing, 1999. Patrick G. McKeown, Informa(on Technology and the Networked Economy, Harcourt College Publishers, Inc., 2001. Carlisle, Ysanne, Strategic Thinking and Knowledge Management in Managing Knowledge, The Open Associa.on / Sage

Publica.ons, 2002. Ulric J. Gelinas, Jr., Steve G. Suion, Jane Fedorowicz , Business Processes & Informa(on Technology, Thomson, 2004. ...

Informa.on •  It is reasonable to expect that students are ready to produce a defini.on of a key concept in their field of studies!

•  It is reasonable that students and graduates are capable to communicate to others what is a central concept of their field!

•  Students, graduates, professionals and researchers need an appropriate and rigorous defini.on of key concepts in order to be able of producing rigorous reasoning.

The problem(s)

The problem(s) -‐ i

•  With such a profusion of defini.ons, produced by well respected authors, … anything will do!

The problem(s) -‐ ii

•  Many of those defini.ons are not compa.ble among them. However, considering that they all come from authori.es in the field, they are ooen combined in one same text, as if they corresponded to different facets of one same thing.

The problem(s) -‐ iii

•  Many of those defini.ons are of liile use for a present-‐day perspec.ve of IT use in human ac.vi.es.

The problem(s) -‐ iv

•  Problems i), ii) and iii) seem not to be a problem!

Challenge

•  It is hard to convince students (or any other audience) that it is likely that their pre-‐concep.ons aren’t adequate!

•  How to evidence to an audience that: – most defini.ons of informa.on are not describing adequately the relevant phenomena?

– although the same word is being used, different phenomena are being addressed?

•  How to ‘amplify’ the (some.mes slight)

differences on the use of the term “informa.on”?

(A) (my) solu.on

•  I stopped asking the ques.on: what is informa.on?

•  I ask instead: what is that you are calling informa.on?

•  Or even beier: instead of asking, I demonstrate -‐ the informa(on suitcase: a classroom exercise.

The informa.on suitcase

The informa.on suitcase 1)  Explana.on of the rules •  Distribute a one page table; •  For each “thing” to be presented, each member of the audience

is asked to fill in the table, in the appropriate place, whether s/he considers that the “thing”:

–  a) is informa.on; b) is not informa.on; c) s/he is not sure;

2)  Presenta.on of the objects •  Presenta.on of 50 “things”;

3)  [Write the defini.on of informa.on being applied] 4)  Computa.on of the results •  How many “yes”; How many “No”; How many “I’m not sure” •  Comparison of results

5)  Discussion •  Comparing results •  Discussing specific objects

•  How many – YES – NO –  I HAVE DOUBTS ?

YES NO NOT SURE1 instruções voo 462 menu 463 tabela periódica 44 1 14 medalha bronze 16 21 75 forma de pudim 4 40 26 pauta 38 6 27 bandeira 30 13 38 radiografia 44 1 19 lista telefónica 46

10 cartão de visita 37 4 511 filme 23 9 1412 cartão de boas festas 11 24 1113 abaco 14 18 1414 cartas de jogar 5 33 815 1 dólar 26 9 1116 musica 23 11 1217 mensagem em ruso 38 4 418 carimbo no blhete 4619 chave 6 36 420 chave cartão 20 14 1221 ratoeira 6 34 622 doc multimédia 44 223 jornal do dia 4624 jornal antigo 41 4 125 jornal em braille 45 126 prospecto tur finlandes 42 2 227 pintura 21 15 1028 pintura 15 17 1429 pintura 15 17 1430 aroma 36 7 331 fósiil de planta 41 2 332 triangula automóveis 45 133 brinquedo 7 33 634 lei da república 4635 romance 29 9 836 livro técnico 4637 registo da pólvora 4638 bilhete metro 40 1 539 protótipo pistão 17 21 840 fotografia 35 7 441 negativos foto 32 6 842 electroencefalograma 44 243 análise clínica 45 144 horario comboiso 45 145 grelha registo avaliação 23 9 1446 selo de audiovisual 44 247 codigo barras 44 248 RFID 45 149 vaucher 39 4 350 sudoku 18 22 6

What can we conclude from the typical outcome of this exercise?

•  Surely the term “informa.on” isn’t being used by everybody to refer to the same things! So…

•  Are there paierns in the answers? How inconsistent are the answers?

•  Something I am star.ng to explore.

•  Some of the piwalls: –  It is not current; I don’t know the language so I can’t airibute meaning to it; it is art; it is not truth; it is not fro making decisions;

My final message to my students •  Be prudent

Avoid using the term “informa.on”. Whenever possible use an alterna.ve. •  I cannot force you to adopt any specific defini.on.

Choose one. Get your own defini.on. Strive to find a defini.on that: –  You can explain to specialists and to laypersons ; –  Covers what you consider to be informa.on and excludes what you do not

consider to be informa.on. •  Be cri.cal about your own discourse (and about the discourse of others). •  Be consistent in the way you use the term “informa.on” in your

discourse; •  Be pragma.c

Forget about a general defini.on, suitable to all phenomena, in all fields. Start by focusing on the relevant phenomena to the IST field and to the IST professional prac.ce.

Conclusion

•  It’s a mess out there! And in here (academia) too!

•  Because we use the same word (“informa.on”) it doesn’t guarantee that we are addressing the same referent. Nor that there is a common concept.

Conclusion

•  It surely is interes.ng (and valuable) to have a general defini.on of informa.on that suits all kind of phenomena of different nature (physical, chemical, biological, human, social, technological, …).

•  BUT we also need clear and robust defini.ons for each field.

Informa.on (for the IST field)

Symbolic things/objects/phenomena, external to the human mind, deliberately created to be used in human ac.vi.es that involve some form of cogni.on (individual or collec.ve) and/or interac.on among humans/machines/ humans & machines.

asking’the’rightques.on:’ whatis’informaon?’ or whatis...

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