A model of the dynamics of organizational communication

We propose a model of the dynamics of organizational communication. Our model specifies the mechanics by which communication impact is fed back to communication inputs and closes the gap between sender and receiver of messages. We draw on language critique, a branch of language philosophy, and derive joint linguistic actions of interlocutors to explain the emergence and adaptation of communication on the group level. The model is framed by Te'eni's cognitive-affective model of organizational communication

The emergence of information systems: a communication-based theory

An information system is more than just the information technology; it is the system that emerges from the complex interactions and relationships between the information technology and the organization. However, what impact information technology has on an organization and how organizational structures and organizational change influence information technology remains an open question. We propose a theory to explain how communication structures emerge and adapt to environmental changes. We operationalize the interplay of information technology and organization as language communities whose members use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in the philosophy of language. In developing it as an emergent perspective, we argue that information systems are self-organizing and that control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself, to the members of the language community. Information technology influences the dynamics of this adaptation process as a fundamental constraint leading to perturbations for the information system. We demonstrate how this view is separated from the entanglement in practice perspective and show that this understanding has far-reaching consequences for developing, managing, and examining information systems

Notions of Information: A Review of Literature

For IS researchers it is important to know and understand the different notions of information,their assumptions and the consequences of using them. The goal of this paper is to inform the readerwhich notions exist in literature of various disciplines. An overview is given of different informationnotions and approaches to information. On the basis of this overview four basic notions are proposed,which I consider to be the most important notions used in literature. These notions are information-asthing(information is treated as if it is a thing), information-as-process (a mental process ofinforming/altering), information-as-social construction (the shared, constructed information base of socialsystems) and information-as-probability (the probability of a message being sent). Traditionallyinformation management is only concerned with information-as-thing. I argue that informationmanagement must consider information in all its perceptions

Construction of a support tool for the design of the activity structures based computer system architectures

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.This thesis is a reapproachment of diverse design concepts, brought to bear upon the computer system engineering problem of identification and control of highly constrained multiprocessing (HCM) computer machines. It contributes to the area of meta/general systems methodology, and brings a new insight into the design formalisms, and results afforded by bringing together various design concepts that can be used for the construction of highly constrained computer system architectures. A unique point of view is taken by assuming the process of identification and control of HCM computer systems to be the process generated by the Activity Structures Methodology (ASM). The research in ASM has emerged from the Neuroscience research, aiming at providing the techniques for combining the diverse knowledge sources that capture the 'deep knowledge' of this application field in an effective formal and computer representable form. To apply the ASM design guidelines in the realm of the distributed computer system design, we provide new design definitions for the identification and control of such machines in terms of realisations. These realisation definitions characterise the various classes of the identification and control problem. The classes covered consist of: 1. the identification of the designer activities, 2. the identification and control of the machine's distributed structures of behaviour, 3. the identification and control of the conversational environment activities (i.e. the randomised/ adaptive activities and interactions of both the user and the machine environments), 4. the identification and control of the substrata needed for the realisation of the machine, and 5. the identification of the admissible design data, both user-oriented and machineoriented, that can force the conversational environment to act in a self-regulating manner. All extent results are considered in this context, allowing the development of both necessary conditions for machine identification in terms of their distributed behaviours as well as the substrata structures of the unknown machine and sufficient conditions in terms of experiments on the unknown machine to achieve the self-regulation behaviour. We provide a detailed description of the design and implementation of the support software tool which can be used for aiding the process of constructing effective, HCM computer systems, based on various classes of identification and control. The design data of a highly constrained system, the NUKE, are used to verify the tool logic as well as the various identification and control procedures. Possible extensions as well as future work implied by the results are considered.Government of Ira

'n Model vir inligtingsekerheidsdokumentasie

M.Sc. (Informatics)A need has been identified for guidelines to Top Management on the implementation of an Information Security Policy and its associated documentation. In this dissertation, the Model for Information Security Documentation (lSD-model) for the organisation and content of documentation on information security is proposed. The proposed model is divided into three distinct levels respectively containing the Information Security Policy Document, the Goal Documents and the Application Guideline Documents. A document is placed on the different levels of the ISO-model according to the amount of detailed information it contains and the management level mainly concerned with that document. Guidelines are given regarding the content and format of each of the levels. Particular emphasis is laid on the Information Security Policy Document, which is the highest level, and a number of existing Information Security Policy Documents are evaluated according to the guidelines given for the lSD-model. Finally, a comparison is made between C. C. Wood's guidelines on Information Security Policies and those given for the ISO-model

A informação como o conhecimento registrado

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ciência da Informação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação, 2017.A presente tese de doutorado analisa a diversidade conceitual do termo ‘informação’ como objeto de estudo da Ciência da Informação original − aquela ciência derivada das bases teóricas herdadas da Arquivologia, Biblioteconomia, Museologia − para propor um conceito de informação que atue como referência para a Ciência da Informação. Apresenta-se um percurso histórico da informação desde os primórdios da humanidade – incluindo a criação da mente, da linguagem oral, da linguagem escrita e a análise da Teoria do Símbolo (Nobert Elias) – até a leitura para a construção do conhecimento (Ranganathan e Buzan). A pesquisa, por meio da literatura especializada em Ciência da Informação, evidencia a pluralidade de conceitos e a importância da materialidade da informação sem a qual não seria possível a atuação das propriedades da informação (criação, coleta, organização, armazenamento, recuperação, interpretação, transmissão, transformação e uso). Utiliza-se a metodologia da revisão bibliográfica para o levantamento dos conceitos de informação, no âmbito da Ciência da Informação, bem como a identificação de quem elaborou esses conceitos (perfil biográfico dos/das elaboradores/as) e as características das publicações nas quais são mencionados esses conceitos. Utiliza-se uma base metodológica exploratória e descritiva acerca dos conceitos, elaboradores/as e publicações − análise quantitativa e qualitativa. Na análise dos dados, verifica-se que os termos recorrentes na descrição dos conceitos de informação são ‘Informação’ e ‘Conhecimento’; a publicação de obras em que ocorrem os conceitos de informação atingiram o ápice nas décadas de 1970 e 1990; a maior parte das publicações se refere a artigos, estão publicadas na língua inglesa e são de autoria única. Os/As elaboradores/as são em grande parte de origem americana e estão relacionados/as às diversas áreas de conhecimento. Um recorte de gênero é proposto e observa-se que foram poucas as mulheres que conceituaram a informação, e a violência simbólica, enfatizada por Bourdieu, pode ser a explicação para tal constatação. A maior parte das elaboradoras do conceito é de nacionalidade brasileira, com maior publicação do conceito de informação para o período de 2000-2009. As áreas de conhecimento predominantes dessas elaboradoras estão relacionadas a Informação, Computação e Comunicação. Formula-se uma proposta de referência para o conceito de informação, concernente à Ciência da Informação original, justificada pela Epistemologia de Popper e pela Teoria do Hilemorfismo de Aristóteles: informação, como objeto da Ciência da Informação original, é o conhecimento externado da mente humana e registrado em suporte físico por símbolos gráficos, nos quais o ’significado’ possa ser decodificado pelo processo de leitura e comunicado aos seres humanos. Sendo assim, a informação que interessa para a Ciência da Informação é aquela informação que é registrada, portanto, materializada em suporte físico. Por meio da materialização é possível a atuação dos atributos da Informação. Esta pesquisa estabelece a referência de informação como o conhecimento registrado.This dissertation examines the conceptual diversity of the term ‘information’ as an object of study in the original Information Science – that Science derived from theoretical basis inhereted from Archivology, Library Science, Museology – so that to suggest a concept of information which can play a role of reference to the Information Science. A historical background of information since the dawn of humankind – the creation of the mind, of oral language, of written language and the analysis of the Symbol Theory (Norbert Elias) – up to the development of reading skills aiming at the knowledge construction (Ranganathan and Buzan). The research, supported by Information Science specialized literature, emphasizes the plurality of concepts and the importance of materiality of information, without which it would not be possible to perform all information attributes (creation, collection, organization, storage, retrieval, interpretation, transmission, transformation and utilization). The methodology of the bibliographical review is used so that to survey information concepts in the scope of Information Science, as well as to identify who created these concepts (biographic profile of the authors of such concepts) and main traits of the published works in which those concepts are mentioned. A exploratory and descriptive methodology basis is used about the concepts, authors and the published works – quantitative and qualitative analysis. In the analysis of the data, it are found that the recurrent terms used in the description of the concepts are ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’; the publication of works in which the concepts of information occur, reached the peak in the 1970s and 1990s; the overall publications are articles, the publications are written in the English language and of solo authorship. Authors are mainly Americans and they deal with different knowledge areas. A gender specific assessement is offered and it is observed that few women have crafted a concept for ‘information’ and that symbolic violence, the main theme on the studies of the Bordieu, may be the reason to such finding. Female authors of an information concept are mainly Brazilians, and the greatest releasing of the concepts comprises the period between 2000-2009. These female authors deal mainly with Information, Computational Science and Communication areas. A reference concept of information is proposed concerning the original Information Science, supported by Popper Epistemology and by Aristotle’s Theory of Hylomorphism: information, as object of the original Information Science, is the externalized knowledge of the human mind and recorded on physical support by graphics symbols, in which ‘meaning’ can be decodified by the reading process and communicated to human beings. Thus, the information which is of interest to Information Science is that information that is recorded, therefore, materialized on physical support. By means of the materialization it is possible to perform the attributes of information. This research establishes the reference of information as recorded knowledge