Brian Vickery and the nature of information science

This paper examines B.C.Vickery's contributions to the development of information science, as an academic discipline and a field of professional practice

The nature of information in the 21st century : conundrums for the informatics community?

Purpose - With the proliferation of electronic information via the web a further distension of the unique characteristics of information has been witnessed. With seismic developments occurring in such a short period of time, it seems prudent to consider the very nature of information and to assess whether this accelerated growth has implications for the work of the informatics community and the information society. Design/methodology/approach - The paper begins by revisiting and refreshing the unique characteristics of information via a reappraisal of the relevant literature. These characteristics are then contextualised within the new economy and traditional economic theory. Once these unique characteristics have been examined, the author discusses how the nature of information in the twenty-first century presents the informatics community with new and difficult challenges. Findings - The challenges posed by the unique nature of information demand a definite response on the part of the informatics community, including the creation of innovative new models to accommodate information's inherent characteristics. Additionally, as the nature of information evolves yet further and ICT innovations accelerate, ever more adaptable skills will be required by the end user in order that value be derived from information. Practical implications - Outcomes and conclusions addressed in the paper may inform the informatics community generally, but will specifically inform the practice of information managers and librarians, and offer ways of assisting them in arriving at holistic decisions with respect to service provision. Originality/value - The paper is a contribution to the debate on the precise nature of information and offers new perspectives on how the informatics community should view information in the twenty-first century

The nature of information science: changing models

Introduction. This paper considers the nature of information science as a discipline and profession. Method. It is based on conceptual analysis of the information science literature, and consideration of philosophical perspectives, particularly those of Kuhn and Peirce. Results. It is argued that information science may be understood as a field of study, with human recorded information as its concern, focusing on the components of the information chain, studied through the perspective of domain analysis, in specific or general contexts. A particular aspect of interest is those aspects of information organization, and of human information-related behaviour, which are invariant to changes in technology. Information science can also be seen as a science of evaluation of information, understood as semantic content with respect to qualitative growth of knowledge and change in knowledge structures in domains. Conclusions. This study contributes to the understanding of the unique 'academic territory' of information science, a discipline with an identity distinct from adjoining subjects

What Can We Say about Information? Agreeing a Narrative

The nature of information remains contested. This paper proposes a set of principles for a narrative of information, and explores the consequences of taking these principles as normative in the present rhetoric of the information society

The Evolution of \u27Use\u27: Reconceptualizing the Nature of Information Technology Use

Information Technology Use (ITU) is one of the most under conceptualized constructs in IS research. Historically, ITU has been conceptualized as a behavior: the interaction of a user with technology to accomplish a goal-directed task. However, this conceptualization leads to incommensurable results between studies. It also fails to consider the increase in the capabilities due to improvement in technological capabilities. These new capabilities have created IT Artifacts (ITA) which can replace humans and operate autonomously of humans. This paper reconceptualizes ITU as a structure: the manner in which an ITA is incorporated into the activities of a work system. We argue that this conceptualization of use alleviates the issue of incommensurability between studies and allows for conceptualization and measurement of use for modern ITAs. It does this by providing a way of describing use that can be utilized across work systems which enables direct comparison of the performance

Return of Logos: Ontological Memory → Information → Time

Total ontological unification of matter at all levels of reality as a whole, its “grasp” of its dialectical structure, space dimensionality and structure of the language of nature – “house of Being” [1], gives the opportunity to see the “place” and to understand the nature of information as a phenomenon of Ontological (structural) Memory (OntoMemory), the measure of being of the whole, “the soul of matter”, qualitative quantity of the absolute forms of existence of matter (absolute states). “Information” and “time” are multivalent phenomena of Ontological Memory substantiating the essential unity of the world on the “horizontal” and “vertical”. Ontological constructing of dialectics of Logos self-motion, total unification of matter, “grasp” of the nature of information leads to the necessity of introducing a new unit of information showing the ideas of dialectical formation and generation of new structures and meanings, namely Delta-Logit (Δ-Logit), qualitative quantum-prototecton, fundamental organizing, absolute existential-extreme. The simplest mathematical symbol represents the dialectical microprocessor of the Nature. Ontological formula of John A. Wheeler «It from Bit» [2] is “grasped” as the first dialectic link in the chain of ontological formulas → “It from Δ-Logit” → “It from OntoMemory” → “It from Logos, Logos into It”. Ontological Memory - core, semantic attractor of the new conceptual structure of the world of the Information Age, which is based on Absolute generating structure («general framework structure»), the representant of onto-genetic code and algorithm of the Universe

The nature of information science: Changing models

Introduction. This paper considers the nature of information science as a discipline and profession. Method. It is based on conceptual analysis of the information science literature, and consideration of philosophical perspectives, particularly those of Kuhn and Peirce. Results. It is argued that information science may be understood as a field of study, with human recorded information as its concern, focusing on the components of the information chain, studied through the perspective of domain analysis, in specific or general contexts. A particular aspect of interest is those aspects of information organization, and of human information-related behaviour, which are invariant to changes in technology. Information science can also be seen as a science of evaluation of information, understood as semantic content with respect to qualitative growth of knowledge and change in knowledge structures in domains. Conclusions. This study contributes to the understanding of the unique 'academic territory' of information science, a discipline with an identity distinct from adjoining subjects

On the market value of information commodities. I. The nature of information and information commodities

This article lays the conceptual foundations for the study of the market value of information commodities. The terms “information” and “commodity” are given precise definitions in order to characterize “information commodity,” and thus to provide a sound basis for examining questions of pricing. Information is used by marketplace actors to make decisions or to control processes. Thus, we define information as the ability of a goal‐seeking system to decide or control. By “decide” we mean choosing one alternative among several that may be executed in pursuit of a well‐defined objective. “Control” means the ordering of actions. Two factors make it possible to turn something into a commodity: (1) appropriability, and (2) valuability. If something cannot be appropriated (i.e., owned), it cannot be traded; moreover, if it cannot be valued, there is no way to determine for what it might be exchanged. We define an information commodity as a commodity whose function it is to enable the user, a goal‐seeking system, to obtain information, i.e., to otain the ability to decide or control. Books, databases, computer programs, and advisory services are common examples of information commodities. Their market value derives from their capacity to furnish information