Information Ecology

Information Ecology

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  INFORMATION ECOLOGY DR. S.GHOSH NBU
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  KEY DELIVERABLES • “Know-Why”Questions on Technology • Conversation on “Technology” • “Technophilia” vs “Technophobia” [Telephonic Conversation ???] • Technology as “Tool”, “Text”, “System” and “Ecology” • Tool-Affordances; Text-Interpretation(Form of Communication, a Carrier of meaning in different social situations” • Technology-Mind Alteration
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  KEY DELIVERABLES • Technologyand Technique: Different connotations “When technique enters into every area of life, including the human, it ceases to be external to man and becomes his very substance. It is no longer face to face with man but integrated with him, and it progressively absorbs him. In this respect, technique is radically different from machine.” Jacques Ellul The Technological Society, 1964
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  INFORMATION ECOLOGY: THEMISTICITY • Information ecology includes a much richer set of tools than that employed to date by information engineers and architects. Information ecologists can mobilize not only architectural designs and IT but also information strategy, politics, behavior, support staff, and work processes to produce better information environments. … They rely on the disciplines of biology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and business strategy – to frame their approach to information use.
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  PERIPHERY • Although thereis not yet a core body of knowledge or theory associated with the field, it is reasonable to categorize two general areas where the term is applied: • (1) information environments within human organizations(focuses specifically on information technology and management (IT/IM) with particular attention to political and cultural aspects of information use within human organizations) and • (2) information environments that involve the interaction between human and natural systems(include the study of information processes in both the human domain and the natural world, with particular attention given to the role of information in the interaction between the two).
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  DEFINITIONAL UNDERPINNING… • …the study of the relationship of environmental information (at least physical, biological, social and cultural environments) to all that comprises collective and individual processes of knowing and decision making (ideology, values, expectations, beliefs, symbolism). • Information ecology is a science which studies the laws governing the influence of information summary on the formation and functioning of bio-systems, including that of individuals, human communities and humanity in general and on the health and psychological, physical and social well-being of the human being; and which undertakes to develop methodologies to improve the information environment. model
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  CHARACTERISTICS OF I.E •(1) From the viewpoint of subject-object interaction, information alone is not a complete information process. • (2) Any completed information process should consist of not only information but also its products, knowledge (the higher product) and intelligence (the highest product). • (3) Such information process is also named an information system. • (4) Different areas have different information systems. • (5) All the information systems together with their environment constitute the information ecosystem. • (6) Information ecology as a methodology is to emphasize the study of the interrelations among all information systems and their environment.
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  HOLONS, HOLARCHIES, ANDINFORMATION STRUCTURE • Holon was first developed by Koestler (1967) as a means to accommodate both reductionistic and holistic dimensions of complex systems. The term literally means “whole-part” and, more specifically, refers to the relational dependencies among wholes and parts in complex systems. • In contrast to spatiotemporal properties used in hierarchy theory, such as smaller/larger or faster/slower levels in natural systems, the holonic tenets focus on structural–functional dependencies between holonic levels in terms of higher and lower relationships in multilevel “holarchical” systems, which can be physical, biological, ecological, symbolic/linguistic, or any other type of structurally ordered system. • Contd…
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  HOLONS, HOLARCHIES, ANDINFORMATION STRUCTURE • Each holonic level transcends and includes holons on lower levels. • Lower level holons set the possibilities for the higher level holons; and higher level holons set the probabilities (constraints) on the lower levels. • Destroy holons on any particular level, and all the levels above it are destroyed, but none of the levels below it. • Each level in a holarchy produces greater depth and less span.
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  GENERAL REFERENCE MODEL: INFORMATION STRUCTURE
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  CONCEPT OF INFORMATION: (a)highly disordered system with high entropy and low information and (b) an ordered system with lower entropy and higher information.
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  HOLONIC RELATIONS ANDINFORMATION STRUCTURE
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  MODEL OF INFORMATIONECOLOGY
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  LIBRARY AS ANINFORMATION ECOLOGY • “A library is an information ecology. It is a place with books, magazines, tapes, films, and librarians who can help you find and use them. A library may have computers, as well as story time for a two-year-old and after school study for teens. In a library, access to information for all clients of the library is a core value. This value shapes policies around which library is organized, including those relation to technology. A library is a place where people and technology come together in congenial relations, guided by the values of the library.” Nardi, Bonni A and O’Day Vicki L Information Ecologies: Using Technology with a Heart MIT Press
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  CONCLUSION • Managing thesynchronicity of information flow across disciplines is an important part of the overall process. Although it is common to characterize policy and decision making as fast-paced environments and scientific research as slow paced, the reality is that the pace in either environment is influenced more by the rate of change exhibited by the components of the system under study, the scientific and technological capacity for observing and monitoring change, and efficacy in responding to change. It is for this reason that information flows at different rates from primary to tertiary levels and between components within levels.