Information Science

INFORMATION SCIENCE • Our perception of the concept of information science is based on the assumption that all organisms are information systems. • The information system is an environment of person, machines, and procedures that develop human biology potential to acquire, process and act upon data, thus improves our chances for survival.

Definitions • Science Any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experiment (research). • Information science A discipline that deals with the processes of storing and transferring of information. Fundamentally it covers all theories, concepts and methods in the collection, organization, storage, retrieval and use of information.

The boundaries of information science The basic structure of information science • Technology and Systems the application of IT • Impact of IT on society problems of information society, copyrights, personal privacy, plagiarism, etc. • Resources the human resources needed to sustain the activities of the science worldwide, encouragement of R&D, training, etc.

Foundational Disciplines • Philosophy provides infor. Sc. with the understanding of inquiry system (state of the world) and the foundation of the social sciences that are relevant to infor. system. • Mathematics (statistics). the foundation of statistics which is the tools used by infor. Scientist. • Linguistics the study of language, which is important to infor. Scientist as tool to represent events. • Behavioral science include psychology and sociology, important part for user study.

Related field of study in information Science • Informatics – the study of automation and automated technologies in document retrieving. • Information Engineering – refers to various aspects of infor. System design. • Knowledge Engineering – artificial intelligence & expert system. • Cybernetics – the science of control, include communications & system theory. • Bionics – the understanding of the functions & characteristics of living systems & biomechanical systems.

The Information Professional • A professional career implies activity acquiring an education at or above the baccalaureate level. • Guided by certain standards • Share common theoretical & technical interest • Have own ethics & commitment to excellence

Categories of Information Professionals Information theorist/Scientist Information systems specialists Information intermediaries Information technologist …Shirley, Gupta and Debons (1974) Managers of information Educators and trainers of information workers … Debons (1981)

Academic discipline of Information Professionals Computer science Focus on computer programming, logic and mathematical problem solving. Library science Librarianship, focus on the library, the services and the information works Communication science Deals with principles that govern the handling of messages.

Academic discipline of Information Professionals Information science Include the characteristics of information, acquisition, storage dissemination and retrieval Engineering Involve the use of technology Business Importance of information systems and decision support system for management operations

Information System Technology Technologies that are associated with major component of information system • Data acquisition • Data transmission • Data Processing

Data Acquisition • Acquisition device capture occurrence or events • Data can be digital or analog in form • Digital technology uses electrical impulses to represent data • Analog data are represented by rates of change in states of energy

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• A computer uses digital data • A telephone reproduces voices in the analog form of sound waves,converted to digital during transmission and later converted back into analog form by the receiving telephone. • Acquisition of data refers to the capturing of actual energy by an event or can be refer to as sensory data acquisition.

Data acquisition devices • There are many ways that humans can capture an occurrence or events. • Our senses are limited in the ability to capture certain events • Information system Technology enables us captured an events.

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• Radar and Sonar Radio Detection and Ranging/Sound Navigation and rangingmajor function to capture data about significant occurrences in the environment.

• Satellites Either artificial or natural. Source of data about the nature of the universe (shape & size of earth, weather conditions, etc.).

• Holography, Telescopy and Photography. Use glass lens that refract light in specific ways to provide data.

Data Transmission • The movement of symbols or data from one place and time to another without reference to the meaning or use of the symbols or data. • Information System Technology provide a wide array of mechanism for transporting signals and symbols.

Transmission technologies • Laser Acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Can transmit signal over great distances with less diffusion or scattering of the signal.

• Satellites Capable to relay signal from other planets or anywhere at great distances.

• Radio A transmitting device for sound signal.

• Cellular radio voice transmission Provides personal mobile, cordless, long-range voice transmission.

Processing Technology • Provide the means to analyze, categorize, and manipulate the data that we acquire or transmit. • Electronic Data Processing- vary in size and shape. • Do 3 basics functions: - take input or source data, - perform electronic processing, - and generate some kind of output

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• Input may consist of any type of data (numerical, textual, or graphical) • Processing involve reading, adding, comparing, calculating, and writing. • Output is simply data that have been process in some way. • Examples of EDP are computers, calculators and video games.

Processing Institutions • The library is an institution directly linked to the processing of data, information and knowledge. • Thus the library is an essential component of the information system, equally important to technologies.