INFM-600: Information Environments

Day 1: Introduction, Syllabus & Answering the Question— What is Information?

Dr. Jessica Vitak | Module 1 1

Class OverviewINFM-600 is a core class• What’s that mean?

What should you expect to get out of the class (macro level)?

How is the class going to be structured (micro level)?

What resources will you have available throughout the semester?• iSchool: Student Services Office (Room 4110; open 8:30-4:30)• Library: Guide for Grad Students, Skills Guide,

Librarian Subject Specialists (currently no “information studies” specialist, but specialists in a lot of areas, including data management)

• English Editing for International Graduate Students (EEIGS)• Canvas 2

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600 603

605 612

InformationTechnology

User AnalysisOrganizationsManagement

How did we get here?The rise of the Information Society

Information society: When the gathering, organizing, production, and distribution of information becomes the predominant economic activity.• U.S. as information society (% of total economy):

1900: 10% 1950: 30% Today: > 50% 20% growth predicted in information sector in this decade

• Industrial Revolution of 19th century fueled information growth(see Beniger’s The Control Revolution and interactive infographic)

Braman’s (1993) Developmental Stages of the Information Society:1. Electrification of communication2. Convergence of technologies3. Harmonization of information systems

Evolution of “networked society”

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• Growth in information supplied to public by media: (source)

• 1960: 98 minutes available per minute consumed• 2005: 20,000 minutes available per minute consumed• 2014: ?

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Potential outcomes of all this informationInformation Overload: one has so much information that it becomes difficult to set priorities or make decisions

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Potential outcomes of all this information

Information Overload: one has so much information that it becomes difficult to set priorities or make decisions• The Tyranny of Choice (Economist)

“Free choice is the basis on which markets work, driving competition and generating economic growth. It is the cornerstone of liberal democracy. The 20th century bears the scars of too many failed experiments in which people had no choice. But amid all the dizzying possibilities, a nagging question lurks: is so much extra choice unambiguously a good thing?”• “stress of information acquisition”

Managing Information: • In organizations• In your life 8

What is information?Is the better question, what isn’t information?

Buckland (1991): • Information as process• Information as knowledge• Information as thing

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Types of InformationDataText and documentsObjectsEvents

Buckland (1991) notes that “everything is, or might as well be, information” (p. 356).

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Information is SituationalInformation that is important today may not be

important tomorrowInformation that is important to you may not be

important to someone elseDetermining whether something qualifies as

information requires some degree of consensusConsensus can change over time

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What is information, anyway?

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See Davenport (1997) Information Ecology, page 9

Data

Definition: Simple observations of states of the world Easily structured Easily captured on

machines Often quantified Easily transferred

Information Knowledge

Increasing complexity / Increasing human involvement

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Data, Information & Knowledge

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See Davenport (1997) Information Ecology, page 9

Data

Definition: Simple observations of states of the world Easily structured Easily captured on

machines Often quantified Easily transferred

Information

Definition: Data endowed with relevance and purpose Requires unit of analysis Need consensus on

meaning Human mediation

necessary Harder to transfer

Knowledge

Increasing complexity / Increasing human involvement

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Data, Information & Knowledge

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See Davenport (1997) Information Ecology, page 9

Data

Definition: Simple observations of states of the world Easily structured Easily captured on

machines Often quantified Easily transferred

Information

Definition: Data endowed with relevance and purpose Requires unit of analysis Need consensus on

meaning Human mediation

necessary Harder to transfer

Knowledge

Definition: Valuable information from the human mind; includes reflection, synthesis, context Hard to structure Difficult to capture on

machines Often tacit Most difficult to transfer

Increasing complexity / Increasing human involvement