Dear FIS colleagues,Thanks toMarcin for his well-thought reinterpretations of
the blind men parable. Time ago Iwas concerned about the reactions that the FIS
project would provoke amidstclassical information science practitioners (very
susceptible blind men type).I was invited to some conferences in the field and
could realize that ingeneral the idea of a larger info science was very well
received, say the wayengineering minded parties would respond to ongoing
unification projects in paralleltheoretical fields. For them it was quite
timely, and sensible, in line withadvancements in quantum information science,
biological info-revolution, consciousnessstudies, information society, etc.
Besides it was seen within the convergence ofnew perspectives needed for data
driven research, data mining, network science, and so on. It is quitedifficult,
however, articulating a general syllabus for information science –withouta
previous consensus in some delicate matters, so often herein discussed. Atthe
time being an interesting option could be a “central themes” core accompaniedby
a spattering of introductory topics on info disciplines (or subdisciplines).As
I said, my experience teaching info history of societies and bioinfo wasquite
successful in terms of graduate students. But I did not venture in preparing
the centralthemes part…Some posts have already made good suggestions. The real
teaching is the taste of the pudding, we badly need that experience.
Finally, away to think on the relationship between the “mother” info science
and the “child”recombinatory info subdisciplines would again conduce to
something similar to theblind men parable. The problem is the inevitable loop
between info conceptionsand disciplinary or philosophical stances. Let me put
it in this way: ifinformation is taken as “distinction on the adjacent”, each
of the different sciencesbecomes “an artificial ordering of distinctions,
involving regimentedperceptions, standardized actions, and logico-formal
structures and conceptualizations.”The syllabus discussion may continue more
easily through the distinctional bridge common to the informational and the
sceintific... I think.
Best wishes---Pedro
- Mensaje original -
De: m...@aiu.ac.jp
Fecha: Sábado, 17 de Diciembre de 2011, 2:00 pm
Asunto: Re: There is no Information Science.
A: whhbs...@sina.com, Pedro C. Marijuan pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es, fislist
fis@listas.unizar.es
Dear Tian-qing Qiao,
Thank you for sharing your view with us and for interesting
parable of five blind men and an elephant. However, I read the
moral of the story just the opposite way.
If we read this allegory with the elephant representing
information, it shows that Information Science with a broad
theory of information is necessary, unless we want to stay in
the position of the blind, who are using only practice, which
necessarily is limited to specific instances.
We know now that the view of Francis Bacon, who opposed
formulation of any theory which is not strictly a posteriori
result of inductive, purely empirical procedures faulty. Every
experiment or observation involves a priori theoretical
framework involving conceptualization of the problem (Kant) or
more down to earth simple fact that we need theoretical
description of the experimental procedures and equipment. We
know that positivistic idea of purely observational
statements is an illusion.
Moreover, there were many instances of important contributions
to scientific discoveries made by bold theoretical models
anticipating later experimental results. Schroedinger's little
book What is life? is a good example. It is his purely
theoretical concept of aperiodic crystals which stimulated
Crick in his later work with Watson on the structure of DNA.
Thus, we are in the position of the blind men who are
exploring an elephant, i.e. information, who can even measure
it. The actual breakthrough can come only when we have a
theory of information which describes not only its quantity,
but also its structural and dynamical characteristics.
We can read the story different way, probably closer to your
interpretation of this allegory. The elephant represents the
world, universe, or reality. But, in this case I see exactly
the same moral. We will stay blind, if we do not develop
methods of integration of the pieces of information coming
from practice, from reports of the specific domains of
investigation. Here we have a very clear role of the
development of the theory and methods of integration of
information, which in my opinion in the most important task of
Information Science. It is much more important that the
ability to measure information.
Thus, no matter how we look at the story of the blind men and
the elephant, it shows that Information Science is of great
importance. Whether it is possible or not to give it shape
similar to other, older
