Information processing
The concept "information processing" is used about the
processing of information by computers, by humans, by
institutions or collectives (including disciplines or sciences).
"In general, information processing is the changing (processing)
of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such,
it is a process which describes everything which happens
(changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change
in position) to the printing of a text file from a digital
computer system. In the latter case, an information processor is
changing the form of presentation of that text file.
Information processing can more specifically be defined in terms
by Claude E. Shannon [information
theory] as the conversion of latent information into
manifest information. Latent and manifest information is defined
through the terms of equivocation (remaining uncertainty, what
value the sender has actually chosen), dissipation (uncertainty
of the sender what the receiver has actually received) and
transformation (saved effort of questioning - equivocation minus
dissipation)." (Wikipedia, 2005).
Human information processing is a key concept
in cognitive science and psychology. Drawing
on the image of the way computers work, information resulting from stimulation
of the sense organs is analyzed and transformed by a number of processors each
of which takes as input the information output by another processor. This
conception arose in the 1940s and 1950s. The essence of the approach is to see
cognition as being essentially computational in nature, with mind being
the software and the brain being the hardware. (See
Lindsay & Norman, 1972/1977).
Buckland (1991) differentiates three different senses of
the term information: Information-as-knowledge,
information-as-process and information-as-thing. He argues that only machines
can process information-as-thing (e.g., documents or
representations
of information or
knowledge). He also finds that concepts like thinking and memory are more
fruitful to describe human mental processes.
The concept of information processing is connected to a
certain understanding of information and cognition. It may be more fruitful to
consider computers as data-processors or document-processors rather than
information processors. The theoretical outlook in, for example,
semiotics, may provide a better theoretical frame compared to
information theory and its derived
conceptions of information processing. Within Library and Information Science
(LIS) there is a growing criticism of conceptions related to information
processing:
"In a
neo-pragmatist and sociocultural perspective information does not have an
objective value, that is, information is not a representation of facts that are
to be
mediated between a “sender” and a “receiver”. Within LIS a standard
sender/receiver
model can be traced to information theory such as it was formulated around 1950.
Day
(2001) demonstrates how this transmission metaphor has since influenced the way
in
which much of “information” has been viewed by the LIS research community and by
the profession as a transmittable neutral medium (see Tuominen et al., 2002).
Instead,
we emphasize the symbolic role in communication between members of a social
practice (Sundin, 2003). Such a perspective illuminates how information is given
meaning in different – sometimes competing – communities, each with their own
potential identities. The focus on meaning is well in line with the linguistic
turn that
neo-pragmatism embraces. How information is given meaning should be seen in
relation to those interests that contribute in creating and maintaining these
meanings. Within LIS this can be exemplified by how the transmission metaphor is
maintained
by identifying the discipline as primarily technical."
(Sundin & Johannisson, 2005, p. 36).
Literature:
Buckland, M. (1991). Information and information systems. New York: Greenwood Press.
Day, R. E. (2001), The Modern Invention of Information:
Discourse, History, and Power. Carbondale, IL.: Southern Illinois University
Press,
Lindsay, P. H. & Norman, D. A. (1972). Human information processing: an introduction to
psychology. Academic Press. (2nd edition 1977).
Refinetti, R. (1989). Information Processing as a central issue in philosophy of
science. Information Processing & Management, 25, 583-584.
Sundin, O. (2003), Towards an understanding of symbolic
aspects of professional information: an analysis of the nursing knowledge
domain. Knowledge Organization, 30(2/3), 170-181.
Sundin, O. & Johannisson, J. (2005). Pragmatism,
neo-pragmatism and sociocultural theory: communicative participation as a
perspective in LIS. Journal of Documentation, 61(1), 23-43. Available at:
http://www.adm.hb.se/~osu/Sundin&Johannisson.pdf
Tuominen, K., Talja, S. and Savolainen, R. (2002),
Discourse, cognition, and reality: towards a social constructionist metatheory
for library and information science. IN: Bruce, H., Fidel, R., Ingwersen, P. and
Vakkari, P. (Eds.), Emerging Frameworks and Methods: Proceedings of the 4th
International Conference of Conceptions of Library and Information Science
(CoLIS4), Libraries Unlimited, Greenwood Village, CT, pp. 271-83.
Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia.(2005). Information
Processing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processing
Journal:
Information Processing and Management,
See
also: Information
Birger Hjørland
Last edited:
25-04-2006
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