BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

INFORMATION SYSTEMS DISCIPLINE 1)

J.van GIGCH distinguishes the following schools of thought in this discipline (1993, p.46):

"1. Sciences of the artificial

2. Systems Sciences or Sciences of Complexity.

3. Decision Sciences.

4. Cognitive Sciences.

5. Computation Sciences.

6. Communication Sciences.

7. Control Sciences (Cybernetics).

8. Computer Sciences and Artificial Intelligence.

9. Complex Systems Engineering Sciences.

10. Complex Social Organization Sciences and Management Decision Sciences.

11. Normative Decision Theories.

12. Management Theories.

13. Operations Research and Management Science.

14. Social Communication and Behavior Theory."

Cybernetics does not only contribute to control sciences, but also to social communication and psychology, as shown by von FOERSTER's 2nd order cybernetics.

In his paper, van GIGCH contributes an interesting table (by himself and J.L.LE MOIGNE) about "Purposes and metaphors of the disciplines which contribute to the design of an information system" (p.47).

A very different viewpoint is G. PATON's one. In a 1997 paper he observed that "Information system" as an expression is quite ambiguous, as "words in any language are overloaded with several distinct meanings". The problem started with Shannon's use of the word "information" in his foundational paper on "mathematical communication theory"(1948), even if he cannot be made responsible for the generalized error of later authors to refer themselves to SHANNON's theory of "information".

PATON states clearly that information is "a particular parcel of knowledge, acquired at a particular moment in time"(p. 69), irrespective of course to the fact that the "informed" person communicates that information to another person.

This is different from MacKAY's wording about "logon" (i.e. coded meaning in a linguistic and semantic sense) and "metron" (i.e. coding of such logon in a communication code, electronic, or whatever). However, it helps to combine MacKay's approach to Paton's one.

As to "information systems"another ambiguity emerges. PATON observes: "if you think of information as existing out there in the world"(in a computer for ex.)…"you are working with information as a resource, just like finance. All the dangers of the take-over by accountants now apply to take-over by I.S. managers"(Ibid, p. 70)

And of course, IS managers become controllers aiming at making a profit by installing suitable valves within the communication channels (and eventually also installing censure or manipulation)

Accordingly, PATON considers that "information systems", before becoming a "resource", are "intellectual constructs"(p. 71). As such, they are open systems, very different of the boxed products that become protected commercial items, as for example patents, software packages or any other finished product.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]


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