Dear Gordana and Loet, Ref.: Cat, Jordi. 2007. "The Unity of Science". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
I think you are being too defensive vis à vis "the conventional idea of science". The authority of people who have decided to what information science must be limited may be open to criticism as reductionist, and there are views (see attached) that emphasize epistemological and ontological pluralism. As Cat says, contra epistemological monism, there is no single methodology that supports a single criterion of scientificity, nor a universal domain of its applicability. To keep the concept of information science as broad as possible, however, implies a great deal of individual responsibility to insure high intellectual standards, in or out of the "mainstream". The definition of any science should be determined by these and not by what is funded. Cheers, Joseph ----- Original Message ----- From: Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic To: Loet Leydesdorff Cc: fis@listas.unizar.es Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2011 10:08 PM Subject: Re: [Fis] Discussion of Information Science Education Dear Loet, I think you made an important point. It is really a problem if we use the same term "Information Science" for different things. What "Information Science" in the Web-of-Science's Science Citation Index journals is about is something different from what we thought of. "Science" in their case consists in systematization, description etc. - a conventional idea of science about already existing artifacts and related phenomena addressed by already established methods. That is why the Handbook on the Philosophy of "Information" http://www.illc.uva.nl/HPI/ (which is close to what we discuss within FIS) is not titled Handbook on the Philosophy of "Science of Information". Maybe the field we have in mind is just "Information" or "Foundations of Information" (that is how Brian Cantwell Smith calls it)? Maybe that is why the journal "Information" is not in the Web-of-Science's Science Citation Index. Because we discuss things that are not mainstream and already existing. However, this does not prevent us from trying to introduce into curricula some basic knowledge that already is established in Foundations of Information. In the similar way as it is introduced in the HPI, even though many things are still under development. Best, Gordana From: fis-boun...@listas.unizar.es [mailto:fis-boun...@listas.unizar.es] On Behalf Of Loet Leydesdorff Sent: den 3 december 2011 18:08 To: m...@aiu.ac.jp; 'PEDRO CLEMENTE MARIJUAN FERNANDEZ'; fis@listas.unizar.es Subject: Re: [Fis] Discussion of Information Science Education Dear colleagues, The category of "Information and Library Science" contains 40+ scholarly journals in the Web-of-Science's Science Citation Index. Of these at least 10 can be identified as Information Science. The lead journal is the Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. May universities have special schools for library and information science (LIS). This is different from our discussions at this list about "information theory". Nevertheless, there is a problem with reinventing a wheel. J Best wishes, Loet Loet Leydesdorff Professor, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam. Tel.: +31-20- 525 6598; fax: +31-842239111 l...@leydesdorff.net ; http://www.leydesdorff.net/ ; http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en -----Original Message----- From: fis-boun...@listas.unizar.es [mailto:fis-boun...@listas.unizar.es] On Behalf Of m...@aiu.ac.jp Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2011 1:24 PM To: PEDRO CLEMENTE MARIJUAN FERNANDEZ; fis@listas.unizar.es Subject: [Fis] Discussion of Information Science Education Dear Colleagues: There are some questions which periodically return to FIS discussions without conclusive answers. For instance: "What is information?" However, the lack of consensus regarding central concept is not an obstacle in the development of Information Science. There is no commonly accepted answer to the question "What is life?" But, this does not threaten the identity of Biology. Information Science has not yet achieved a status of a commonly recognized discipline. It is frequently confused with Computer Science, because of the term Informatics which in Europe denotes what in the US is called Computing, or with Library Science and sometimes even with Philosophy of Information, as visible from the Handbook on the Philosophy of Information http://www.illc.uva.nl/HPI/ where philosophy and science interleave on many levels. Information Science will never receive recognition without an organized effort of research community to introduce its philosophy, goals, methods, and achievements to the general audience. Books and articles popularizing the theme of information as a subject of independent study do not have big enough circulation to be sufficient in establishing an identity of the discipline. The only effective way is to introduce Information Science as a subject of education at the college level for students who do not necessarily want to specialize in this direction. Certainly, introduction of a new subject to curriculum is not easy, but it is possible. After all, Information Science is a perfect tool for integration of curriculum, especially in the context of Liberal Arts education. Which other concept, if not information, can be applied in all possible contexts of education? Now, the question is whether we are ready to come out with a syllabus for such a course acceptable for all of us, those who are involved in the subject, and those who aren't, but participate in the development of curricula. Can we overcome differences between our views on the definition of information, on the relationship of information understood in a general way to its particular manifestations in other disciplines? Since the course (or courses) should present an identity of the discipline of Information Science, it is very important that we are convinced about the authentic existence of a large enough common ground. Can we develop a map of this territory? Can we pool resources to establish foundations for a standard, Information Science curriculum? Marcin and Gordana Marcin J. Schroeder, Ph.D. Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs Akita International University Akita, Japan m...@aiu.ac.jp Gordana Dodig Crnkovic, Associate Professor Head of the Computer Science and Networks Department School of Innovation, Design and Engineering Mälardalen University Sweden http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/~gdc/ Organizer of the Symposium on Natural/Unconventional Computing, the Turing Centenary World Congress of AISB/IACAP https://sites.google.com/site/naturalcomputingaisbiacap2012 _______________________________________________ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
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