L'A. se penche sur le statut du concept d'information en sciences de l'information dans une perspective interdisciplinaire. Il aborde en premier lieu la question de la definition des termes scientifiques du point de vue de la philosophie des sciences. L'histoire du mot information nous montre l'evolution de sa signification et ses relations avec la notion de connaissance. L'etude de la place du concept d'information dans les sciences naturelles, sociales et humaines montre son caractere interdisciplinaire. L'introduction du terme d'information dans les sciences de l'information et la bibliotheconomie remonte aux environs de 1950. L'accent est mis sur ses relations avec d'autres termes basiques tels que document, texte et connaissance, notamment dans le domaine de la recherche d'information. Enfin l'A. mentionne diverses perpectives theoriques sur l'information en sciences de l'information : theorie de l'information, perspective cognitive, l'information-en-tant-que-chose, l'analyse de domaines, le socio-cognitivisme, l'hermeneutique, la semiotique.

The concept of information

There is no consensus yet on the definition of semantic information. This paper contributes to the current debate by criticising and revising the Standard Definition of semantic Information (SDI) as meaningful data, in favour of the Dretske-Grice approach: meaningful and well-formed data constitute semantic information only if they also qualify as contingently truthful. After a brief introduction, SDI is criticised for providing necessary but insufficient conditions for the definition of semantic information. SDI is incorrect because truth-values do not supervene on semantic information, and misinformation (that is, false semantic information) is not a type of semantic information, but pseudo-information, that is not semantic information at all. This is shown by arguing that none of the reasons for interpreting misinformation as a type of semantic information is convincing, whilst there are compelling reasons to treat it as pseudo-information. As a consequence, SDI is revised to include a necessary truth-condition. The last section summarises the main results of the paper and indicates some interesting areas of application of the revised definition.

/pdf/is-semantic-information-meaningful-data-2qd009omic.pdf

Is Semantic Information Meaningful Data

This paper outlines a quantitative theory of strongly semantic information (TSSI) based on truth-values rather than probability distributions. The main hypothesis supported in the paper is that the classic quantitative theory of weakly semantic information (TWSI), based on probability distributions, assumes that truth-values supervene on factual semantic information, yet this principle is too weak and generates a well-known semantic paradox, whereas TSSI, according to which factual semantic information encapsulates truth, can avoid the paradox and is more in line with the standard conception of what generally counts as semantic information. After a brief introduction, section two outlines the semantic paradox implied by TWSI, analysing it in terms of an initial conflict between two requisites of a quantitative theory of semantic information. In section three, three criteria of semantic information equivalence are used to provide a taxonomy of quantitative approaches to semantic information and introduce TSSI. In section four, some further desiderata that should be fulfilled by a quantitative TSSI are explained. From section five to section seven, TSSI is developed on the basis of a calculus of truth-values and semantic discrepancy with respect to a given situation. In section eight, it is shown how TSSI succeeds in solving the paradox. Section nine summarises the main results of the paper and indicates some future developments.

/pdf/outline-of-a-theory-of-strongly-semantic-information-2djebta40u.pdf

Outline of a Theory of Strongly Semantic Information

The philosophy of information (PI) is a new area of research with its own field of investigation and methodology. This article, based on the Herbert A. Simon Lecture of Computing and Philosophy I gave at Carnegie Mellon University in 2001, analyses the eighteen principal open problems in PI. Section 1 introduces the analysis by outlining Herbert Simon's approach to PI. Section 2 discusses some methodological considerations about what counts as a good philosophical problem. The discussion centers on Hilbert's famous analysis of the central problems in mathematics. The rest of the article is devoted to the eighteen problems. These are organized into five sections: problems in the analysis of the concept of information, in semantics, in the study of intelligence, in the relation between information and nature, and in the investigation of values.

Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information

The practical application of systemic sustainability analysis (SSA; Bell and Morse, 1999) as applied in-a project instigated and managed by 'Blue Plan', one of the regional activity centres of the Mediterranean Action Plan, is set out and explained in this paper. The context in which SSA was applied and adapted to SPSA (systemic and prospective sustainability analysis). is described in the Mediterranean, primarily in Malta. The SSA process is summarized, its extension and linkage to the prospective approach is described and the comments of stakeholders in the context are added. Some preliminary outcomes are suggested. The pauticular focus of the paper is on the lessons learned from doing SSA/SPSA within a classic blueprint project framework. It is-not assumed that SSA/SPSA is 'finished' or 'definitive'. Rather, we suggest that it is a developing and changing approach that practitioners can adapt and change to meet the specific needs of the circumstances that confront them. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Experiences with sustainability indicators and stakeholder participation: a case study relating to a ‘Blue Plan’ project in Malta

Part 1 Ethical and political aspects: some philosophical and logical aspects of infomation systems, Fenton F Robb implications of regarding information as meaningful rather than factual, Norma Romm the tool perspective on information system design - what Heidegger's philosophy can't do, Martin Spaul thoughts towards a framework for critical practice, Anne Moggridge Part 2 Language and meaning: patterns on glass - the language games of information, Jim Gilligan the nature of information and its relationship to meaning, John Mingers mapping information systems on to the real world, Frank Gregory organic information for the organic organization? - an application of the work of Talcott Parsons to information systems, Richard Kamm Part 3 Methodology: backing into philosophy via information systems, Brian Petheram software engineering as a Kuhnian discipline, Paul Wernick and Russel Winder the metaphysical assumptions of the main Soft Systems Methodology advocates, Stephen Probert towards a paradigm of information systems, Marcus Lyncy Part 4 Organizational aspects: sustainable information in community organizations, Nick Plant a new philosophy, a new agenda - introducing information systems into complex organizations, Stuart Maguire anthropological reflections on systems engineering - seeing is believing, George Bakehouse et al Part 5 Physical aspects: evolution, emergence and synaesthesia, John Gammack and Carolyn Begg the body in the information system, Ian Beeson

Philosophical Aspects of Information Systems

In information systems (IS) projects, it may well be a sensible strategy to treat the computer as a “black box”, if this results in an increase in systems practitioners’ abilities to design new information systems with greater freedom than would otherwise be the case, but it will be argued that treating information systems as subjective constructs tends to trivialise the importance of crucial, technical aspects of such systems. Furthermore, IS projects (at any rate) generally have economic objectives, and many (if not most) other systems projects are highly constrained by economic considerations—both in terms of objectives and resources. Treating information systems as subjective constructs leads to a tendency to deny (or ignore) the importance of these crucial aspects of most IS projects. It can be argued that the same is true for (virtually) all projects aimed at improving socio-technical systems. It will be concluded that socio-technical systems are best treated as being actual wholes (containing both social and technical components).

A critical analysis of the thesis that systems are subjective constructs

The purpose of this work is to examine the basic epistemological foundations of soft and hard information systems (IS) methodologies, and to explore ways in which the much- purported differences between these foundations may be reconciled. A number of writers have discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM); the general conclusion being that SSM embodies the philosophical assumptions of (some form of) subjectivism (e.g. Mingers, 1984). It will be argued that whilst the advocates of SSM subscribe to a subjective mode of enquiry, such a mode has its history—and its rationale—firmly grounded in the early modern philosophies of the natural sciences. In contemporary epistemological terms, this approach can be characterised as a variant of foundationalism. Lewis has recently studied the epistemological foundations of hard IS methodologies (Lewis, 1994). Although these methodologies are generally committed to an approach based on objectivist assumptions, they are also based on a variant of foundationalism. Having explored the overlaps between hard and soft IS methodologies’ epistemological foundations, it will be concluded that there are important epistemological similarities between the two broad approaches, and that the differences between the approaches are not insurmountable. This paper therefore serves as a basis upon which a genuinely “unified” (hard and soft) IS methodology can be developed.

Reconciling the epistemological differences between soft and hard information systems methodologies

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Philosophical Aspects of Information Systems

A critical analysis of the thesis that systems are subjective constructs

Reconciling the epistemological differences between soft and hard information systems methodologies