| Wolfgang Hofkirchner "Information Science": An Idea Whose Time Has Come In: Informatik Forum 3/1995, 99-106 CONTENTS:
Informatics is, without doubt, a science, in the sense that it is established as an independent field of study in the domain of science. It is institutionalized as a particular practice of research, teaching, application, and profession. And, along with a range of other disciplines, it shares the fate of not having consistently explicated its fundamental assumptions; of being unclear about which exactly its fundamental concepts are; and of having no accepted definition for one of its nevertheless often-used concepts - the concept of "information" - at its disposal. This, however, is an unsatisfactory situation. Because the absence of a sound information concept has an adverse effect on that which concerns the constitution of information science as science in a second sense, namely, its "scientificity." Therefore, the position of informatics in the scheme of scientific classification is unclarified, and its nature as theoretical and explanatory, or empirical and descriptive, science is open to discussion, if, from the outset, its legitimate place in the canon of sciences is not thrown into doubt altogether. Either a relationship to various theoretical disciplines is established:
Or "computer science" is alleged to be a science which works purely empirically and simply describes all manifestations which relate to the computer, without aiming for theoretical generalizations. Or the opinion is advocated that programming isn't actually a science at all, but rather, an art, a craft. The Scientificity of Science What, then, constitutes the scientificity of a science? Scientific thinking, as in the case of everyday thinking, is a matter of producing ideas that are useful for our practice - i.e., a matter
- whereby, each antecedent constitutes the prerequisite for the subsequent, which emerges and follows from the former: Data constitute the basis for knowledge, and knowledge constitutes the basis for decisions. The scientific process of accumulating information, however, distinguishes itself from the everyday pre-scientific process, as follows:
The product of science is empirically discovered, theoretically founded, technologically usable information. Empirical data, theoretical knowledge, and technological decisions are the three fundamental products of the scientific process. They are located on three different levels: (1) on the level of methodological approach; (2) on the level of confrontation with the reality of objects, i.e., where a section from reality is made into an object of scientific apprehension; and (3) on the level of the practical task of every science. The choice of scientific methods for acquiring knowledge depends, in a certain way, on the choice of the object, and this last choice is again determined, to a certain degree, by the chosen problem. Thus, these factors are nested one within the other (in a nested hierarchy)
1. Informatics: The Past Now, let's try to investigate to what extent one can identify empirical, theory, and technology in the history of informatics. Because the levels are ordered hierarchically, I shall begin - in reverse order - with the level of practice as the highest level, and thereafter, treat the levels of reality and methodology, respectively. 1.1. The Task of Informatics The results of cognitive processes are ideal products which prescribe actions, namely: * actions in the everyday life of the individual (extrascientific and prescientific modes of knowledge acquisition); or * actions in the context of particular social fields of practice, that bring about technical applications through the cooperation of human skills (disciplinary modes of knowledge acquisition); or * simply any kind of action, because these ideas have a degree of generality to such an extent that they are able to serve as guiding principles for any human behavior whatsoever (philosophical mode of knowledge acquisition). The products of informatics are prescriptions for action, that are concerned with the development, production, and operation of all kinds of computer applications, known as information systems. Certainly, the development, production, and operation of information systems is a special skill, an engineering art. But, as soon as this activity systematically uses information in order to promote the progressive improvement of the instruction and guidance of development, production, and operation, it is also an engineering science. That is, as soon as it takes facts about the employment of information systems as its basis, it is an empirically scientifically guided activity, and as soon as it strives for explanations of broader scope, it is over and above that a theory-guided scientific activity. I here assume that informatics is a science in the last mentioned sense, because it can fulfil its purpose only if it is a generalizing undertaking. Why is this so? Its immediate purpose lies, first of all, in its contribution to the development, production, and operation of technological - i.e.artificial - information systems, that should support human and interhuman information (communication) processes. There are two types of informational processes, the limits of performance of which become apparent, and as a result, give rise to the social need for the expansion of human capabilities through the creation of artificial organs in the form of the new information technologies:
The technologization of these fields today necessitates generalizations that extend beyond everyday understanding, as basis for guiding the development, production, and operation of information systems.
Without tested general assumptions, without theory, the development, production, and operation of suitable, sound technical solutions towards the support of cognitive and communicative practices would be unthinkable. Informatics is thus, in my opinion, a science in the full sense of the word. That does not, however, specify which discipline is involved in the acquisition of knowledge for the production of information technologies. 1.2. The Object of Informatics As objects of science one needs to consider the following:
Now, if the task of informatics consists in making a contribution, so that technological-organizational means can be made available for improving the performance, and increasing the efficiency, of (inter)human information processing - then all the (inter)connections that are suitable to positively influence the above-mentioned performance become the object of informatics' empirical as well as theoretical attempt to come to terms with the problem at hand. In this way, humans, machines, and the human-machine-interfaces constitute the field of inquiry of informatics.
* humans, in so far as human cognition and communication, that should be improved and extended, concern genuine human achievements, and in so far as the technological support of these functions has to take the properties of the functions to be supported into account; * machines, in so far as information systems include technical artefacts, along with the computer, that have to exploit the causal principles independent of the human in such a way that they can also play their part in the context of the cognitive and communicative functions; and * the interfaces between human and machine, in so far as humans and machines require an organizational synthesis, a systemic linking, which attunes both sides to each other, such that the performance potential of the machine can also be optimally realized. The object of informatics is thus the socio-technological system that realizes information processing for the human, and informatics is that particular discipline that precisely investigates this object. This object is therefore a concrete one. However, it is also a philosophical one, since it is part of a more comprehensive human-technology-environment relationship. And, moreover, it is nothing other than the realization of mental structures, and, therefore, a formal one. In order to characterize informatics precisely, it is therefore also necessary to specify the methods with which it investigates this object. 1.3. The Approach of Informatics Scientific methods in general can be categorized according to which aspect of the object of knowledge acquisition is emphasized in the representation of that object.
1. If the object of informatics is that socio-technological system which technologically mediates the social functions of cognition and communication, then that object is, first, a concrete one that should also be researched in terms of the concrete sciences.
* in the case of engineering, or technological, scientific methods, one should reflect on the technological (inter)connections of the system construction; * in the case of social scientific methods, the organizational (inter)connections of the system construction should come under consideration; * in the case of the human sciences, or humanities, methods stress the role of humans as bearers of mental capabilities; and * in the case of natural scientific methods, the stress is on the causal and functional (inter)connections of the cognitive and communicative processes in human brainware or artificial hardware. 2. In so far as the object is a socio-technological system that represents a particular manifestation of the relationships between humans, technology, and the environment in general, informatics needs methods which are, second, philosophical. 3. And, in so far as the object is a system in which the most important aspect is its property simply to be a system, independently of the material properties that this system manifests, one must also research it using, third, formal methods. 1.4. The Multidisciplinary Nature of Informatics What kind of science is informatics, then? I believe that it is a multidisciplinary science, i.e., a science that comprises parts of many other disciplines. For this reason, it resists assignment to a single category in the traditional classification scheme for the sciences. All perspectives in informatics are of equal importance. It cannot be reduced to a single aspect alone. It is the peculiarity of informatics that it can only then fulfil the diversity of its tasks, when its object reveals a diversity of dimensions, to which informatics can only then do justice, when it approaches its object with a diversity of methods. So informatics comprises:
2. Informatics with Integrated Technology Research: The Present The characterization of informatics as multidisciplinary is insufficient to answer the question, whether informatics exhausts itself in fragmenting itself in a multitude of different viewpoints, which coexist disconnected with each other and come under consideration, depending on one's interest and inclination, on the one hand; or whether, despite appearances, it could be the case that informatics, by having hidden (inter)connections that one first has to clarify, gains strength as a science consistent with itself, on the other hand. We can attempt an answer to this question by examining the social milieu of the entire scientific enterprise at this current point in time, and investigating to what extent practical demands press for a synthesis of the disciplines. 2.1. Technology Assessment and Technology (Re)Structuring (Technikgestaltung) The context in which all research, development, production and operation of technology occurs today fundamentally distinguishes itself from that of earlier times. We live in an age of global problems. The global problems are problems concerning the survival of humanity: first, they concern humanity as a whole (as object); second, they can also only be solved by humanity as a whole (as subject). Included here are problems in the relationships
These problems have their cause, finally, in socio-political developments, but they are accelerated by scientific technological progress, and they can also only be brought towards a solution when social and technological changes are interconnected. Science and technology can do justice to their original purpose - to alleviate human life and generally make that life more pleasant - only when they are no longer left to pursue their seeming natural course. Instead of being left to their own dynamics, they should be deliberately put into operation after appropriate reflection and careful consideration, and should be managed with conscious control, i.e., when their programme is executed with respect to the ideals of the survival of humanity in a future in which it is worth living, and when a constant control of the results of the implementation of the programme is instituted. That means, that science must devote careful consideration to its technological consequences in society, must anticipate possible desired or undesired effects, and must carry out any appropriate readjustments or reorientations. This is the task of technology assessment and technology (re)structuring and design. Technology assessment and the shaping of technology constitute a subsidiary branch of social-scientific science and technology research. But since their task is the social assessment and (re)structuring oft echnological effects, they are from the start committed to the cooperation between the so-called "soft" and "hard" disciplines. Now, if every science can be measured by what it contributes towards the alleviation or aggravation of the global challenges facing us, and if consideration of the technological effects and (re)structuring is the means of choice, for every single discipline, in order to stay on the cutting edge of our time, then the disciplines must open themselves for mutual collaboration, they must make their boundaries pervious to each other, and they must overcome all narrow-minded specialization and discipline-centricism. Informatics too is not free from having to make research on (re)structuring and effects one of its very own basic concerns, in its very own best interests. 2.2. The Task of Informatics with Integrated Technology Research The range of problems indicated by the practice is not restricted to mere support of the human capabilities of cognition and communication through technological means, but includes the whole scope of (inter)connections, in which the substitution for, or extension of, human information processing gives rise to certain effects.
These effects
* the promotion or impediment of all human capabilities, to the inviolability or vulnerability of the psycho-physical integrity of the personality, to the possibilities of individual self-realization, and the conditions of self-determination - all criteria, that are known under the name "social compatibility" - and to * the capability or incapability to integrate particular technologies in the technological infrastructure, without increasing the risk of undesired effects - that can be called the criterion of "civil(izational) compatibility" - and to * the maintenance and recovery or disturbance of the ecological integrity of society. This criterion is the "environmental compatibility" of technological solutions. And the attempts to grapple with these problems result, in turn, in (re)structurings of the socio-technological information systems - (re)structurings that cover the same field, as outlined above. 2.3. The Object of Informatics with Integrated Technology Research The scope of objects relevant to informatics, in so far as informatics understands its tasks broadly, encompasses the interaction of human and machine in the informational domain, as well as non-informational and indirect (inter)connections between humans and computers. Included here are:
* direct effects of the computer on humans on a non-informational basis (social compatibility); * effects of other technology on humans, effects that come about through the mediation of the computer (civil(izational) compatibility); * environmental consequences of the computer or computer-mediated technologies (environmental compatibility), and their final repercussions on humans. The assessment of these effects then enters into the (re)structuring of information systems. In the process, the resolution of the object domain can be varied from the individual workplace to the work group, the company, the industrial sector, the national economy, the economic region, through to the global economy; from an individual to a family, a generation, a gender, an ethnicity, a nation, through to a global society. 2.4. The Approach of Informatics with Integrated Technology Research For an adequate treatment of the object of knowledge acquisition that has been extended with respect to the non-informational and indirect effects of the computer on humanity, single methods in isolation are insufficient. What becomes important in this context now is a suitable combination of methods.
I.e., that several methods should work together in a coordinated way, so that precisely those aspects of an object can be apprehended, the apprehension of which is necessary in order to confront a particular call for action, in a consistent way. 2.5. The Interdisciplinary Nature of Informatics with Integrated Technology Research Unity in the sciences is attained and ensured by problem-orientation, i.e., where the problem is always of paramount importance in determining one's approach, and it is not maintained by boundaries between disciplines. The unity of informatics is due to a unique question: How should socio-technological systems that are employed to support (inter)human information processing be conceptualized and constructed, so that they are in accord with societal interests in the elimination of conditions
In short: How can one ensure a structuring of information systems that is compatible with society, civilization, and the environment? Here we are dealing with the (re)instatement of the tool-like character of computers that is in danger of being irretrievably lost, and with the (re)assignment of computers to purposes through which computers can be grasped as an aid in the fullest possible sense. To achieve this, interdisciplinary cooperation is necessary. 3. Information Science: The Future The characterization of informatics as more than simply multidisciplinary, namely, as interdisciplinary - as a science that depends on the collaboration between the most diverse disciplines, without altering these themselves with respect to how they go about their work - is, in my opinion, still not sufficient to do justice to its character. What does it imply, that the term "information" has entered into so many sciences? Does a relationship perhaps exist here to the practical demands made of the separate sciences to provide problem-solving capacities for control and regulation of the most diverse subsystems of the system cultural lifeform on earth, of the planetary system humanity-technology-nature? Could the dissemination of the information concept be due to the fact that, in the case of control and regulation of systems, the material-energetic aspects of human influence are not decisive as much as the informational aspects with regard to system (re)structuring? Are the global social disparities - the disparities in the development of human, technological, and ecological systems - an expression of a deficiency on the part of humans in capability - i.e., an incapability - to control and regulate these systems by means of information? If all this were so, then infomatics would be the seed from which a new paradigm appears to emerge: the paradigm of the "information science," and informatics then gains a new identity as a part of this "information science." 3.1. The Task of Information Science The problems, towards the solution of which the new paradigm should contribute, are suggested to be social incapabilities that have to be overcome - problems in controlling and regulating * the social system as a whole; or * the human, technological, or natural systems as parts of this whole, in such a way that the maintenance of the system as a whole and of its functions critical for the survival of humanity are ensured, or that it is kept on a steady, stable path of sustainable development..
Computer applications should be understood as an integrated part of such grand solutions. The unity of the information science thus arises through the integrating, unifying definition of the problems that have to be negotiated as problems of control and regulation of social systems. In so far as the solution of these problems requires the employment of information technologies, informatics becomes an integral part of the information science. 3.2. The Object of Information Science Within the new paradigm one would investigate the properties of all systems, which are in some way subsystems of the global social system, to produce, to store, to process, and to distribute information, as well as the ability to remain open to influence through social intervention, and to exercise material or informational retro-effects, or feedback, on humans.
This does not mean that all relevant systems are purely information-producing, -storing, -processing, and -distributing systems. But, it does mean that they are material-energetic systems that are, in addition, and to varying degrees, informational systems. Indeed, it lies precisely in this property - i.e., the informational - that they constitute the object of inquiry of the information science. The unity of the science manifests itself in the unity of the object: The information science deals with information processing systems, irrespective of whether these concern the technological, human, or natural; informatics investigates the technological as subclass of the class of all natural and social information processing systems. 3.3. The Approach of Information Science The ways and means of investigation of information processing systems make apparent an inner (inter)connectedness of the new paradigm. Last, not least, the unity is brought about by the method. The general features of any information processing system are considered in terms of philosophical and formal scientific (system theoretical, mathematical-logical) methods, and can result in the hitherto missing general information theory; but, to be exact, as a general theory of information processing systems, as basis of the information science, and not only of informatics.
These general features are expressed, depending on the material context, as physically, chemically, biotically, or culturally differentiated properties - and here the methods of physics, chemistry, biology, and human and social sciences are employed to provide particularization and concretization of the general methods, in order to set up a special information theory, a theory of particular types of information processing systems. The methods of the concrete sciences, in this way, transcend the disciplinary boundaries among themselves as well as those to the formal sciences and to philosophy. Using these internally consistent methods, informatics researches aspects of socio-technological systems as particular aspects of information processing systems in general, whereby the distinctions between systems are clarified in formal scientific and philosophical terms. 3.4. The Transdisciplinary Nature of Information Science as well as of Informatics as Part of the Information Science In conclusion: Informatics would then, according to this paradigm, relate to the information sciences in the following three Hegelian senses:
Informatics would become transdisciplinary, as would the information science, of which it would become a part. In this way, the interconnectedness, or integral relationships, between computer science, "Intellektik," "Telematicque," the cognitive sciences, and all other such related disciplines would finally become intelligible. |
