Informing Science Volume One: Concepts and Systems: Volume 1

T. Grandon Gill

jan. 2016 · Informing Science

Om den här e-boken

The two volume Informing Science series is the first attempt
to survey and synthesize research in the informing science
transdiscipline. Part textbook, part collection of readings, the
two volumes present both important research findings relating
to the field and highlight fertile directions for future research.
Volume One: Concepts and Systems focuses on the key
building blocks of informing science. It begins with an
overview of the transdiscipline, tracing its evolution from
Cohen’s original proposal to its present state. Next, it
considers a series of concepts that frequently elude attempts
at rigorous definition. Among these: theory, research,
information, knowledge and complexity. With working
definitions established, it goes on to explore basic systems
theory, introducing the concept of an informing system. The
key elements of such systems—the channel, the
sender/informer, and the receiver/client—are then examined
individually. The volume concludes with two overview
chapters. The first of these looks at the analysis of a basic
informing system, in which a single informer interacts directly
with a clearly specified client or set of clients. The last chapter
extends these ideas to the more complex topologies (e.g.,
multiple channels, multiple informers, multiple clients, layers
of informing) that are more typical in real world informing
contexts.

Om författaren

Grandon Gill is a professor of Information Systems and Decision
Sciences at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of
Business and also serves as Academic Director of the Doctor of
Business Administration degree program. He has served as
Editor-in-Chief of Informing Science: The International Journal of
an Emerging Transdiscipline since 2009, and is both a Governor
and a Fellow of the Informing Science Institute. In 2014, he
became the inaugural recipient of the Zbigniew Gackowski Award,
given for lifetime contribution to informing science research.