This course will consist of the study of certain core issues in the theory
of information science, together with a selection from among topics that
are more exploratory or research-oriented.
The core will consist of theories of information and the transmission of
information. These will include signal information, information as
knowledge, semantic information, other ideas on information, information in
thermodynamics, information and probability, signal transmission, database...
More exploratory material might consider some of the following questions:
Why is information of interest and value to us? How does information
relate to problem solving? How does information help in decision making?
What is relevant information? How is information to be valued? What are the
properties of information depicted in diagrams, as opposed to in text? How
is information transferred across different media?
The course presupposes no specific prior knowledge or skills on the part of
intending students, and academically it will be of an intermediate level of
difficulty.
REQUIREMENTS AND SUBMISSION OF WORK
The course requirements are a) a coursework requirement, b) a participation
requirement, and c) a final examination.
The coursework requirement will be two individual papers due about Lecture
10 and due about Lecture 20, on topics to be announced in class. (The
assumption here is that the course will consist of 28 Lectures (or
thereabouts) that will be delivered at a rate of two lectures a week, with
the distance students receiving the video tapes about a week after the
lectures are given.)
The participation requirement is that students contribute to the email
discussions that are hosted by the course's listserver.
The final examination will be a take-home exam of three hours duration. The
final examination will be made available about Lecture 25 (near April 23rd)
and emailed scripts should be returned by May 10th (early submissions most
welcome).
Work should be submitted by email to UALIBSCI@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU.
GRADING
I use the following scales:
Internal Internal For Graduate School
90-100 A+ A
85-89 A A
80-84 A- A
75-79 B+ B
70-74 B B
65-69 B- B
below 64 C C
Thus, for example, a mark of Internal: 82 A- External: A on a piece of work
would be seen by outsiders as an A; however, the A- will convey to you that
the work can be improved.
The coursework will count for 40% of the final grade, the participation 20%
of the grade, and the final exam for 40% of the grade.
Academic Code of Integrity
Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of
Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a
student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any
questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask
an instructor.
Contacting me, the group, and the GATs.
Please raise queries in class, or by email to Fricke@ccit.arizona.edu, or
in Room 16 during Office Hours (T,Th 10-2).
There is a listserver for this class. To join this, send a message
"subscribe LIS614" to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU. Then messages to the
entire LIS614 group are sent to the address LIS614@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU.
There are two GATs (both wonderful folk). Amy Kirchoff, who is
AJK@ARUBA.CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU, and Ken Avery , who is KCA@U.ARIZONA.EDU.
LIS 614: Information Theory & Transfer
OUTLINE
Recommended text:
Pierce John R. [1980]. An Introduction to Information Theory, New York:
Dover, 1980.
Contents of mini-coursepack:
Belkin, N.J. [1978]. 'Information Concepts for Information Science'.
Journal of Documentation, 34, 55-85. Brookes, B.C.[1980]. 'Foundations of information science. Part 1.
Philosophical aspects'. Journal of Information Science, 2, 125-133. Brookes, B.C.[1981]. 'The foundations of information science.Part IV.
Information science: the changing paradigm'. Journal of Information
Science, 3, 3-12. Bush, Vannevar. [1945]. 'As we may think'. in Kochen Manfred. The Growth of Science, 3, 3-12. Bush, Vannevar. [1945]. 'As we may think'. in Kochen Manfred. The Growth of Knowledge: Readings on Organization and Retrieval of Information. New
York, NY: Wiley (Reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly, 176(1), July
1945, pp. 101-108);1967:209-15. Hayek, Friedrich A.[1945], 'The Use of Knowledge in Society', reprinted in
Hayek,Friedrich A.[1948], Individualism and Economic Order,
London:Routledge, 1948 Larkin, Jill H., and Simon, Herbert A.[1987], 'Why a Diagram is (Sometimes)
Worth Ten Thousand Words', Cognitive Science, 11, 65-99 Mill John Stuart, 1806-1873.[1956!], On Liberty Chapter II, `Of the
Liberty of Thought and Discussion', Indianapolis,
Bobbs-Merrill,1956. Miller George A. [1956], 'The magical number seven plus or minus two: Some
limits on our capacity for processing information', Psychological
Review, 63, 81-97, 1956
Lecture 1
Introduction to Information Science: Some Useful Concepts
Truth, belief, knowledge, fallibility, personal knowledge and impersonal
knowledge
Any undergraduate philosophy textbook might be of value here eg
Hospers John [1988], An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis, 3rd ed.,
Chap 1.
also, pretty well any of the writings of K.R.Popper, eg Conjectural
Knowledge, and Mill 'Of the liberty of thought and discussion' in the
mini-coursepack.
Lecture 2-3
Introduction to Information Science: Continued
Bush, Vannevar. [1945]. 'As we may think'. In coursepack.
Brookes, B.C.[1980] and Brookes, B.C.[1981]. In coursepack.
SECTION A : Theories of information and the transmission of information.
Lecture 4-6
Introduction to theories of information
Belkin, N.J. [1978] In coursepack.
Miller George A. [1956] In coursepack
Lecture 7
Signalling
Pierce John R. [1980]
Lecture 8
Signalling:Ergodic sources and Huffman coding
Pierce John R. [1980]
Lecture 9
Signalling:Equivocation and Noise
Pierce John R. [1980]
Lecture 10
Signalling: Its Relations to Causality, Determinism, and
Indeterminism
Lecture 11
Information as Knowledge
Brookes, B.C.[1980]. In coursepack.
Lecture 12
Semantic Information
Lecture 13
Classical Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics, Entropy and
Maxwell's Demon
Lecture 14
Information and orderliness. Is Information Negentropy?
Lecture 15
The Nature of Probability: Probability , Uncertainty, and
Information
Lecture 16
Information as Reduction in Uncertainty
Lecture 17
Cognitive Accounts of Information
Lecture 18
The Nature of Information: A Review
SECTION B : Rudiments of an Information System.
Lecture 19
Coding information,Types. Abstract data types. Records, Files,
Sorting and Searching
Lecture 20
Database
Lecture 21
Communication and Compression
SECTION C : The Use and Value of Information
Lecture 22
Why is Information of Interest to Us?
Lecture 23
Game Theory and Decision Theory
Lecture 24
The Value of Information
Hayek, Friedrich A.[1945], in coursepack
Section D : Some More Adventurous Issues
Lecture 25
Information Across Heterogeneous Media
Larkin, Jill H., and Simon, Herbert A.[1987], In coursepack
Lecture 26
The fallibility of knowledge and its consequences
Mill John Stuart, 1806-1873.[1956!]. In coursepack.