Buckland Review
Abstract
Information is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of sources. In “Information as Thing”, Buckland attempts to define information by breaking it down into information-as-process, information-as-knowledge, and information-as-thing. As he went on into tangibility versus intangibility, I saw a mere glimpse of the complexity behind it all but what really got me thinking was the discussion of what is usually thought of to be informative. The field of information sciences restricts information to consist strictly of data, documents and text, when in reality, like Buckland said, objects and events quite possibly could provide more information. Luckily, there are changes being made in order to see that artifacts and objects can be seen as documents. Another viewpoint introduced was the fact that anything could have the capacity to be informational, as long as someone wanted it to be. Furthermore, not all things seen as informative are going to be utilized. Buckland has opened my eyes to a new world where information is not just a term that is uncomplicated but is elaborate.
An Uncommon Approach Information is a broad but loaded term. With that said, it is awfully hard to pinpoint its exact meaning. Many uncommon but noteworthy viewpoints were discussed in Michael Buckland’s “Information as Thing”. This enlightening article presents a refreshing new twist on the way the word “information” is defined. For me, personally, information has always been a term that has been incredibly simple and straightforward. It was something self explanatory—no further explanation required. Because Buckland’s perspective is so drastically different to what I’m familiar with, I had to read this piece several times before I could even begin to comprehend it. Before I could even grasp all the material covered in this article, I knew I was in for a bumpy ride. It quickly became clear to me that information was exceedingly more complicated than I perceived
Information is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of sources. In “Information as Thing”, Buckland attempts to define information by breaking it down into information-as-process, information-as-knowledge, and information-as-thing. As he went on into tangibility versus intangibility, I saw a mere glimpse of the complexity behind it all but what really got me thinking was the discussion of what is usually thought of to be informative. The field of information sciences restricts information to consist strictly of data, documents and text, when in reality, like Buckland said, objects and events quite possibly could provide more information. Luckily, there are changes being made in order to see that artifacts and objects can be seen as documents. Another viewpoint introduced was the fact that anything could have the capacity to be informational, as long as someone wanted it to be. Furthermore, not all things seen as informative are going to be utilized. Buckland has opened my eyes to a new world where information is not just a term that is uncomplicated but is elaborate.
An Uncommon Approach Information is a broad but loaded term. With that said, it is awfully hard to pinpoint its exact meaning. Many uncommon but noteworthy viewpoints were discussed in Michael Buckland’s “Information as Thing”. This enlightening article presents a refreshing new twist on the way the word “information” is defined. For me, personally, information has always been a term that has been incredibly simple and straightforward. It was something self explanatory—no further explanation required. Because Buckland’s perspective is so drastically different to what I’m familiar with, I had to read this piece several times before I could even begin to comprehend it. Before I could even grasp all the material covered in this article, I knew I was in for a bumpy ride. It quickly became clear to me that information was exceedingly more complicated than I perceived
References: Buckland, M. (1991). Information as Thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 351-360.