Information ecology
Encyclopedia
In the context of an evolving information society
, the term information ecology marks a connection between ecological
ideas with the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment and has been gaining progressively wider acceptance in a growing number of disciplines. "Information ecology" often is used as metaphor
, viewing the informational space as an ecosystem
.
Information ecology also makes a connection to the concept of collective intelligence
and Knowledge ecology .
, species
, evolution
, ecosystem
, niche
, growth, equilibrium, etc. - to describe and analyze information systems
from a perspective that considers the distribution and abundance of organism
s, their relationships with each other, and how they influence and are influenced by their environment
. The virtual lack of boundaries between information systems and the impact of information technology on economic, social and environmental activities frequently calls on an information ecologist to consider local information ecosystems in the context of larger systems, and of the evolution of global information ecosystems. See also list of ecology topics.
, a book published in 2006 and available under a Creative Commons
license on its own wikispace, Yochai Benkler
provides an analytic framework for the emergence of the networked information economy that draws deeply on the language and perspectives of information ecology together with observations and analyses of high-visibility examples of successful peer production
processes, citing Wikipedia as a prime example.
Bonnie Nardi
in one of her book "Information Ecology" indicates for instance librarians as keystone species in information ecologies.
NYU Law School Conference Towards a Free Information Ecology and a lecture series on Information ecology at Duke University Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
.
has seen significant adoption of the term and librarians have been described by Bonnie Nardi
as a "keystone species in information ecology", and references to information ecology range as far afield as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service of the Library of Congress, to children's library database administrator in Russia.
Information society
The aim of the information society is to gain competitive advantage internationally through using IT in a creative and productive way. An information society is a society in which the creation, distribution, diffusion, use, integration and manipulation of information is a significant economic,...
, the term information ecology marks a connection between ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
ideas with the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment and has been gaining progressively wider acceptance in a growing number of disciplines. "Information ecology" often is used as metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
, viewing the informational space as an ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
.
Information ecology also makes a connection to the concept of collective intelligence
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
and Knowledge ecology .
Language of ecology
Information ecology draws on the language of ecology - habitatHabitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
, species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
, niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
, growth, equilibrium, etc. - to describe and analyze information systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
from a perspective that considers the distribution and abundance of organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
s, their relationships with each other, and how they influence and are influenced by their environment
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
. The virtual lack of boundaries between information systems and the impact of information technology on economic, social and environmental activities frequently calls on an information ecologist to consider local information ecosystems in the context of larger systems, and of the evolution of global information ecosystems. See also list of ecology topics.
Networked information economy
In The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and FreedomThe Wealth of Networks
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom is a book by law professor Yochai Benkler published by Yale University Press on April 3, 2006....
, a book published in 2006 and available under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license on its own wikispace, Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...
provides an analytic framework for the emergence of the networked information economy that draws deeply on the language and perspectives of information ecology together with observations and analyses of high-visibility examples of successful peer production
Peer production
Peer production is a way of producing goods and services that relies on self-organizing communities of individuals who come together to produce a shared outcome. The production of content by the general public rather than by paid professionals and experts in the field...
processes, citing Wikipedia as a prime example.
Bonnie Nardi
Bonnie Nardi
Bonnie Nardi is an anthropologist who most recent work concerns virtual worlds. Her book My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft was published by the University of Michigan Press . She is co-author Bonnie Nardi is an anthropologist who most recent work...
in one of her book "Information Ecology" indicates for instance librarians as keystone species in information ecologies.
Knowledge management and computer science
Information ecology was used as book title by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak , with a focus on the organization dimensions of information ecology. There was also an academic research project at DSTC called Information ecology, concerned with distributed information systems and online communities.Law
Law schools represent another area where the phrase is gaining increasing acceptance, e.g.NYU Law School Conference Towards a Free Information Ecology and a lecture series on Information ecology at Duke University Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Center for the Study of the Public Domain
The Center for the Study of the Public Domain, based at Duke Law School, aims to redress the balance of academic study of intellectual property. In their analysis, academic focus has been too great on the incentives created by these rights, rather than the contribution to creativity from...
.
Library science
The field of library scienceLibrary science
Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...
has seen significant adoption of the term and librarians have been described by Bonnie Nardi
Bonnie Nardi
Bonnie Nardi is an anthropologist who most recent work concerns virtual worlds. Her book My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft was published by the University of Michigan Press . She is co-author Bonnie Nardi is an anthropologist who most recent work...
as a "keystone species in information ecology", and references to information ecology range as far afield as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service of the Library of Congress, to children's library database administrator in Russia.
Biology
There has also been increasing use of "information ecology" as a concept among ecologists involved in digital mapping of botanical resources, including research by Zhang Xinshi at the Institute of Botany of the China Academy of Science; also see a presentation to the Information Ecology SIG at Yale University's Forestry School.See also
- Collective intelligenceCollective intelligenceCollective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
- Crowd psychologyCrowd psychologyCrowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also...
- Diffusion of innovationsDiffusion of innovationsDiffusion of Innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology, popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations...
- Digital ecosystemDigital ecosystemA digital ecosystem is a distributed adaptive open socio-technical system with properties of self-organisation, scalability and sustainability. As an emerging field of study, "digital ecosystems" is informed by knowledge of natural ecosystems and is still being defined...
- EmergenceEmergenceIn philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
- Knowledge ecosystemKnowledge ecosystemThe idea of a knowledge ecosystem is an approach to knowledge management which claims to foster the dynamic evolution of knowledge interactions between entities to improve decision-making and innovation through improved evolutionary networks of collaboration....
- Knowledge managementKnowledge managementKnowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
- Knowledge tagging
- Media ecologyMedia ecologyMedia ecology is a contested term within media studies having different meanings within European and North American contexts. The North American definition refers to aninterdisciplinary field of media theory and media design involving the study of "symbolic environment, or the socially constructed,...
- NoosphereNoosphereNoosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
- Sociology of knowledgeSociology of knowledgeThe Sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought and the social context within which it arises, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies...
- Territoriality (nonverbal communication)Territoriality (nonverbal communication)Territoriality is a term associated with nonverbal communication that refers to how people use space to communicate ownership/occupancy of areas and possessions . The anthropological concept branches from the observations of animal ownership behaviors...