The impact of cybernetics on information science occurs chiefly through the concepts of variety, the law of requisite variety, and theory of transformations. Through these it pervades every aspect of information science. However, other basic sciences such as physics, biology, psychology are in their spheres equally pervasive, and information…

Search for an integrated, comprehensive theory of information science (IS) has so far been unsuccessful. Appearance of a theory has been retarded by one central constraint, the large number of disciplines concerned with human communication. Crossdisciplinary interdependence occurs in two ways: theoretical relation of IS phenomena to a given…

The literature of knowledge is a very large system in the cybernetic sense of intractibility to control. Improving access to it needs some simplifying theory. A step in this direction is a hypothesis constructed from basic concepts. These include cybernetic concepts of variety and requisite variety; a version of the mathematical concept of…

The purpose of this work is to help build and bridge between total overviews of the fields of information science and empirical research. This is done by building a model for linking multidisciplinary approaches into a relevant and effective whole, and for deriving testable propositions from this new framework. (63 references) (Author/KE)

Identifies information specialists who employ systems methodology and discusses the modern systems movement, its role in the changing world view of science, disciplines (cybernetics and operations research) that have contributed to its development, and distinctions between General Systems Theory and other approaches to the study of systems.…

A general theory and taxonomy of human communication is discussed within which the information handling propensities of the special librarian can be evaluated for relevance to the axioms of library and information science. (Author)

A 100-year scenario of the future of information technology. To achieve inexpensive, high-speed, and small computers, new techniques are likely to replace silicon technology. The ultimate computer might be biological and patterned on DNA. Future computers will require information rather than store it. Light wave communication will broaden…

THIS REPORT PROVIDES AN ASSESSMENT AND INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY LITERATURE OF THREE APSECTS OF INFORMATION SCIENCE, IN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FORM. THESE ARE--COMMUNICATION NETWORKS, HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSES (PRINCIPALLY LANGUAGE AND INFORMATION RETRIEVAL), AND THE LARGE CYBERNETIC SYSTEMS SUCH AS THE HUMAN BRAIN AND CENTRAL…

This study of the computer/user interface investigated the role of the computer in performing information tasks that users now perform without computer assistance. Users' perceptual/cognitive processes are to be accelerated or augmented by the computer; a long term goal is to delegate information tasks entirely to the computer. Cybernetic and…

Processing complex multivariate information effectively when relational properties of information sub-groups are ambiguous is difficult for man and man-machine systems. However, the information processing task is made easier through code study, cybernetic planning, and accurate display mechanisms. An exploratory laboratory study designed for the…

Three papers are presented which delineate the foundation of theory and principles which underlie the research and instructional approach to communications at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Pittsburgh. Cybernetic principles provide the integration, and validation is based in part on a situation-producing…

This preliminary work in human communication for librarians is designed to help the library profession address itself to significant communication problems. As they relate to the library and information sciences, the three major areas of communication science covered are: (1) History and theory of communication and culture, organization and…

A more unified approach to communication theory can evolve through systems modeling of information theory, communication modes, and mass media operations. Such systematic analysis proposes, as is the case care here, that information models be based upon combinations of energy changes and exchanges and changes in receiver systems. The mass media is…

A series of essays discuss in a semi-technical way the philosophical, theoretical, and applied aspects of cybernetics and bionics. Of particular interest to educators is the author's discussion of the implications of cybernetics for pedagogical methodology. He predicts that education in the future will concentrate on a teaching systems approach,…