Worksheet 1 – Information infrastructures

Exercise overview

This worksheet will make extensive use of hands-on exercises to complement other instructional

materials. This process will be used to facilitate individual learning, encourage more focused group

discussion and minimize lecture time. While this course will contain elements of group discussion,

lecture and individual exploration, much of the learning in this worksheet will be achieved through

‘doing’ with hands-on skill development and topic exploration.

Our first exercise is intended to introduce us to the core concepts of

"Creating Information Infrastructures" hereafter referred to as CII. In this exercise we will explore

current applications of Information Infrastructure systems in everyday life, think about the utility of

these structures in different contexts, and try our hand at creating our own organization structures to

solve an information problem.

Suggested Readings1. Mitchell, E. (2015). Chapter 1 in Metadata Standards and Web Services in Libraries, Archives, and Museums.

Libraries Unlimited. Santa Barbara, CA.

2. Buckland, M. (1991). Information as Thing.  Journal of the American Society of Information Science 42:5 (June 1991): 351-360. http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/thing.html.

3. Kernighan, B. (2011). D is for Digital. Introduction, Chapter 1 (p 1-19)

4. IFLA/UNESCO Manifesto for Digital Libraries. (2012). http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/iflaunesco-manifesto-for-digital-libraries

5. Watch: What happens when you click a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keo0dglCj7I#t=47

Optional readings6. Borgman, Christine (2003) The Invisible Library: Paradox of the global information infrastructure. Library Trends, 51

(1), 652-674.http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/8487/librarytrendsv51i4j_opt.pdf

7. Daigle, B. J. (2012). The Digital Transformation of Special Collections. Journal Of Library Administration, 52(3/4), 244-264. doi:10.1080/01930826.2012.684504

8. Schmidt, E. and Cohen, J. (2013). The new digital age: Reshapring the future of people, nations and business. Introduction and Chapter 1. p 3-11

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 1

Erik Mitchell

Instructions:

Work individually or in groups to complete the worksheet. When you get to a section that requires

you to select a resource to explore – pick one resource (please don’t always choose the first one!).

When asked to ‘discuss as a group’, consider your response and continue completing the worksheet.

What is an "information infrastructure?"

The name for this course is based on the idea that the information profession includes a rich mix of

information resources (e.g. books, web pages, databases, images, audio files), information systems

(e.g. online catalogs, web indexing services, asset management systems), information management

techniques to obtain, store, provide access to and preserve information, information management

standards that work in concert with these systems and, of course, information communities who

benefit from these efforts through information discovery, use and creation activities.

For this reason the term "Information Infrastructure" refers to these building blocks, the resources,

lifecycles, standards and technologies and socio-political contexts of information and information

institutions. In week one we begin our exploration of information infrastructure by considering key

questions, 1) What is information, 2) What is the lifecycle of information, 3) What are the conceptual

and technical building blocks of information technology and 4) What influence do social and political

environments have on information and information infrastructures?

1. What is information?

While seemingly a simple concept, defining ‘information’ can be somewhat difficult. In this portion of

the exercise we explore the various definitions of information and think about what connections and

gaps these definitions contain.

Question 1. To get started, brainstorm some examples of information:

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 2

Erik Mitchell

Question 2. Search online for a definition of ‘information.’ Choose the best definition you find and

record it (be sure to cite the source!).

Question 3. Why did you prefer this definition over the others that you found?

Lets take a few minutes to read an article by Michael Buckland on the definition of information. Go to:

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/thing.html and read/skim up to “REVERSE APPROACH:

WHAT IS INFORMATIVE?”

Question 4. Now that we have this framework in mind (thing, process, knowledge) lets return to the

examples of information we identified earlier and organize them into these three areas:

Information as Process Information as Knowledge Information as Thing

2. What is the lifecycle of information?

The metaphor of the lifecycle is a popular in library and information science. There are information

lifecycles, curation lifecycles, even information seeking lifecycles. The lifecycle model fits our concept

of information in part because of our connection to Buckland’s types of information (as-thing, as-

process, as-knowledge). Lifecycle models describe the movement of information through a process

(as-thing), emphasize the need to support dissemination/use (as-process) and result in the creation of

new information about what next steps to take with the information objects (as-knowledge). Briefly

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 3

Erik Mitchell

review the two following lifecycle models from the DCC (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/curation-

lifecycle-model) and Canadian archives (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/).

Table 1: DCC digital curation lifecycle and Canadian Archives records management lifecycle

Key Questions

Question 5. Where in these models are Buckland’s three types of information discussed?

Question 6. These two models describe different processes (Figure 1 describes a curation process

while figure 2 describes an information management process. How do these different foci

influence the model’s view of information organization?

While each of these models treats information organization activities as part of much larger system,

the actual processes of organization, description and metadata creation have their own processes

and cycles. One of the main goals of this worksheet is to explore these processes in more detail and

to create our own lifecycle models to help explain the role that information organization plays across

all phases of an information object’s lifecycle.

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 4

Erik Mitchell

3. How do we manage information?

Now that we have a grounding of what information is, lets spend a few minutes exploring ways in

which we organize it. For this portion of the exercise we are going to explore three different types of

organization: representation, surrogation, and classification. For simplicity’s sake here are a few

definitions:

Representation: The creation of an information-as-thing (e.g. a piece of information or information

object) that describes, serves as a pointer to, or includes essential metadata (e.g. data about data,

structured data that contextualizes an information object) about another information object. The

representation of information objects typically involves a cataloging model (e.g. Resource Description

and Access (RDA), Dublin Core Abstract Model (DCAM)), a metadata schema (e.g. Dublin core (DC),

Visual Resource Access Core (VRACore)) a data representation model (e.g. Comma Separated

Values (CSV), Resource Description Framework (RDF), MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC)) and

an encoding method (e.g. eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Hypertext Markup Language

(HTML), or MARC21).

A cataloging model is the process we use to describe an information resource. We represent the

information we extract from that resource using a representation schema and create the cataloging

record in data representation model stored using an encoding method.

Surrogation: The process of creating an information object that serves as a sub-part or stand-in for

another object. Examples of information surrogates include abstracts, video/audio clips and

synopses. Surrogates tend to address the ‘aboutness’ of a thing using some type of a summary.

Classification: “A classification is the separation or ordering of objects (or specimens) into classes.

Classifications that are created non-empirically are called a priori classifications. Classifications that

are created empirically by looking at the data are called a posteriori classifications” – ee.oulu.fi

Classification methods vary but can typically be grouped into three types: Enumerative, Analytico-

synthetic, and faceted.

Enumerative: Enumerative schemes tend to incorporate all options into a top-down structure.

For example,

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 5

Erik Mitchell

Foods

Breakfast foods

Scones, etc.

Dinner Foods

Rolls, etc.

Enumerative schemes can be hierarchical and are typically intended to include the breadth of

concepts on a topic. Hierarchical schemes funnel classification schemes from broad to narrow concepts (e.g. Food >> Breakfast >> Scones), feature concept inheritance (e.g. a

Scone is a type of breakfast food), and mutual exclusivity (e.g. a Scone is a Breakfast food

and not a Dinner food). Enumerative schemes are designed to be complete in that the

cataloger assigning them does not have to perform any scheme construction during

application.

Analytico-synthetic: In Analytico-synthetic schemes different elements of a resource are

classified and then are grouped together to form a specific classification. Analytico-synthetic

schemes are largely hierarchical but may also support ‘add-on’ concepts that are portable

across the hierarchy. These include temporal, geographic and format refining concepts. For

example, a book published on cooking in the American south could be classified as “Cooking –

US South”. This example combines a subject classification with a geographic classification.

The Library of Congress Classification is considered to be Analytico-Synthetic because they

allow the cataloger to add refining concepts onto a classification for additional specificity.

Unlike Enumerative scheme, Analytico-synthetic schemes are designed so that the cataloger

can choose to apply refining concepts during application.

Faceted: Faceted classification schemes take a similar approach to Analytico-synthetic

schemes but do not attempt to unify the classification into a single descriptive element.

Because of this faceted schemes are often not hierarchical in nature. In contrast, the

classification is a construction of different elements (e.g. format, publication time period, topic).

In this example, the book on cooking in the deep south could be organized by different

criteria/facets such as:

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 6

Erik Mitchell

Topic = Cooking

Geographic region = US South,

Published Date = 2011.

Faceted classifications are designed to be constructed by the cataloger at the time of application to

an information resource. Faceted classifications, like enumerative and analytico-synthetic make the

use of defined vocabularies and symbolic systems to both find an appropriate slot for the resource in

the classification and create a classification number that helps with storage and retrieval.

Authority Control: The process of classification inevitably involves the 1) the creation of

classification structures such as thesauri, taxonomies and subject heading lists, 2) the use of

authority control to produce normalized and disambiguated entries (e.g. Twain, Mark, 1835 – 1910)

and 3) the creation of syndetic structures (e.g. see, see also, used for, broader term, narrower term)

to connect entries in the classification structure.

Briefly explore the two resources listed below and try to identify elements of representation,

classification and surrogation.

Site: http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2420327

Representation: What elements of the item are used to represent it?

Classification: Does the item have a classification? Is the scheme Enumerative, Analytico-

synthetic, or Faceted?

Surrogation: What information surrogates are included for the item?

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 7

Erik Mitchell

Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_Data

Representation: What elements of the item are used to represent it?

Classification: Does the item have a classification? Is the scheme Enumerative, Analytico-

synthetic, or Faceted?

Surrogation: What information surrogates are included for the item?

Key Questions:

Question 7. What are some similarities and differences between these two sites?

Question 8. How did each of the three sites differ with regards to their approach to representation,

classification and surrogation of the book/webpage/newspaper article? How were they the same?

Building blocks of information technology: CPUs, RAM, Motherboards

In Chapter 1 of D is for Digital Kernighan discusses the physical components that make up a

computer.

Question 9. Using chapter 1 as your guide, draw a line between the device/concept and the correct

definition

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 8

Erik Mitchell

Device Definition

1. Hard drive 1. Primary memory and holds information while

programs are operating. Memory does not persist

when computer is turned off

2. RAM 2. A piece of computing hardware that other devices

physically connect to. This device may have

components permanently connected to it

3. Motherboard 3. Input and output devices designed for human

interaction

4. CPU 4. Serves as secondary storage and features persistent

memory when the computer is turned off

5. Bus 5. The central processing unit where instructions are

processed. Rated in Gigahertz

6. Keyboard, Mouse, Display

6. A central "pipeline" that connects computer

components together and enables communication

Question 10. Moore's law says that ________ basically doubles every 18 months or two

years?

4. A case study: Information and society

We began our exercise by asking the question "what is information" and continued it by exploring

some of the conceptual areas behind information management including "representation,"

"surrogation," and "classification." We briefly considered the technical building blocks of computers

and revisited Moore's law. We will revisit these topics in the coming weeks. For now, let us turn our

attention to the introductory chapters by Kernighan. Each of these chapters give a slightly different

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 9

Erik Mitchell

view of the current landscape of "information infrastructure" and cover everything from technology

design to social and political outcomes.

Question 11. Revisit pages 4-5 of Kernighan's work and study the four concepts that he lists as

being the world of information technology. Briefly list and define Kernighan's four concepts.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Question 12. Kernighan mentions the "Arab Spring" as an example of a socio-political event

that was influenced by information technology systems. Can you think of another social or

political event that has occurred recently that was influenced by technology? What impact did

technology have? Was the impact positive or negative?

Summary notes

These four building blocks each contain entire fields of research and practice and connect to

technical, personal, social and political outcomes. As Kernighan and observes, the confluence of

social media (e.g. Twitter) and mobile technology (e.g. smart phones and cell phones) played a role

in the "Arab Spring" activities. Information institutions exist at the boundary of these rapidly changing

technologies and socio-political structures. They are part of the information creation, dissemination,

use and preservation of information and sometimes work to support emerging socio-political

networks. Libraries have a long tenure in this process, having stewarded information resources for

thousands of years.

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 10

Erik Mitchell

In this worksheet we began exploring information infrastructures by asking "What is information?"

While seemingly a simple question, as you progress through your coursework you will find that

defining ‘information’ is like defining love – It is hard to define but you know it when you see it. In

considering the lifecycle and organizational processes associated with information resources as well

as the technologies that support and influence these resources we identified four building blocks of

information infrastructures that we will use to guide our exploration. These four building blocks are an

information resource moving through an information lifecycle, with information organization standards and technologies supporting it in a social and political context. These four building

blocks (resource, lifecycle, standards and technologies, socio-political context) are a lens through

which we will explore the world of information science including information institutions, information

communities and information behaviors.

Because we are pursuing a Masters in Library and Information Studies, it is likely that many of us

intend to enter a career in libraries, archives, schools or museums (LASM). Each of these institutions

may naturally focus on different resource types, different information resource lifecycles, different

information organization standards and information technologies and serve distinct information

communities. At the same time these institutions have common educational and outreach goals and

are collectively grappling with the shift to digital that our readings for the week pointed out.

Metadata Standards and Web Services Page 11

Erik Mitchell