Introduction to information science
Information science is a new discipline gradually formed after the Second World War, and it is still developing and perfecting. So unlike some basic disciplines, it has a strict and unified definition of disciplines. For example, the Soviet Union was the first country in the world to put forward the concept of information science. The Soviet information scientist, represented by Professor α и mikhailov, said: "Information science is a discipline that studies the whole process of scientific information and its dissemination. It studies the composition and characteristics of scientific information and the regularity of the whole dissemination process. " At the end of 1960s, J. Yahoda, president of American Information Society, pointed out that "information science is a discipline that studies the characteristics and activities of information, the means of managing information process and the processing technology necessary to ensure the effective use of information". German intelligence experts call information science information philology, and regard it as a subject to study the generation, development law and working methods of information and literature. The definition of information science by UNISIST experts is: "Information science is a science that studies the nature and characteristics of information, the factors that affect information circulation, and the processing technologies and methods for effectively searching and utilizing information. It is a new interdisciplinary subject. "
Since 1950s, especially since 1978, Chinese scientific information workers have made a step-by-step and in-depth study of information science, believing that information science has become an independent discipline in the world. Although there is no strict and unified expression of its definition, they all include the following * * * similarities:
The research object of information science is scientific information.
(2) Information science studies the characteristics and laws of the generation, connotation, representation, dissemination and circulation of scientific information, as well as the technologies and means of effective processing, dissemination and utilization of scientific information.
③ Information science is a new interdisciplinary subject.
With the evolution of human society to the information society, the social importance of information science is increasing day by day, and its functions and research results are considered as one of the powerful pillars of the information society. Information scientists sum up the social importance of information science as follows: it enables people to effectively spread accumulated knowledge; Constantly make people absorb and apply new knowledge in time to prevent the information knowledge itself from aging; Through the storage and retrieval of information, arouse people's memory of knowledge; Through the effective use of information knowledge, it will strongly promote the progress of human society, economy, culture and science and technology.
Research methods of information science
Methods for Social Investigation
Through field investigation, collect data and analyze social phenomena. This method can be divided into two categories: direct method and indirect method. The former is mainly based on field observation, while the latter is divided into interview survey and questionnaire survey.
Bibliometric statistical methods
In the form of records, all aspects of communication are measured and counted, such as the number of papers in a certain country and discipline, the annual growth rate and utilization, and the types and quantities of references attached to the literature. Find out the change law, establish the corresponding mathematical model, grasp the past and present change context from qualitative and quantitative analysis, and then predict the possible changes in the future.
Mathematical analysis method
Many branches of modern mathematics should be used in the research of information science, such as information retrieval theory, information transmission mechanism and the determination of information collection scheme. Probability theory, * * * theory, fuzzy mathematics, differential equations and operational research all have applications, and even number theory, graph theory, functional analysis and variational methods can be applied.
System analysis and evaluation method
By introducing system theory and other methods, we can analyze, evaluate, plan and design all aspects and the whole information system. For example, the workload and processing time of intelligence agencies, the time lag of reporting and retrieving publications, the evaluation of collecting documents, the testing of intelligence products, the evaluation of information services, and the analysis, testing and evaluation of indexing methods and retrieval systems. Because there are many research methods of system theory, for a specific research object, we need to compare different methods and choose the best one to get the best result.
Historical research methods
Generally, the study of history begins with identifying a historical problem, collecting relevant historical materials and forming hypotheses. Then further strictly collect and sort out historical materials, carefully research and analyze them, and draw a conclusion. This kind of research should strive to move from experience to science, although it is not easy to be accurate in this analysis. Historical research can help us understand how information science came into being, and urge us to understand the reason, time, place and way of past events. By analyzing the development process of information science, we can deepen our understanding of the significance and value of information science.
There are many research methods of information science, such as Delphi method, content analysis method, comparative analysis method, philosophical research method, etc. Recently, blank point analysis and cluster mapping have appeared.