The interdisciplinary study of information

Jenna Hartel, Steve Fuller, Rick Szostak, Laurie Bonnici
2012 Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology  
OVERVIEW To mark the 75th anniversary of ASIS&T this panel addresses the nature and recent history of the field of information science. It uses as a springboard The Study of Information: Interdisciplinary Messages, a collection of writings edited by economist Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield (1983). More than a quarter of a century ago, The Study of Information (for short) presented the mandates of nine research specialties centered on information, namely: cognitive science, informatics,
more » ... al intelligence, linguistics, library and information science, cybernetics, information theory, and systems theory. By illuminating the concerns, similarities, and differences of these related domains the book established one of the first and most lucid geographies of information as an interdisciplinary academic enterprise. In its day, reviewers described The Study of Information as "a quite remarkable overview" (Hayes, 1985) , "an extraordinary volume" (Barnes, 1985) , and "an historically significant book" (Harmon, 1987) .
doi:10.1002/meet.14504901025 fatcat:3slcnjxdbvejlgwgnc3uxu2zg4