A semester has ended and I have been loaded with essays and articles on the basics of information systems.
What is information systems? One major purpose for the massive amount of reading materials was to train us to read for themes (as opposed to semantics). A thematic reading demands an understanding of form and also content/subject matter.
I hope to go back on all the readings for the purpose of differentiating as well as comparing the various ways in which a specific topic/subject matter can be explored. For example, I’d like to go back and see how the different authors understand “information,” “technology,” or “systems.”
One of the viewpoints that I find very interesting is Horst Rittel’s view of information systems. He has a lot to say about planning systems and planning information systems. I believe it’s one form of what others call the “social technical” (social technology) and his is a system that is filled with politics. In the vein of C.W. Churchman, it is a human information system that is composed of people and the fundamental elements are the values and worldviews of human beings.
I just read an article by a Libby Liu from the Huffington Post: “What are they hearing in North Korea These Days?” What kinds of information are the citizens getting and NOT getting? It’s interesting to think of the various types of information embied in various forms. There are communication channels that are controlled such as the internet and telephones. People are finding ways to work around the system by picking up telephone signals from China as well as radio stations from South Korea to learn about what’s going on in their own country. There are also artifacts such as “Radios, issued by the state, have their dials fixed only to the regime’s broadcasts.” Even in this very common device, there is a summary of society’s politics, control, and oppression. It’s quite different from only having a few stations to listen to (in various rural areas I presume) because of the limitations in transmission service not the functionality of the device itself. There are also the interactions within the society for propogating information. Liu writes, “Through our contacts inside North Korea, we know listeners sometimes gather and listen together, and then spread information by word of mouth among friends and family.” This is a very powerful form of communication. As these intimate interactions are put together, they form an organized group of people who are building towards some kind of critical mass (article states 1 out of 24 million shortwave listeners). A North Korean defector says, “Relationships forged listening to broadcasts together are almost equal to [a] secret society that is simply not organized yet.” This is one form of an information system. Perhaps a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating, and learning from itself … or should I say, themselves.
