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ICTs and political life 資訊科技與民主政治

布丁布丁吃布丁

ICTs and political life 資訊科技與民主政治

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Robbin, A., Courtright, C., & Davis, L. (2004). ICTs and political life. Annual review of information science and technology, 38(1), 410–482.


1. Introduction

  • 目標:協助讀者從ICTs與政治文化、機構與行為的研究中,辨識虛無與真實、粗略與更真實的假設。
  • 回顧範圍:1990s到2002年之間重要的英文研究
    • 撇開政治經濟面的議題
  • 文章架構:民主政治理論基礎(17p)→ICTs對政治影響的分類(7p)→回顧相關研究(25p)

2. Theory and Concepts

2-1-1. Theories of Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs)
  • 電子通訊技術:e-mail、virtual forums and communication 網路論壇、real-time online events 線上會議、Web sites、digital libraries、archives、databases,以及相關支援設施。
  • ICTs的特色:ICTs provide two-way channels for those who seek or receive information and also permit many-to-many communications. 提供一般大眾創造與傳播資訊的機會。
2-1-2. How ICTs Frame Political Life
  • Technological determinism (科技決定論):Bellamy & Taylor (1998)總結關於ICTs用在governance(統治)上的看法:
    • 樂觀:科技烏托邦論 optimistic (technological utopianism)
    • 悲觀:科技反烏托邦論 pessimistic (technological dystopianism)
  • Co-evolution 科技與社會共進化論:ICTs as socio-technical interaction networks, not tools or objects that can be analyzed separately from their users (Kling, 2000a, 2000b).
2-2. Normative Democratic Theory (What Ought to Be) and Concepts 正規的民主理論與概念

We can only comprehend how technology affects democracy when we understand the character and nature of democracy itself (Barber, 2001, p. 1)

當我們了解民主的本質的時候,我們才能理解科技怎樣影響民主。

Democracy 民主的定義非常混亂

  • a "starting point, the ideal of a political system" (Cardoso, 2001, p. 5).
  • Democracy's central virtues are participation (參與), citizenship (公民權利與義務), and political activity (政治活動) (Barber, 1984).

根據政府教科書的分類,民主可以分成substantive democracy跟procedural democracy兩種:

Substantive Democracy 意識上的民主
  1. Substantive democratic theory "focuses on the substance of government policies" (Janda, Berry, & Goldman, 1995, p. 37).
    • Principles of civil liberties 公民自由原則: guarantees of freedom of behavior
    • civil rights 公民權益: "powers or privileges that government may not arbitrarily deny to individuals"
  2. 意識型態的討論有所侷限: "political ideology of the theorist tends to explain what democracy really requires in substantive policies,"
    • assessments about the information "haves and have nots".
Procedural Democracy 程序上的民主
  1. the governance structures of procedural democracy that concern political processes.
  2. 理想的民主有以下四個原則:
    1. 參與審議:extensive participation in deliberations about government decision making by members of a political community,
    2. 政治平等:reasonable political equality,
    3. 遵守規則:general adherence to majority rule, and
    4. 選舉義務:accountability of elected public officials to the electorate

程序民主依照參與的方式不同,又可分成兩種類型:直接民主與代議民主

Participatory democracy 直接民主
  • 政治哲學家Jean Jacques Rousseau(盧梭): "general will of the people" 人民的普遍意志
  • 強勢民主 Strong democracy connects individuals as "competent and responsible" (擁有能力與責任的人民) citizens to their communities, individuals "who define their interests in terms of their communities" to "find an expression of self that encompasses both individuality and sociability" through "civic education and participation" (Barber, 1984, pp. xv-xvii).
  • 政治行為:
    • civic participation and engagement (全民參與), which Janda et al. (1995, p. 216) define as "actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or to support government and politics;" and
    • public deliberation (公開審議) to affect public policy "through [reasoned] debate, discussion and persuasion" as "a normative ideal and test for democratic legitimacy" (Bohman, 1996, pp. 2,3).
  • 限制:只能用在地方層級,無法用於國家等級。
    it was impractical for the large task of creating democracy at a national level and unrealistic in large, complex societies and with a "physically dispersed electorate" (Stromer-Galley, 2000a, p. 45)
Representative democracy 代議民主
  • “government by the people” 由一群人來管理眾人
    • 表現型態包括Pluralism (多位元首)與Corporatism (政府組織,或interest groups 黨派)
    • 少數菁英擁有較多資源與保護
  • 質疑:Privatization and reliance on the private for-profit and nonprofit sectors have fostered the new consumer paradigm of public management (Bellamy & Taylor, 1998; Fountain, 2001a, 2001b) and reduced accountability to the citizenry.
  • 大多數民眾並沒有參與政治的意願與能力:Large numbers of people do not participate in the political process or civic life; civic engagement and trust have declined; and most people lack the necessary political skills and resources, such as time and money, are not well informed about political issues, and have low levels of interest in politics.
  • crisis of democracy (民主的危機):民主理論與實務運作上的差距。開發中的國家特別明顯。

為了避免民主的危機,西方社會倡導civil society公民社會來對抗代議民主

Civil Society 公民社會
  • 政府與民眾之間的關係:Civil society is the realm of "organized social life" of "citizens acting collectively in the public sphere" that mediates the relations between the state (government) and the private sphere (individuals, family life, market) (Diamond, 1994, p. 5).
    • 延伸成為governance(統治)的概念,作為國家決策的民主型態、政策與經濟交流的系統(如EU歐盟)
  • A reinvigorated civil society公民社會的復甦:倡導公民參與的政治社群、反對政治。這些概念傾向於支持ICTs。
  • 公民社會的概念:Encarnacibn (2002, pp. 120-121) 概述三種方式
    • 對抗高壓政權的口號:as a "slogan" to mobilize against oppressive regimes;
    • 描述社會現象的名詞:a "quasi-scientific term to describe and explain certain social phenomena or social organization at the macro-level”; and
    • 上述兩種用法的準則:a normative or prescriptive ideal of an ethical order, which fuses the first two uses.
  • 問題:
    • 西方社會與非西方社會基於不同的政治型態、歷史等情境
    • 希望有純志願者、非政府、非利益團體參與,但通常都會牽扯政治立場
    • 公民社會真的能促進民主嗎?當團體發生衝突時,公民社會將變得脆弱

Encarncion (2002) 認為公民社會概念上的缺陷,造成理論與實務使用上的限制。

Governance Theory 全民監督理論
  • Governance has become a "catch all for any set of recommendations that seeks to enhance the capacity of the state to govern" (Reilly, 2002a, online) and reflects ongoing debates about substantive policies and procedures to ensure inclusion in decision making.
  • 1990s年代時西方的討論從"government 政府" 轉移到了 "governance 監督" 上,並成為21世紀早期的新興議題
    • 融合代議民主,成為public administration’ role in governing the state (全民監督政府的角色)
    • 為了達到全民監督,專家找尋deliberation-promoting tactics促進公開審議的策略
    • 黨派成為的目的是為了促進民眾對於全民監督的信任:In this deliberative democracy model, interest groups act as intermediaries that promote trust among citizens and in public administration, or, at the very least, promote trust among participating organizations (Oberg, 2002);
  • 全民監督的質疑論:公開政府資訊真的對於提昇民主有幫助嗎?

3. E-Political Lift 數位政治生活

  • 政治生活應用ICTs的方法
    • 理想的審議民主:to reclaim the ideals of participatory and deliberative democracy,
    • 糾正代議民主的錯誤to correct the failures of representative democracy, and
    • 重新定義政府關係 to redefine the governance relationships between civil society and political institutions: between people and their governments
  • ICTs的特色:透過網路改善通訊、降低成本
    • 民眾可以更簡單與頻繁地交流
    • 可以跟地方層級的候選人溝通,也可以跟國家級的決策制定者溝通

以下分成三類:E-government、E-governance與E-democracy

3-1. E-Government (Digital Government, Teledemocracy)
  • 透過ICTs促進全民監督:The use of the terms e-government and digital government is most often associated with the concept of state governance, referring to the modernization effort by public administration through ICTs designed to "support the efforts t o transform [reinvent] the operation and effectiveness of government" (Pardo, 2000, online; see also Garson, 2000)
  • Consumer democracy 消費者民主:the renewal of citizenship and democracy… "an explicit democratic value to consumerist initiatives by emphasizing the need to empower users as direct stakeholders in the material outcomes of public administration" (Bellamy & Taylor, 1998, p. 91)
3-2. E-Governance (Digital Governance)
  • the e-governance literature focuses on government infrastructure modernization and customer services.
  • E-governance focuses on how demands are aggregated; the institutional, organizational, and citizen relationships; the role that the state plays in mediating the competing interests; and how ICT "structures or channels will be used to aggregate demands and used to respond to demands" (Reilly, 2002a, online).
3-3. E-Democracy (Teledemocracy, Digital Democracy, Cyberdemocracy)
  • 作為電子溝通的工具:E-democracy is the use of information and communication through electronic channels for political communications:
    • 政府與組織:between government and organizations in the civil society;
    • 政府與公民:between government and citizen, whether mediated by institutions in the civil society or directly between government and citizens;
    • 組織之間:between organizations in the civil society;
    • 組織與公民:between these organizations and citizens; and
    • 公民之間:between citizens as they engage in political life
  • 虛擬政治系統 E-democracy implies a networked, interactive, transparent “Virtual political system

4. Review of Research on E-Government, E-Governance, and E-Democracy

4-1. 從ICTs的應用方式分類
E-Government 數位政府
  • 範圍:
    • the relationship between government and the citizen or between government and groups in the civil society and
    • the subject of the article is government's role as service provider and the citizen's or group's role as consumer of these services in the context of government's responsiveness and accountability
  • 網站比較研究類型
    • 在美國,大部分都是e-government研究,並限於網站評估:檢驗網站是否能夠成為滿足市民資訊取用與線上洽公需求的one-stop shops
    • 國家、地方政府、聯邦政府的網站是否是消費者導向customer-oriented或efficiency-driven paradigm 有效率的結構 (Ho, 2002)
    • 大型國際研究:比較多個國家的網站服務。
      • Accentrue (2001)比較22國家網站,分類三種數位政府:1. 最低層次線上消息、2. 與人民互動、3. 可線上繳稅
      • West (2002)比較198國家的1197個網站的資訊可用度、服務提供與公開取用性,發現最好的國家包括臺灣、南韓、加拿大、美國等。
    • 最大型的跨國際研究:the United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (2002)研究169個國家
      • 有32國家有使用類似e-government的網站
      • 有64國家強調呈現:時常更新、提供有用資訊、網站連結
      • 有57國家提供互動功能:線上論壇與討論區
      • 有17國家提供隱私安全交易:包含記錄與付款功能
    • 個別單一國家的研究較少
  • 公民使用e-government的觀點:研究數量較少,但還是有重要的研究。
    • Larsen & Rainie 發現美國2002年早期有58%成年人使用政府網站來獲取資訊或洽公,比起前兩年的數量都還多上很多。
    • Taylor Nelson Sofres (2001)調查27國家共29077個受訪者,發現1/5最近有在政府網站搜尋資訊;9%下載過表單;6%用過線上金流交易;過半使用者對線上使用交易與個人資訊抱持不信任態度。
  • 網站變革:唯一一篇co-evolution的研究
    • Marchionini (2002)長期研究美國勞工統計局的網站,發現網站越來越好用、有組織化,而使用者也越來越多元並對網站期望越深
  • 質疑與批評:許多研究認為e-government受限於行政、財政、技術、法律挑戰等問題
    • Musso & Weare (2000)認為大多數網站只有表面上經營公民關係,少數網站提供資訊與通訊管道,而這無法促進民主政治。
    • 人們不能理解其價值:the Inter-Parliamentary Union (in Norris, 2001) also conclude that the potential for political government-citizen interactions online is usually unrealized, with priority given to information provision, citizen-as-consumer transactions, and business-government transactions instead of interactions with citizens.
    • 落後國家中,人們不期待ICT協助政治,而特別容易受到批評
E-Governance
  • 範圍:The relationship between governments and citizens in the context of administrative rule making, policy, or similar decision-making processes, including the procedures surrounding Internet voting.
  • Openness 開放度,政府組織資訊的透明化:
    • La Porte, Demchak, & de Jong, 2002 研究15國家,發現開放度與民眾互動之間有低度相關,但卻找不到其他外部變項。他們認為開放性是一種「unique aspect of organizational behavior」
  • ICT的錯誤應用:
    • 許多國家傾向將ICTs作為top-down(由上而下)的資訊傳播與方便的選舉工具,而取代了政府與民眾的交流。
    • 然而,美國政黨網站的互動有增加的趨勢。 (Stromer-Galley, 2000b, p. 112)
  • 使用者觀點:
    • Kohut & Rainie (2000) 發現美國2000年有18%民眾在線上尋找選舉新聞資訊,民眾觀看新聞網站比候選人跟政黨網站還多。
  • 網路投票研究:
    • 美國仍在網路投票的實驗階段,大多都是mock vote偽票問題。
    • 因此興起了資料安全、隱私、投票者認證、不平等的近用以及公民動機等研究議題。
E-Democracy
  • 範圍:
    • civic engagement with government institutions or public deliberation among citizens
    • the substance of government policies or services is specifically the focus of public discussion.
  • ICTs無用論
    • 儘管許多研究都發現有e-democracy,但更多研究指出了問題:
      • 不平等取用 lack of universal access to e-democracy tools,
      • 缺乏互動 lack of sufficient interactivity built into Web sites,
      • 低參與度 low levels of civic interest and engagement, and
      • 不禮貌 incivility.
    • 都市自發計畫:建立雙向溝通與公開討論的線上平台 (Bryan, 1998)
      • broad-based participation is still lacking and
      • will depend more on promoting civic education and motivation than on the availability of ICTs and Web sites
    • 許多研究者都發現線上公開審議是uncivil(野蠻的)且fragmented(破碎的),而且只有少數網站鼓勵民眾參與政治討論。
  • 網路使用與政治參與的關係
    • Larsen & Rainie (2002)發現有6800萬人拜訪美國網站,1/3使用網站聯絡政府官員,1/5參與線上演講活動。
    • Coles (2000, 2001, 2003)每年的研究發現使用網際網路去理解政治的情況逐年增加。
  • National Geographic Society (1998) 發現在網路使用與公民政治參與有相關,但不知因果關係
    • 不平等的ICTs取用:Norris (2002)認為ICTs傾向於加劇於積極參與政治或消極迴避之間的鴻溝。
    • Wilhelm (2000)指出ICTs應用於民主的四個挑戰:
      1. 近用障礙:barriers to entry into the public sphere,
      2. 能力不平等:unequal ability of people to share in the public sphere,
      3. 科技破壞民主決策的危機:the potential for the "rhythms and speeds" of technology t o undermine democratic decision making, and
      4. 不明顯的公共空間:the disappearance of the public sphere under the pressures of market forces that suppress or eliminate citizen entry
  • 線上政治論壇 online political forums 影響地方政府
    • 提供年輕人能夠持續討論政治、建立他們自己「國會」的空間
    • Klein (1999)發現線上論壇的確能克服許多面對面會議的障礙,並促進市民結合為一個小型的當地社群而影響政府。
    • Kinder (2002)跨國地方政府調查,發現歐洲城市有一定程度的市民透過ICT參與地方決策,包括線上投票、市民活動與會議。
    • Gronlund (2003)長期調查瑞士鄉鎮,發現有各種形式的線上民主:開放式論壇、線上廣播、聊天室、市民提案、市民代表委員會、議題討論會議與投票。
  • 開發中國家的限制
    • Abbott (2001)研究發現中國與馬來西亞普遍缺乏ICT的取用能力 (limited ICT acces),新加坡則是政府限制公開審議 (government attitudes)
    • 同時還有反民主團體阻止政府使用線上活動。
4-2. Conceptualizations of the Role of ICT in E-Government, E-Governance, and E-Democracy
  • 樂觀派:ICTs Will Increase Government Efficiency, Improve Governance, or Enhance Democracy
  • 中立派(ICTs需要規劃):ICTs Have Democratic Potential but Require Policy and Planning to Ensure the Success of Online Political Initiatives
  • 政治主角派(政治文化才是主要影響ICT發展的因素):Political Culture and Practice Are the Prime Shapers of ICTs' Potential, Involving Long-Term Change
  • 悲觀派:ICTs Are Embedded in Broader Structural Relations Within Society and Reflect or Reinforce Its Inequalities and Complexity
  • 效果放大派:The Use of ICTs in Governance Is Not Only Complex in Terms of Inputs, but Also Entails Ambiguous Outcomes and Unintended Consequences
  • 無用派:ICTs Are Not Necessarily an Appropriate Vehicle for Enacting or Enhancing Political Participation
  • 意見保留派:It Is Too Soon to Gauge whether ICTs Assist in Governmental Efficiency, Better Governance, or Enhanced Democracy
4-3. Review of Sources of Data and Methods Used by Researchers
  • Web Sites網站:
    • 內容分析:著重分析網站設計者與機構如何使用ICTs達成governance(監督)的目的
    • 比較研究:地方、聯邦、國家、跨國比較
    • Web sphere analysis 網站空間研究:分析網站資料結構組織與使用者設計之間的關係。(類似現在談的Information Architecture)
  • Documents 相關文件:
    • 補足網站分析:網站中的政策檔案
    • 宏觀的分析:新聞報導與相關網站
    • 前人研究的分析:Tambini (1999)藉由分析前人研究進行跨國比較
  • Stakeholders 相關人士:
    • 政府相關的ICT活動人士,包括policy officials政策官員、civil servants 公務員、administrators、businesses、political parties 政黨、non-governmental organization、individual citizens
      • 調查他們參與政治相關活動的觀點
      • 大多關注政策決定者與網站設計者,而非市民
    • 常用於大規模調查:the Pew Internet and American Life Project調查市民參與線上政府的研究
  • Multiple Data Sources and Methods 多重資料來源與方法:
    • 常見於當地ICT輔助政治活動中:利用訪談、文件分析、網站分析或研究者直接參與等方法
      • 通常都是先導研究階段而只有暫時性的結論
    • 長期研究文件變化與記錄ICT活動的複雜性

5. Where Do We Go from Here?: Recommendations for a Research Agenda

研究上的問題
  • 激情影響研究結果
    • 科技決定論:大多研究都想像ICT對於政治的影響,而輕率地提出結論
    • 最近幾年,研究逐漸趨向更複雜、細微的理論與發現
  • 許多研究者對於民主政治的概念混亂,所以本文大部分篇幅都在解釋概念
    • 研究者需要更嚴謹的釐清e-government, e-governance, e-democracy之間的概念
  • 囫圇吞棗使用理論與提出假設:例如把西方社會套用到全世界中。
  • ICTs支持者偏好虛擬世界而忽視實際政治運作。
  • 研究方法有待加強:
    • 與其使用單一研究法,不如用multiple triangulated methods三角驗證法
    • 資料一次性的蒐集,不如長時間的觀察。
研究建議
  • 需要更嚴謹的檢驗與證據。rigorously examines normative claims and empirical evidence on how citizens evaluate participatory democratic procedures
  • 應持續長期、重複的研究:一次性資料蒐集的發現有限
  • Social network formation 社會網絡、資訊社會研究:
    • 不應該是科技決定論,而是更複雜的連接系統。complex connected systems have indeterminate and unpredictable outcomes and consequences (Perrow, 1999; Watts, 2003)
    • 從歷史與情境中搭配interpretive epistemology解釋性認知論框架,描繪宏觀與微觀的流程與互動

感想

  • 原本以為民主政治跟圖資領域關係不大,但事實上,將「民主政治」替換成「圖書館」,就會發現圖資界的研究也有驚人的「科技決定論」傾向
    • 許多館員對於科技的態度仍是「有用」、「沒用」的二元論;學生則多抱著科技樂觀論,而容易忽視實際運作的限制。
    • 許多研究(像是圖書館如何運用科技)常以一次性資料蒐集、憑著想像就下了粗糙的結論。
    • 本文在2004年就建議應該提昇研究的複雜度,到現在我們仍應力圖振作。
  • 這仍是一篇早期研究的回顧,究竟ICTs是怎麼影響社會,光是這樣仍看不出個所以然。但是ICT與政治立場的概念解釋、研究方法的分析則是相當有參考價值,建議也很中肯。

作者努力地將混亂的文獻作一個有架構的整理,可是看起來還是很吃力 OTL

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From information commons to knowledge commons 知識共享空間

布丁布丁吃布丁

From information commons to knowledge commons 知識共享空間

image

Ren Shuhuai, Sheng Xingjun, Lin, Haiqing, & Cao Jialin. (2009). From information commons to knowledge commons: Building a collaborative knowledge sharing environment for innovative communities. The Electronic Library, 27(2), 247-257.

只是「知識共享空間」這個名詞很炫而已,實際上讀的時候也不要抱有太大期望比較好。


摘要

  1. 目的:
    • 基於現在資訊共享空間服務模式(information commons service model),提出新的模式:知識共享空間。
    • 本文的目的在於定義概念模型與建構知識共享空間的框架,以建立基於合作知識分享環境以支援大學圖書館中的創新社群活動(innovative community activities)
  2. 研究方法:(備註:這算是研究方法嗎?
    • 分析社群間的創新活動、結合知識管理理論、合作與Library 2.0的概念。
    • 知識共享空間概念模型將可以改善資訊交流、合作、分享與溝通。
  3. 發現:(備註:這只算是假設吧?
    • 自從創新社群擴大到跨學科與跨校園之後,分散的研究團隊(the scattered research team)與讀書會需要圖書館擴大服務成為一個邏輯系統(logical system)
    • 由虛擬層(virtual layer)讓螺旋分散化與集中化實體層(physical layer)的資源。
    • 核心的元素由資訊科技、組織與管理、文化與精神組合而成的支持層(supporting layer),讓信任與結合創新文化變成重點價值

野中郁次郎(2000):SECI知識螺旋模型

  • Tacit Knowledge (Tacit K) 隱性知識
  • Explicit Knowledge (Explicit K) 顯性知識

image

image

如何建立Knowledge Commons

  • Physical layer: 包括面對面交談空間、團體討論室、影音會議間、可移動的訓練間、科技實驗室、開放取用區域與咖啡間
  • Virtual layer: 建立知識瀏覽入口與整合型的數位圖書館
  • Supporting layer: 品質服務小組、資產管理、文化經營、效益評估系統

有點空泛呢,也缺少評估,讀起來並不是很充實的感覺。

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Information commons 資訊共享

布丁布丁吃布丁

Information commons 資訊共享

image

Kranich, N., & Schement, J. R. (2008). Information commons. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 42(1), 546–591.

這邊提出來的Information commons跟現今圖書館使用的Information commons差很多喔,在閱讀時不要有先入為主的概念比較好。


Introduction 前言

  1. “walled garden” or “enclosure” online creates an inequitable and often inaccessible information marketplace.
    • many Americans have little access or ability to use the new technologies
    • they cannot afford the high prices or comply with the rules created by media corporations
  2. A commons, simply understood, is a resource, or a facility, "that is shared by a community of producers or consumers."
  3. The commons elevates individuals to a role above mere consumers in the marketplace.

I. Opportunities and challenges of the information age

i. Evolution of the Information Society 資訊社會的變革
資訊從封存到公開
  1. 古早圖書館都將館藏封存,直到1450年Gutenberg做到出借與銷售紙本。
  2. James Madison認為人民政府就是要公開大眾資訊;Benjamin Franklin在1731年建立美國第一座提供借閱服務的圖書館,成為時代先驅。
  3. 美國憲法訂定著作在一定年份之後就會成為公共領域(public domain)財產。
  4. 19世紀工業革命建立的電報與電話促進資訊普及。
  5. 1934年美國the Federal Communications Commission (the FCC)成立,促進資訊可用,特別是在廣播與電視等大眾傳播媒體。
資訊從公用到民間競爭
  1. 20世紀中期1960年代,從Lockheed建立的Dialog系統開始,新興資訊工業開始反對政府獨霸公共資訊傳播。
  2. Reagan Administration提出以”maximum feasible reliance(最大可能依賴)”的私有區塊來取代政府的公用資訊。Information Industry Association提倡私有平台,並興起許多資訊所有權與控制權的戰爭。
  3. 1980年代,新科技跟資訊市場成為國家主要政策項目。1984年American Telephone & Telegraph Company成立,促進Regional Bell Operating Companies擴大到資訊服務與纜線電視。
  4. 這時期興起了一場新的電信市場競爭:包含當地與遠距電話、纜線電視、電腦公司,直到1990年代”dot.com”出現。同時,媒體企業整併(media consolidation)盛行。
資訊競爭到電信巨人的集中控制
  1. 1996年美國國會修法開放電信公司的限制,造成少數電信巨人公司控制了資訊資源。Ben Bagdikian的”The Media Monopoly”批評這種現象。
  2. 2003年FCC決定處理媒體企業整併的問題,想要降低媒體擁有者的數量,卻導致市場變化下降以及資訊更為集中控制。
  3. Harvard's Kennedy School of Government認為網際網路的網站入口與搜尋引擎可以對抗媒體企業整併的控制。
ii. The Promise of the Internet and the Challenge of Information Access 網際網路的未來與資訊取用的挑戰
網際網路對資訊傳播帶來的變化
  1. David Bollier: "The Internet facilitated not only expression 'as diverse as human thought,' but 'peer production' – that is, decentralized production and distribution of information that bypasses the centralized control of more traditional publishing.”
Digital Rights Management (DRM) 數位權利管理技術

在著作權法底下,以數位技術控制合理的使用:

  1. "Fair use," 合理使用: 允許作者、學生、記者與其他人基於評論、改編、學術與創新報告等目的下引用與複製。
  2. The “first sale” rule 首次付費規則: 允許購買者在購買之後能夠任意出借、給予、分享他人
  3. The public domain 公用領域: 所有著作都有一定限度的保護期限,之後就成為可供任何人取用的公用財產
媒體公司擴大著作權

媒體公司(如1998年的Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA)利用DRM、加密、浮水印來控制資訊存取,提出無法改變的同意條款,妨礙合理使用並阻止首次付費規則的分享行為。

  1. 有人嘗試破解加密以求合理使用,但仍是違法行為
  2. 1984年,Superme Court(美國最高法院)宣布錄影機是違法技術,造成使用者權益大受衝擊。
  3. 媒體公司要求國會改寫著作權規則,鞏固自己的權益。
  4. DMCA要求延長著作權法保護期(CTEA法案),從28年延長著作人終身加上死後70年,但2003年被Superme Court拒絕。
    image
    (上圖是由美國1998年著作權延長法案的司法風波而來)
  5. 最後結果讓媒體公司關閉線上檔案分享服務,因為他們覺得分享版權保護的檔案會引發政治跟文化衝突。

A central fact about information: it is neither a pure public good nor a pure private good.

II. The Emerging Information Commons

i. History and Theories of the Commons 共享空間的歷史與理論
共享空間的由來
  1. “commons”(共享空間):原始的意義是農業用地,讓英國農夫自由耕種與放牧。
  2. 至今人們依舊保持common property (共享資產),像是森林、草地、漁場,同時也有實施管理以免資源耗盡。
共享空間的爭論
  1. Garrett Hardin在1968年寫了一篇著名的文章 ”The Tragedy of the Commons” (共享空間的悲劇) 警告人們無限制地使用資源,將會造成過度開發。
  2. Carol Rose提出”comedy of the commons” (共享空間的喜劇),指越多人加入就會讓大家越開心的有限社群,例如祭典或舞廳。
  3. Since Hardin與其他學者如Siegfried Ciriacy-Wantrup與Richard Bishop分辨兩種共享空間:
    • Open-access (or “no property”) regimes 開放近用制度: 任何人都能使用資源,將造成過度使用的悲劇。
    • Common property regimes 共享資產制度,或稱為”common-pool resources” (共享資源): 僅允許有限的成員能合法使用資源,比較接近共享資源的喜劇。
共享空間的運作方式

FileNobel Prize 2009-Press Conference KVA-30

Elinor Ostrom (1933-) 2009年諾貝爾經濟獎得主

  1. 許多社會學家與法律學家檢視共享資產如何運作。研究領導者Elinor Ostrom分析共享空間的資源特性,認為共享資產制度比較適合由團體去決定,而非由個人控制。
  2. Ostrom在1980年代中期提出管理共享資源所需要的元件,特別是在開發中國家的自然資源。並協助創建International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP),1995年舉辦”Reinventing the Commons”研討會,特別關注自然資源與網際網路議題。
  3. Ostrom的精華著作”Governing the Commons”描繪了取用共享資源的框架,用八個原則來確保人們能夠長期使用資源。這框架包括了self-governance(自我管理)、清楚定義範圍與規則、互惠主義、建立信任觀念與社會領袖、以及通訊管道。
ii. Applying the Idea of the Commons to Information

FileDavidBollierJI1

David Bollier, 2007

  1. 法律學者認為共享空間的概念可以用來理解資訊的性質,以此對抗著作權限制與DRM技術。
    • 該領域的領導者David Bollier與同事Tim Watts認為共享空間的分析可以補足我們之前未曾注意的議題,包括民主參與、開放性、社會平等與多樣性。
    • Yochai Benkler認為共享空間可以促進參與:
      “An open, free, flat, peer-to-peer network best serves the ability of anyone – individual, small group, or large group – to come together to build our information environment.  It is through such open and equal participation that we will best secure both robust democratic discourse and individual expressive freedom.”
      開放、免費、扁平的網路提供給每個人(個人、小團體、大團體)最佳的服務,讓大家能聚在一起建立資訊環境。共享空間作為一個開放且平等的參與方式,我們將能確保強健的民主討論與個人表達自由。
  2. 圖書館專家Karen Fisher與Joan Durrance將理論應用到實作上,他們敘述網際網路為主的資訊社會具備的五個特色:
    • information-sharing with multiplier effects; 伴隨多重影響的資訊分享
    • collaboration; 合作
    • interaction based on needs of participants; 基於參與者需求的互動
    • low barriers to entry; and  低取用限制
    • connectedness with the larger community. 連接更大的社群
  3. 公益組織也開始提倡促進資訊共享。David Bollier指導New America Foundation發起Information Commons Project。
  4. 2001秋天,American Library Association主辦Information Commons的研討會,探討資訊平等、著作權、合理使用與公開取用。
  5. 2002與2003年,Boston Review, Knowledge Quest與Common Property Resource Digest期刊整本都在討論資訊共享的議題。
  6. 公益團體如Electronic Frontier Foundation、the Center for Digital Democracy、the Center for Democracy and Technology、Public Knowledge與IP Justice推動更多平衡資訊的政策,促進科學研究成果、公眾領域資訊能夠被更多人取用,並擴大資訊消費者的權利。
  7. 為了補足Public Knowledge發起的努力,Creative Commons與Center of the Public Domain致力建構新型態的公共領域資產價值。
iii. Examples of Open Democratic Information Resources
Software Commons:
  1. 電腦軟體開發者早就發展出類似公共領域的架構:open source software application 開放原始碼軟體應用,其中最著名的就是Linux作業系統。
Licensing Commons:
  1. 1980年代Richard Stallman發展的GUN General Public License (GPL),允許智慧財可供所有使用者取用,包括複製、分享與修改,促進網路開發社群合作發展。
  2. Creative Commons提供了一套有彈性的著作權授權條款供公眾使用,有些權利可以保留,像是商業使用、保留作者姓名等。
Scholarly Communication: Open Access
  1. 1980年代,許多專業社群將期刊轉型為私人公司,藉由收費建立營收。水漲船高的經費需求帶給圖書館巨大的壓力。
  2. ALA結合多所圖書館討論解決方法。Association of College and Research Libraries在2003提出宣言Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication.
  3. 歐洲與美國學術社群建立許多學術聯盟。Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)是1998年建立的最有名的聯盟,創造了學術社群分享研究結果的新典範:以數位方式提供免費線上取用。
  4. 另一個重要的行動是open access publishing (開放近用出版期刊),它允許學術資訊供人免費取用。對學者來說,免費取用的線上開放近用期刊可以大量增加文章的引用與影響力。
  5. 2002年Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute發展Budapest Open Access Initiative以指導開放近用學術領域的軟體、技術標準與開發。
  6. 開放近用的經費來源通常是來自於母機構與作者(或著是說,作者的研究機構)。2003年牛津大學發表”open access experiment”實驗,資料庫中的開放近用期刊有90%作者同意支付£300出版費用。
  7. Public Knowledge Project在2003發表Open Journal Systems原型──期刊管理與發表的開放原始碼軟體。
Scholarly Communication: Digital Repositories
  1. 1999年Open Archives Initiative (OAI)成立,旨在發展各種學術文獻傳播工具。
  2. 機構典藏:2002年,許多機構開始使用OAI的工具發展digital repositories(數位典藏)。
    • 2002年Research Libraries Group and OCLC, Inc.出版Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities,描述數位典藏的在大規模、異質性館藏的特性與責任。
    • 2002年MIT開發著名的DSpace,用來典藏MIT教職員的學術成果。
  3. 學科典藏:學科領域也建立了豐富的典藏內容。起始者是1991年的Los Alamos ArXiv.org,目的是低成本取用進入同儕評閱前的學術研究。
  4. 自我典藏:個人作者也用他們個人的網站來建立self-archiving(自我典藏)。藉由要求出版期刊保留作者個人的副本,學者也成為一個資訊社群機構,增加取用途徑並讓所有人都能受惠。
    • 英國Stevan Harnad與其他研究者發現55%的期刊允許作者自我典藏。
Institutional Commons
  1. NYU的校長John Sexton認識到將機構轉變成為資訊共享模式的重要性。
    • MIT發起大學層級的機構典藏OpenCourseWare,提供大量課程教材供人免費取用。K-12 public schools也提供類似的共享資源給年輕人。
  2. 圖書館在機構資訊共享扮演領導角色,負責將具有DRM、著作權與其他限制的資訊轉換、調整。
    • 學術與研究圖書館也致力於學術通訊上。美國Distributed Open Digital Library (DODL)從各個研究機構中彙整進入公用領域的人類資產與社會科學研究。
    • 除了擴增館藏之外,Indiana University、the University of Arizona等學術圖書館也開始建立實體共享空間,以整合性的數位環境為中心重新規劃工作區與服務傳遞方式,把空間調整為核心校區單位,例如圖書館、大學教學中心與電腦中心。
  3. Newton Minow與Lawrence Grossman合作的Digital Promise Project創建Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (“DO IT”)致力於網際網路與其他新的資訊技術,確保知識可讓眾人取用與終身學習。
Subject Matter Information Commons
  1. 結合多種共享空間的特性:從市民參與到文化交換,從合作發表到傳播特殊資源。
  2. 先驅計畫:2004年的BBC Creative Archive與Galiwinku Knowledge Centre。
IV. Principles and Characteristics of Information Commons 資訊共享的特性與原則
特性
  1. They are collaborative. 合作的
  2. They offer shared spaces, real and virtual, where communities with common interests and concerns gather. 提供真實與虛擬的空間以聚集社群
  3. They take advantage of the networked environment to build information communities, and they benefit from network externalities, meaning the greater the participation, the more valuable the resource. 以網路的優勢建立資訊社群
  4. They are interactive, encouraging discourse and exchange among their members.  Many are free or low cost. 可以免費或低成本地跟其他人的互動討論
  5. Their participants often contribute new creations after they gain and benefit from access. 成員在取用獲益之後會持續貢獻創新資源
原則
  1. 1993年Aspen Institute發表”first principles”陳述交流、私有與資訊政策
    • Aspen的Communication and Society Program發表Toward An Information Bill of Rights and Responsibilities,至今仍是其他原則與宣言的草稿參考。
  2. 這些宣言中最常見的要素是1.表達的自由與 2. 資訊取用的權利
  3. 科技與網路組織最強調的是技術議題與交流的權利,例如Association for Progressive Communications的”Internet Rights Charter”
  4. 有些團體強調政治參與,例如Greater Democracy 與the Center for Digital Democracy。
  5. 圖書館員與出版者則注重表達的自由、開放近用與affordability (支付能力)。例如ALA的2001圓桌會議發表的”The Information Commons, New Technology and the Future of Libraries”建立了發展資訊共享的12項原則與討論重點。

Finally, says the ALA:

Among the other institutions we might see as part of the commons are: museums, archives, and other resource centers; cultural heritage centers; religious organizations; nonprofit and social service organizations; unions; public interest broadcasters; even commercial organizations may play a role in the information commons to the extent that they benefit from and promote access to information outside strict market limits.

III. The Future of the Information Commons

  1. 比起加強個人自由,未來共享空間更應該規劃管理制度,並輔以可信賴的數位資源管理技術方案。而發展穩定且有制度的資訊共享需要更多投資與經費。
  2. 資訊取用的未來不僅是考量可用性與可負擔性,也要考量是否符合居民的資訊需求。
  3. Boyle提倡”Information as an Ecosystem”,並建議建立有良好組織、經費與基層行動的聯盟以對抗大型產業團體。
  4. 公益團體應該加入倡導資訊取用的重要性,刺激基金會跟其他贊助單位重視。共享空間的概念只有在經濟支援與政治意志都具備的情況下才能成實現。
  5. 最後,很重要的是,資訊共享並不是反對營利媒體產業。Frederick Emrich指出應該找尋資訊共享與資訊貿易都能同時互惠的方向。
Policy Recommendations and Strategies
  1. 創造動機 Create a movement similar to environmentalism promoting the information commons:
    1. Focus on what we are fighting for, not just against.
    2. Emphasize the public interest in information access.
    3. Highlight successes; document problems and chilling effects of enclosure; identify examples of harm caused by technological controls and digital rights management.
    4. Educate concerned individuals and groups, the press, and the public.
    5. Organize coalitions based on common interests among disparate groups that cut across traditional alliances.
    6. Encourage the development of robust information communities.
    7. Seek funding for demonstration projects and ongoing support.
  2. 應用共享資源模型 Apply common property resource models to the information sphere:
    1. Spell out common property resource economic models that elevate the value of shared access.
    2. Involve information communities in the design, creation, governance, and management of information resources.
  3. 法律支援 Support legislation that encourages information sharing and oppose legislative, regulatory, and judicial actions that undermine opportunities to participate in the information society:
    1. Promote legislation that ensures public access to public research.
    2. Oppose new copyright laws and regulations that limit the public’s access rights.
  4. 軟體開發 Develop, make available, and adopt open source software, content, standards, and best practices:
    1. Publish in open access publications.
    2. Sign only those licenses and contracts that enable open access and guarantee user rights such as fair use and “first sale” sharing of copyrighted works.
    3. Encourage peer production of information.
  5. 應用開放近用 Apply open access, digital repository, and other practices developed by scholars more widely.
  6. 保護公共領域 Value the public domain:
    1. Protect it as a sanctuary against enclosure.
    2. Develop advocacy programs, governance structures, and new laws that ensure it is well preserved, governed, managed, and valued.
    3. Resist attempts to apply technological  measures that control access to ideas.

感想

  1. 我個人很喜歡資訊共享的概念,所以讀這篇的時候真的覺得很感動。這篇很多都是大學的時候毛慶禎老師在「開放近用」課程中教過的內容,這堂課影響我很深,所以我也很敬佩那些努力爭取資訊自由的人們。(貼照片以示尊敬)
  2. 回顧寫作是以歷史故事的方式撰寫。原本很擔心會難以閱讀,但其實意外地容易吸收。大致上每一段的第一句話或是第二句話就是該段的宗旨或大方向,然後段落其他就是舉例與敘事。由於歷史細節太多,所以我也沒有照他的方式一一細講,而只挑一兩個例子敘述。
  3. 作者從資訊社會的由來、挑戰,切入到共享空間的概念、爭議與運作方法,然後介紹各種資訊共享的事蹟,最後描繪未來發展方法。儘管文章很長,但是結構卻是十分清晰好懂,所以很容易閱讀。
  4. 這個資訊共享空間跟現在圖書館在探討的學習共享空間有很大的差異,這邊談的是一種想法、概念、運作方式,而實體的學習資訊服務支援只是其中的一小部分。
  5. 軟體的資訊共享因為我自己很熟,所以就快速略過。我想同學應該比較需要知道學術方面的資訊共享才是。

這篇文章寫得很棒喔,所以note也長了些XD

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The digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon 數位落差現象

布丁布丁吃布丁

The digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon 數位落差現象

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Van Dijk, J., & Hacker, K. (2003). The digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon. The information society, 19(4), 315–326.


In this paper we will try to develop scientific conceptual distinctions and to present reliable and valid empirical data of longitudinal research on this subject matter.

1. The multifaceted concept of access

  1. psychological access 心理層面的取用: Lack of any digital experience caused by lack of interest, computer fear and unattractiveness of the new technology ('psychological access');
  2. material access 物質層面的取用: No possession of computers and network connections;
  3. skills access 技巧層面的取用: Lack of digital skills caused by insufficient user-friendliness and inadequate education or social support;
  4. usage access 用法層面的取用: Lack of significant usage opportunities.

He expects the appearance of a usage gap between parts of the population systematically using and benefiting from (1) advanced digital technology and the more difficult applications and services, and (2) other parts only using basic digital technologies for simple applications with a relatively large part of entertainment.

2. Some facts: a digital divide in the USA and Europe?

We will base our conclusions on these data:

  • the US Censusbureau data 1984, 1989, 1993, 1997,
  • the partly overlapping NTIA data about telephone and computer penetration 1994 and 1997,
  • the annual Eurobarometer (European Union) and
  • Dutch official statistics (by the SCP) of 1985, 1990, 1995 and 1998.
2-1 Elementary digital experience 基本數位技巧

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Figure 1 Offliners reasons for not buying a PC in Germany, 1999, Source: ARD/ZDF Online Not-users Survey, 1999

Presumably, there is some 'gap of motivation' among the populations of (even) high-tech countries. People with (1) old age, (2) low education, a large proportion of women and (functional) illiterates are strongly over-represented at the one side of it.

2-2. Possession of computers and network connections

image image

image 

Figure 3: Possession, Skills and Use of ITC in Holland: Multi regression of demographic variables

2-3. Digital skills
  • Digital skills are not primarily related to educational levels but to age and gender.
    Probably, this means that real practice and motivation are more important in acquiring digital skills than formal education.
  • Indeed, many studies reveal that having computer experience at work, having particular hobbies and having a family with schoolchildren are decisive factors in the acquisition of digital skills by adult people.
2-4. Different uses

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Table 2: Usage of PC at home, USA 1997 (Source US Census Bereau)

  • With age fairly large differences appear in using games, spreadsheets / databases / bookkeeping (USA)
  • With gender we see that females use all applications significantly less than males.
  • In the USA only the data of income levels are availablerevealing differences in e-mail and Internet use and other more advanced applications: bookkeeping, spreadsheets, databases and work at home.

Interpretations

Social and political opinion has developed four kinds of positions with interpretations of the state of affairs:

  1. Denial of the existence of a digital divide;
  2. Acceptance of some present divide(s), claiming that they will soon disappear;
  3. Emphasis of digital divides which are supposed to grow and come on top of old inequalities of income, education, age, gender, race and geographical location;
  4. Differentiation: some divides are decreasing while others grow.

4. Scientific explanations

image

  • Material Resources: about the possession of all kinds of equipment
  • Social Resources: 1) having a social network also possessing and using digital technology and 2) having social support in managing it.
  • Cognitive Resources: literacy (搜尋文字), numeracy (處理計算問題) and informacy (數位技巧)

結果:

  • Possession of ICTs is explained more by informacy (digital skills) than by material resources.
  • Skills are explained by literacy and social resources (having a social network and support).
  • A remarkable result is literacy being far more important for the explanation of digital skills than numeracy.

5. Conclusions and Policy Perspectives

There is no question of an absolute, yawning and unbridgeable gap between two classes of people.

  1. The fundamental task of future society will be to prevent structural inequalities in the skill and usage of ICTs becoming more intense.
  2. There are in fact several divides: Time series ofofficial statistics have demonstrated that during the 1980s and 1990s gaps of income, employment, education, age and race in the possession of computers and hardware have not persisted but grown.
  3. Together they may create a usage gap that is somewhat familiar to the knowledge gap described by Tichenor et al. a long time ago.
    "As the diffusion of mass media information into a social system increases, segments of the population with a higher socio-economic status tend to acquire this information at a faster rate than the lower status segments"

The policy perspectives:

  • Central objectives:
    1. The first objective is backed by a big coalition of forces in advanced high tech societies.
    2. The second objective is more traditional and it is supported more in Europe than in the US, for instance.

Four kinds of access distinguished:

  • Elementary digital experience is first of all a question of the market developing and offering ICTs that really are user-friendly and that offer such a clear surplus value as compared to old applications that the 'information want-nots' will be convinced.
  • Possession of computers and networks: Household income is still the most important factor here. So, tax and income policies of governments certainly do make sense.
  • Learning digital skills will be a strategic objective for educational institutions at all levels.
  • Improving usage opportunities for all means making them more attractive to some people in the first place.

因為覺得之前note寫太多中文了,有點奇怪,所以最近這幾篇都大量引用原文。但有時候反而覺得這樣也不是很好閱讀orz 總之這篇就是在講各種數位落差的情況還有一些建議啦!

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Learning about information technologies and social change: The contribution of social informatics 資訊社會學的貢獻

布丁布丁吃布丁

Learning about information technologies and social change: The contribution of social informatics 資訊社會學的貢獻

image

Kling, R. (2000). Learning about information technologies and social change: The contribution of social informatics. The Information Society, 16(3), 217–232.


1. Introduction

  1. 近年來社會受到新的資訊與通訊技術(information and communication technologies, ICTs)影響相當大,但是研究過於簡化與分散,讓一般人難以理解
  2. "Social informatics" is the new working name for the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses, and consequences of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts.
    社會資訊學:研究資訊科技的設計、使用與影響,考量人們在機構與文化情境間的互動。

2. Early Research in Social Informatics: Alternatives to Deterministic Impact Studies早期的決定影響論研究

  1. Which will happen, X or Y?” “sometimes X, and sometimes Y. 有些辦事員經濟能力不高,但有些秘書經濟能力就很高
  2. 爭論 "Is it A or B?":科技造成組織集中,還是分散?
  3. 許多自稱科學家提倡決定論:” The Web means that the public will get better information than ever before.” 但是社會資訊學家抱持質疑觀點
  4. 社會資訊學家關注情境問題:"When will the Web enable the public to locate 'better information'? Under what conditions? For whom? For what?" 而這取代了傳統的決定論宣告研究

3. Some key Ideas of Social Informatics 社會資訊學的關鍵概念

3.1 Information Technologies as Socio-Technical Networks 研究角度的改變:資訊科技作為社會科技網路
  1. Socio-Technical Netowork的例子:local computing package 區域電腦套組
    • people in various roles and relationships with each other and with other system elements; 人們在不同人群與系統間有著各種角色與關係
    • hardware硬體 (computer mainframes, workstations, peripherals, telecommunications equipment);
    • software軟體 (operating systems, utilities and application programs); 
    • techniques 科技 (management science models, voting schemes);
    • support resources 技術支援 (training/support/help); and 
    • information structures 資訊架構 (content and content providers, rules/norms/regulations, such as those that authorize people to use systems and information in specific ways).
  2. During the course of conducting our research in the 1970s, we shifted from viewing ICT as "having impacts" to an appreciation that "the impacts" of ICT were socially shaped.
(我自己加的分類) Standard (Tool) Models
傳統標準(工具)模型
Socio-Technical Models
社會科技模型
角度 ICT is a tool ICT is a socio-technical network
觀點 Business model is sufficient 運作模式 Ecological view is also needed 生態觀點
建置 One shot ICT implementation 一次建完 ICT implementations are an ongoing social process 持續建置
影響方式 Technological effects are direct and immediate 直接且即時的影響 Technological effects are indirect and involve different time scales 影響是間接的
政策 Politics are bad or irrelevant 不相干 Politics are central and even enabling 重要
獎勵 Incentives to change are unproblematic Incentives may require restructuring (and may be in conflict)
關係 Relationships are easily reformed Relationships are complex, negotiated, multivalent (including trust)
範圍 Social effects of ICT are big but isolated and benign 樂觀影響 Potentially enormous social repercussions from ICT (not just quality of worklife, it’s overall quality of life) 巨大影響
情境 Contexts are simple (a few key terms or demographics) Contexts are complex (matrices of businesses, services, people, technology history, location, etc.)
知識 Knowledge and Expertise are easily made explicit 容易外顯 Knowledge and Expertise are inherently tacit/implicit 內隱
支援 ICT Infrastructures are fully supportive 已有良好支援 Additional skill & work needed to make ICT work 仍須額外技能
  1. Socio-technical network應用的一種:” highly intertwined model”
    • technology-in-use and the social world are not seen as separate – they co-constitute each other.
    • 傳統觀點:"Indiana University is using web-boards to support class discussions when the participants are not in class together." 大學與班級是"social forms",而網頁公布欄是"information technologies"
    • In the highly intertwined model the web-boards could be examined to see how they are constituted as socio-technical networks.
      An organization such as Indiana University is composed not just of people in social relationships, but also of diverse technologies
3.2 Socio-technical Interaction Networks: The Vitality of Electronic Journals 電子期刊的社會科技互動網路

觀察兩個期刊,在1997-1999之間的運作

  1. Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence (ETAI)
    • 兩階段處理:第一階段:開放到不同主題的公開線上討論區三個月,作者可以持續修改;第二階段,修改之後才進入同儕審查的期刊審核過程
    • 接受58篇稿件
    • 公開討論可以讓作者與讀者間有所互動,打響知名度;反之,如果作者無法勤於修改稿件,就會讓人覺得不太好意思。
  2. The Electronic Journal of Cognitive and Brain Sciences (EJCBS)
    • “an autonomous system”: 稿件放到公開同儕審查系統,讀者可以匿名發表意見以及「投票」給予分數,每月平均分數達到門檻以上就接受,否則退稿
    • 僅有6篇投稿,而且沒有接受稿件
    • 作者收到匿名讀者的投票與建議,但卻沒有互動討論的空間,無法保證作者能藉由EJCBS提高知名度。
  3. ICTs as tool: As technological systems, they are viewed only as collections of software, data (text, picture files, etc.), metadata (indices, etc.), and links that run on networked computers.
    ICTs as socio-technical interaction networks:

 

    • people in various roles and relationships with each other and with other system elements
    • support resources (training/support/help) 
    • information structures (content and content providers, and rules/norms/regulations, including those that authorize people to use systems and information in specific ways and those involving access controls) 
    • the networks' content for various constituencies, who is authorized to change the content, and how that matters
3.3 How Social Context Matters: Intranets in Action

Lotus Notes, a documentary support system, is superficially similar to an Internet-like system with bulletin boards, posting mechanisms, discussion groups, and electronic mail for organizations.

  1. Alpha Consulting’s tax consultants in Washington, D.C.: Lotus Notes allowed them to broadcast for visibility: it gave them the ability, in effect, to electronically publish their advice and make it quickly available to many of the consultants around the firm who wanted to read the Notes database.
  2. The senior line consultants often seemed uninterested in learning how to use Notes, readily gave up if they faced early frustrations with Notes, and as a group did not spend much time with it.
    Their ability to attract new business becomes more critical. Relatively few associates saw much value in Notes, and there were no exemplary demonstrations showing them how other successful line consultants used Notes.
  3. Ernst and Young (E&Y) designed a human organizational "intelligence system" for sharing insights, ideas and materials in specific topical areas. Lotus Notes served as an information support system – a medium for storing, organizing, and communicating these materials.

Our job as researchers is not simply to document the various consequences of computerization, but also to theorize about them.
我們研究者的工作,並不只是記錄各種電腦化的影響結果,也要為結果建立理論

  • Social context is characterized by particular incentive systems for using, organizing, and sharing information in different work groups and work roles.
    社會情境:是指在特定激勵系統之下,不同工作小組與角色的資訊使用、組織與分享。

3.4 A Socio-Technical Approach to ICT Infrastructures: Public Access to Information via the Internet

The numbers of people with Internet access continues to rise rapidly (NTIA, 1999)

  1. "Technological access" 科技取用能力 refers to the physical availability of suitable equipment, including computers of adequate speed and equipped with appropriate software for a given activity.
  2. "Social access" 社會取用能力 refers to know-how -- a mix of professional knowledge, economic resources, and technical skills -- for using technologies in ways that enhance professional practices and social life.

We believe that getting good social access to the Internet is likely to prove troublesome for many people, based on the findings of careful studies of computer and Internet use.

  • Using the Internet is too hard for many “ordinary people” (Kiesler, Kraut, Mukhopadhyay, Scherlis, 1997)
  • "We were wrong. Even after a year of experience with the Internet, participant's initial computer skill still constrained their Internet usage. This result held across different gender and age groups."

In fact, a recent large scale study reports a widening gap of Internet use within the US population (NTIA, 1999):

  • The gaps between White and Hispanic households, and between White and Black households, are now more than six percentage points larger than they were in 1994. 
  • The digital divides based on education and income level have also increased in the last year alone.

4. How Social Informatics Matters

  • We may be ignorant of the needless waste and human distress that improperly conceived ICTs may cause.
  • In this article I have identified a few key ideas that come from 25 years of systematic analytical and critical research about information technology and social life:
    • These analyses differ considerably from the traditional deterministic impact analyses.
      社會資訊學的分析與傳統決定影響論的分析有很大的差別。
    • Such analyses consider an array of relevant factors, including social, cultural, organizational, and other contextual components.
      這些分析考慮一連串相關的變項,包括社會、傳統、組織與其他情境元素。
    • Work processes and practices need to be studied for how they are actually carried out.
      需要更深入研究人們實際上的工作程序與動作。
    • ICTs are more usefully conceived as socio-technical networks than simply as "tools."
      比起單純作為工具,被視為社會科技網路的ICTs將會更有用

感想

  • 非常複雜的大環境問題,而且難以理解。儘管我們都知道不能斷言各種現象的發生原因,而是要仔細去研究、調查各種起因,但是由於各種原因錯綜複雜,到底要怎麼研究起呢?
  • 在科技界常用「導入」一詞來探討科技技術導入企業組織的方法與成效。他們更注重科技的使用、訓練、支援與成果,非常科技導向。而此篇更注重的則是人與人之間的關係,很像是探討科技中社會網路互動的方式。
  • 如果太過擔心科技對於各種現象的影響,導致舉步維艱,那究竟算是好事還是壞事呢?任何事情之間應該要取得平衡,有時也要嘗試挑戰,同時也要有承擔風險的責任,但這平衡的標準究竟該如何訂定?這種決策層級的問題,學者會從社會資訊學研究的角度去看,但對決策執行者來說,應該還有更多政策層面的考量。

Rob Kling經典論文之一,國內「資訊社會學:一個社會與技術並重的觀點」也是在講述這篇。不過問題範圍層級比單純的圖書館業務或系統開發還要大上許多,不是很好理解喔。

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資訊檢索中「相關」概念之發展

布丁布丁吃布丁

資訊檢索中「相關」概念之發展

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黃慕萱(1997)。資訊檢索中「相關」概念之發展。圖書館學刊,(12),39-62。


1. 相關研究的歷史

  1. 發起:1950年代開始
  2. 第一次高峰:1970年代,大型的實證型研究和理論型研究不斷投入,以求了解相關的本質和建立相關的理論
  3. 衰退:1980年代,由於缺乏突破性的發展,許多學者都停止對相關的探索工作
  4. 第二次高峰:1990年代,理論型研究和實證型研究又開始大量出現。
1-1. 先驅研究
  1. Mooers、Perry、Taube定義相關為檢索詞彙和文獻索引詞彙間之吻合關係
  2. 確定系統觀點(system view)之相關定義,併嘗試從不相關的角度來了解相關。
1-2. 1958年之科學資訊國際會議
  1. 討論兩大爭議:相關的哲學及最佳定義;相關的測量方式。但沒能解決爭議。
  2. Vickery將相關分成「主題相關」(relevance to a subject)和「使用者相關」(user relevance)
  3. Rees和Schultz指出科學資訊國際會議之一致性結論為:
    • 相關不應局限於系統內部之運作
    • 相關的內涵應超越文件內容的本質和文章的關聯性
    • 相關並不是二元化(是非題)之單純決策
    • 相關必須擴及使用者相關的層次,也就是說,由系統觀點的相關定義進至目的地觀點(destination view)之相關定義
1-3. 相關之理論性探討
  1. Maron和Kuhns的相關概念量化研究:利用機率概念發展出「相關數目」(relevance number)作為量化相關之測量值。相關數目是基於讀者、需求、需求之主題、及文件提供的答案等四項因素共同決定。
  2. Goffman:從型式數學推翻測量值之假說,但造成此原因可能是定義的未考量文章和文章之間的關係。
  3. Goffman和Newill:從傳播學理論解釋相關,並認為應將相關以問題與文章、及文章與文章間之關係加以量化。
1-4. 相關之實證研究
  1. Cuadra和Katter:
    • 將相關歸納為二類:
      1. 主題相關:表示讀者之興趣領域和詞彙與文章之間的關係
      2. 非主題相關:表示系統輸出和讀者資訊需求間的關係
    • 找到38種影響相關判斷的變數,歸納為下列五類
      1. 文章類型,包含其主題及難易程度
      2. 資訊需求之陳述
      3. 判斷者之經驗、背景及態度
      4. 判斷條件,例如時間壓力、輸出順序、及文章筆數等
      5. 表達方式的選擇及相關判斷的尺度
    • 發展出相關評估模式 (Model of Relevance Accessment)
      1. 焦點變數:指讀者判斷相關之架構或標準
      2. 界限變數:對實驗對象施以不同的教導會導致不同的相關判斷結果
      3. 情境變數:包含不確定性、時間壓力、回饋及其他會影響相關判斷之社會動機
      4. 刺激資料變數(stimulus material variables):包括寫作風格及文章之專指程度
      5. 個人差異變數:判斷者其知識及技巧上的差異
      6. 判斷尺度上的差異:通常尺度過於粗略,不足以顯示相關判斷之敏感性
  2. Rees和Schultz
    • 將相關定義為檢索所得結果與讀者資訊需求之間的關係,而有用性(usefulness)則完全受讀者個人特質的影響
    • 發現個人差異對相關判斷影響甚鉅,建議從認知型態和人格特質的導向來研究相關
    • 五類相關變數:文件及文件表徵、檢索問題、判斷情境、判斷尺度以及判斷者。其中影響最大的變數是判斷者。
  3. Saracevic:相關概念之三大假設
    • 只有資訊需求者有資格作相關判斷,因為相關是極為主觀的判斷
    • 對同一位判斷者,其相關判斷的結果會隨著時間變化,所以個人認知的動態變化在相關判斷中扮演相當重要的角色。
    • 不同的判斷情境會導致不同的相關判斷結果,如資訊需求者所處的環境及資訊預期的使用目的等。

2. 相關的定義與發展

2-1. 主題相關
  1. 檢索詞彙和描述文章詞彙間的一種吻合關係,是一種客觀相關。
  2. Cuafra & Katter (1967): 「相關是資訊條件敘述(即輸入系統之檢索問題)和文章內容間之一致性,亦即文章所涵蓋的內容對資訊條件敘述的適合程度。」
2-2. 邏輯相關
  1. 限制型定義
    • 檢索問題必須為是否型問題
    • 儲存資料之敘述方式必須為正式語言中之句子
    • 資訊系統必須具有推理功能
  2. 最小前提組(minimal premise set)
    • William Coopter:「一句子和資訊需求邏輯相關的必要條件是其所屬文件(以儲存的句子表達之)必須包含構成資訊需求之最小前提組(minimal premise set)」
    • 最小前提組:能推論出所需結果之最小前提集合。在此集合中,如果刪除任一前提,就無法以邏輯推理得到所需結論。
2-3. 情境相關
  • 由Patrick Wilson提出,以邏輯相關為基礎,加上邏輯歸納所推得之證據相關,再考慮讀者個人之知識狀態極其關心的重點延伸而成。
  • 變動性:情境相關考慮到個人知識狀態,而個人知識狀態不斷地變化
  • 顯著資訊(significant information):能夠改變個人知識狀態或認知狀態的資訊
2-4. 心理相關
  1. Sperber & Wilson: 個人的認知環境或知識狀態係指在某一特定時間內所能明白的事實和假設,在言談進行的過程中,個人的認知狀態(或知識狀態)會隨著譚會那容不斷地改變。……因此對個別交談者而言,所謂相關就是指產生最大文字關連的情境或是需要最少資訊處理的情境。
  2. Harter:相關資訊就是能改變人類認知狀態(或知識狀態)的資訊,換句話說,就是能產生文字關聯效果(contextual effect)之資訊

影響相關判斷之因素及相關判斷之依據

  1. Saracevic五大影響因素組
    1. 文件:主題、內容差異、難易程度、學科軟硬程度、資訊量…
    2. 判斷情境:時間壓力、文件排列順序、資料筆數、文件寬度…
    3. 文獻展現形式:尺度類型、類慕序號、要未之反應類型…
    4. 檢索問題陳述:主題、內容重點、難易程度、專指性或資訊量…
    5. 判斷者:知識/經驗、致力、認知狀態、偏見、判斷經驗、判斷狀態…
  2. Park三層面範疇
    1. 內在範疇(internal context):指讀者依過去經驗或其預期心理選擇相關資料
    2. 外在範疇(external context):對檢索品質之認知、檢索目的、資訊取得程度之認知、資訊需求之優先程度等等
    3. 問題範疇(problem context):使用書目資料的動機
  3. Barry的七大類目因素
    1. 文件內容:文章深度及探討重點、資訊之正確性、可應用程度…
    2. 讀者過去經驗和背景有關之因素:作者經驗和背景、理解能力…
    3. 讀者之信仰及喜好:讀者主觀認知之正確性及其個人嗜好…
    4. 資訊環境中其他資訊資源:論點之一致性、其他學者對研究結果之認同…
    5. 文件的來源品質:期刊品質與信譽
    6. 文件的實體部分:可取得性及花費
    7. 讀者之情境:時間限制、讀者與文章作者之間的關係

感想

  • 黃慕萱老師的「相關」介紹在國內相當知名,圖資學生必讀。

不過讀了幾篇相關的回顧文章之後,會發現大家描述相關歷史與發展的方式都不太一樣。究竟誰講得比較好、誰講的比較全面,我想應該是沒有一定的定論。只要這篇回顧能幫助大家研究、讀書更為順利,應該就是一篇好文章吧。

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Information retrieval and the philosophy of language 資訊檢索與語言哲學

布丁布丁吃布丁

Information retrieval and the philosophy of language 資訊檢索與語言哲學

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Blair, D. C. (2003). Information retrieval and the philosophy of language. Annual review of information science and technology, 37(1), 3–50.


1. 前言

  1. 資訊檢索範圍定義:
    I take information retrieval to involve the description and retrieval of written text, what I say here is applicable to any information item whose intellectual content can be described for retrieval-books, documents, images, audio clips, video clips, scientific specimens, engineering schematics, and so forth.
    • Description (描述) and Retrieval (檢索) 書寫的文字
    • 書寫文字特別指intellectual content (智慧內容),可用於檢索
  2. The philosophy of language deals specifically with how we are understood and mis-understood, it should have some use for understanding the process of description in information retrieval.

2. 檢索問題:

2-1. Failures of Description 敘述(呈現)的困難
  1. "exhaustive indexing" (unlimited aliasing): the assignment of all the index descriptions that could represent the intellectual content of an item of information.
    但卻不是很好的策略,因為:
    • 上限永無止盡,即使資訊很少
    • 有些索引詞比較重要,必須有重要性排列
2-2. Failures of Discrimination 分辨的困難
  1. The goal of discrimination is to distinguish, by means of description, documents that are likely to be useful to the inquirer from available documents with similar intellectual content that are not likely to be useful.
  2. too general to distinguish it from the intellectual content of useless documents.
2-3. Recall and Precision 求全率與求準率
  1. Recall 求全率: the percentage of relevant documents retrieved.
    • Failures of description lead to low recall.
  2. Precision 求準率: the percentage of retrieved documents that are relevant
    • Failures of discrimination tend to low precision.

3. 語言哲學應用到資訊檢索的含意

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) 語言哲學奠基者

  1. "Meanings" are not linked to words.
  2. "Meanings" are not concepts or any other single thing.
  3. To understand a word means to know when to use it ... and how to use it.
  4. Meaning is not the same as use, but emerges through use.
  5. Context and circumstances are often essential determinants of meaning.
  6. We assume that the individuals with whom we talk will cooperate with us and follow Grice’s maxims.

4. Externalism(形式主義)與語言哲學

  1. Internalist 內在主義者: philosophy of mind 內心的運作、處理過程
  2. Externalism 形式主義: there are many external facilities or processes that are necessary for cognition. 認知需要許多外在工具與過程
    1. 輔助認知的工具:紙筆之於數學計算 → 資料檢索之於資料庫
    2. “Twin Earch” thought experiment (Putnam, 1975): different people will call different things by the same name
  3. Scaffolding 鷹架建構: provides external augmentation for intelligent activity, enabling us to achieve outcomes that would be difficult or impossible for a single, unassisted individual.
    • Enable several individuals to work together to perform a complex task.

5. Scaffolding(鷹架建構)與資訊檢索

  1. The particular searching procedures and the explicit or implicit theory of representation used by an information retrieval system can, quite literally, become extensions of the cognitive processes of inquirers --this can be either good or bad.
  2. A simple full-text retrieval system does an unnatural way
    • Forcing the searcher to predict the exact words and phrases that occur in the desired documents.
    • People are quite good a t remembering proper names and approximate time frames.
    • Forgotten characteristics: Records should be continually ranked by their importance and less important ones regularly weeded out and forgotten.

6. 語言哲學應用到資訊檢索

6-1. The Significance重要性
  1. Contexts of activities and practices: If we want to know what the descriptions used to represent a document mean, we must examine how these descriptions are used in the activities and practices that use that information.
    • 但是系統通常把資訊跟情境當成兩回事
  2. Bring context into descriptions: If information retrieval systems cannot be physically near the activities and practices they support, then it may be useful to bring some of this context into the descriptions of the documents themselves.
  3. More real-time mode: it would be useful to develop procedures that use searcher feedback to adapt document descriptions.
  4. The danger with scaffolding: taking advantage of certain technical resources or efficiencies, we may actually force searchers to act in unnatural or problematic ways.
  5. From description to discrimination: The notion of "term discrimination" considered here is not just a comparison of term frequency occurrences, in which a term that occurs in just one document in the collection is considered a good discriminator and a term that appears in all the documents is not.
6-2. Writings 相關研究
  • Blair (1990) "Language and Representation in Information Retrieval" 資訊檢索中的語言與呈現: an extended argument for the importance of the problem of representation in information retrieval.
    • Blair and Kimbrough (2002) “exemplary documents示範文件: provide a guide to the intellectual content of many of the documents.
  • The theory of Illocutionary, or Speech, Acts 語內表現、演說、動作: a class of linguistic events (Speech Acts) exists that has predictable structures and processes.
    • Directives 指令: In which we order others to do things
    • Commissives 委任: In which we promise to do something
    • Declarations 宣告: In which we bring about changes in the world solely by our utterance
    • Expressives 陳述: In which we express our personal feelings and attitudes
    • Assertives 假設: In which we make statements, truly or falsely, about how things are
  • Relevant 相關: model formal relationships in language
    • Cooper (1971): minimal premise set 最小前提集
    • Wilson (1973): situational relevance 情境相關

感想

  • 不是很好理解的一篇文章,總覺得探討太多哲學問題會造成無限上綱的困境。在應用研究上,文獻探討應適可而止。

這篇光是語言哲學就講了26頁。當故事看還算有趣,但看完也很難跟人家說明則是個問題orz

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