An experiment to connect people and initiatives, to coordinate efforts in the collective task of finding alternatives to our current relationship with digital information.
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Perpectives, a simple non-technical Modelling Language. #18
Information Technology (IT) rests on the assumption that information carries meaning. While we won’t contest this as such, we’ll argue that the meaning of information depends on context.
“Information” has the Latin verb informare as its root. Loosely translated this means “to shape”, in the sense of “I try to shape my thoughts”. I will hold that information is a thought in a shape.
The rise of Information Technology (IT) has given both problems a new urgency. It has become so much easier to copy and spread information – the form. So much so that the speaker has been relegated to the background in favour of his word. “Information” has become independent: the thought has been separated from the thinker.
This shift is relevant because we’ve constructed information technology such that information flies all around the world while it’s source is left behind. And that information, out of its original context, out of reach of its source that would be able to explain his thoughts, acquires all sorts of meanings. The larger the conceptual distance between the receiver and the source, the larger this shift in meaning.
All this follows from our current understanding that holds that information is in the letter itself. Whoever has the information, has the meaning, the thought. Information is the new gold.
the seductive concept of information. Information: the thing that carries meaning, intrinsically. A thought, separate from the speaker, separate from context.
When the project runs into difficulties, the fault is found in the information model. It is not good enough! We’ll do better, next time. But they won’t, because there is no shared truth; there cannot be a universal dictionary; information has no intrinsic meaning. A moment’s reflection reveals we all intuitively know this. For example, what is the meaning of the word “yes”? Well, it’s meaning in church, before the altar, is completely different from it’s meaning in the restaurant (where you’d like sugar in your coffee). A cliche? Yes, but very true.
People want to share thoughts and use information – shapes – to convey them. Those who collaborate intensely usually need but half a word. But what is enough in that context, is incomprehensible to outsiders.
We need to learn to think differently about information.
Information should be pushed to the background.
We should put people in the foreground: people trying to inform each other.
We need to accept that the meaning of a shape is entirely determined by context.
Conclusions about the software:
one-way relationships, hierarchical structure
predefined ontology, top-down mode
→ This conversation is referenced in this repo by @danielarmengolaltayo
Perspectives are the Views and Actions of Roles in Contexts
The Perspectives Software is called Perspectives4EA. It is an Add-In for Sparx Systems widely used Enterprise Architect case tool.
5 concepts: context, role, action, view, property
Highlights for the text Perspectives on Information:
Conclusions about the software:
→ This conversation is referenced in this repo by @danielarmengolaltayo