L2. The Organizing System
August 11, 2011 - 14:02 — jlzych
Date/Time:
Wed, 08/31
Resource(s):
Organizing” is a fundamental issue in several existing disciplines, most notably library and information science, computer science, informatics, economics, and business. However, these disciplines have only limited agreement in how they approach problems of organizing and in what they seek as their solutions. For example, library and information science has traditionally studied organizing from a public sector bibliographic perspective, paying careful attention to user requirements and behaviors, and offering prescriptive methods and solutions. In contrast, computer science and informatics tend to study organizing in the context of information-intensive business applications with a focus on system architecture and implementation.
This course presents a more abstract framework for issues and problems of organizing that emphasizes the common concepts and goals of the disciplines that study them. We begin by recognizing that every system of organization involves a collection of resources, and we can treat things, information, and information about things as resources. Every system of organization involves a choice of properties or principles used to describe and arrange the resources, and ways of accessing and interacting with them. By comparing and contrasting how these activities take place in different contexts and domains, we can identify patterns of organizing and see that Organizing Systems often follow a common life cycle. We can create a discipline of organizing in a disciplined way.
This course presents a more abstract framework for issues and problems of organizing that emphasizes the common concepts and goals of the disciplines that study them. We begin by recognizing that every system of organization involves a collection of resources, and we can treat things, information, and information about things as resources. Every system of organization involves a choice of properties or principles used to describe and arrange the resources, and ways of accessing and interacting with them. By comparing and contrasting how these activities take place in different contexts and domains, we can identify patterns of organizing and see that Organizing Systems often follow a common life cycle. We can create a discipline of organizing in a disciplined way.