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Abstract

Details

European Origins of Library and Information Science
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-718-4

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1979

JAMES STEVE COUNELIS

Man has the propensity to seek, design, impose and maintain unities. These unities are at the interstice where man and his environment intersect. These unities are information…

Abstract

Man has the propensity to seek, design, impose and maintain unities. These unities are at the interstice where man and his environment intersect. These unities are information. Hence, information (I) is defined as the goal‐directed (V−1) communicational intersect between a person (P) and his environment (E). That is: I = fV−1(P ∩ E). There are four generic information systems: (1) Symbolic Records; (2) Languages; (3) Disciplines; (4) Societal Knowledges. In the context of generic information systems, both general systems theory and cybernetic function as meta‐science (V−1). In effect these can produce equifinally identical science, thus inferring that general systems theory and cybernetics are unitary.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 December 2022

James Christopher Westland

This paper tests whether Bayesian A/B testing yields better decisions that traditional Neyman-Pearson hypothesis testing. It proposes a model and tests it using a large, multiyear…

1149

Abstract

Purpose

This paper tests whether Bayesian A/B testing yields better decisions that traditional Neyman-Pearson hypothesis testing. It proposes a model and tests it using a large, multiyear Google Analytics (GA) dataset.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is an empirical study. Competing A/B testing models were used to analyze a large, multiyear dataset of GA dataset for a firm that relies entirely on their website and online transactions for customer engagement and sales.

Findings

Bayesian A/B tests of the data not only yielded a clear delineation of the timing and impact of the intellectual property fraud, but calculated the loss of sales dollars, traffic and time on the firm’s website, with precise confidence limits. Frequentist A/B testing identified fraud in bounce rate at 5% significance, and bounces at 10% significance, but was unable to ascertain fraud at the standard significance cutoffs for scientific studies.

Research limitations/implications

None within the scope of the research plan.

Practical implications

Bayesian A/B tests of the data not only yielded a clear delineation of the timing and impact of the IP fraud, but calculated the loss of sales dollars, traffic and time on the firm’s website, with precise confidence limits.

Social implications

Bayesian A/B testing can derive economically meaningful statistics, whereas frequentist A/B testing only provide p-value’s whose meaning may be hard to grasp, and where misuse is widespread and has been a major topic in metascience. While misuse of p-values in scholarly articles may simply be grist for academic debate, the uncertainty surrounding the meaning of p-values in business analytics actually can cost firms money.

Originality/value

There is very little empirical research in e-commerce that uses Bayesian A/B testing. Almost all corporate testing is done via frequentist Neyman-Pearson methods.

Details

Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics, vol. 1 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-4214

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2007

Tyler Volk, Jeffrey W. Bloom and John Richards

Gregory Bateson defined a metapattern as a “pattern of patterns.” But, what did he mean by metapattern (which he used only once)? Can there be a meta‐science, in which…

480

Abstract

Purpose

Gregory Bateson defined a metapattern as a “pattern of patterns.” But, what did he mean by metapattern (which he used only once)? Can there be a meta‐science, in which metapatterns are its objects or principles? The authors explore these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review examples of Bateson's “great pattern” of “combination,” which the authors call the binary. Bateson showed that binary is the minimal solution to the problem of gaining new characteristics by combining parts into a larger whole. Thus, binary is clearly a metapattern, a discipline‐transcending structural and functional principle. The authors select parts of Bateson's writings to highlight his search for other great patterns, some of which correspond with those developed by T. Volk.

Findings

The authors suggest that the basis for a science of metapatterns is the following: functional patterns that confer advantages on the systems that possess those patterns can converge, in a meta‐realm that includes all of what Bateson termed stochastic sequences, namely, in biological, cultural, and cognitive realms. The convergences are common solutions to the same functional problems that span a wide variety of systems. Other general principles in the organization of systems, such as borders, arrows, cycles, centers, and networks, constitute members of a system of metapatterns, the objects in a Batesonian metascience. The authors show that the metapatterns have implications for research in the humanities and social sciences, as well as for dynamic learning along the lines of Bateson's broadly‐extended concept of epistemology.

Originality/value

As nearly universal functional patterns, metapatterns could serve to create a scale‐bridging form of descriptive scholarship and thus contribute to the quest for a unified body of knowledge, which E.O. Wilson termed Consilience.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 36 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1999

Wu Xuemou and Guo Dinghe

The framework, methodology and development of pansystems cybernetics are introduced. Related contents include: the postmodernizational systems thought, the epitome of pansystems…

Abstract

The framework, methodology and development of pansystems cybernetics are introduced. Related contents include: the postmodernizational systems thought, the epitome of pansystems methods, hi‐tech mechanism, social cybernetics, pansystems views of value, labor, management and economics, pedagogy, history and futurology, systems mathematics, general clustering analysis, observocontrollability, generalized living systems, information metascience, regret information, general fuzzy control, generalized gray systems, entropy, large scale dynamical supercomplicated Shengke systems, function simulations, transformation theory, simplification, strengthening, forming substance of subsystems of living systems of Miller’s theory, etc.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 28 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 April 2008

Birger Hjørland

The purpose of this paper is to provide an answer to a critique put forward by Szostak against a paper written by the present author.

1460

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an answer to a critique put forward by Szostak against a paper written by the present author.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a literature‐based conceptual analysis based on Hjørland and Nissen Pedersen and Szostak. The main points in a core theory of classification are outlined and Szostak's criticism is examined and answered.

Findings

The paper demonstrates theoretical differences between the views adduced by Hjørland and Nissen Pedersen on the one side and by Szostak on the other.

Practical implications

Theoretical clarification is important for the future development of the field.

Originality/value

The paper should be seen as one among others developing an argument for a theoretical foundation of classification informed by the theory of knowledge.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 64 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2000

Wu Xuemou, Pan Jinghong and Heng Pheng‐Ann

The framework, panorama, related applications and development of pansystems thinking are introduced and some problems concerning generalized systems, derivatives, symmetry and…

Abstract

The framework, panorama, related applications and development of pansystems thinking are introduced and some problems concerning generalized systems, derivatives, symmetry and quantification are investigated, a sort of difference‐identity theory within the framework of pansystems thinking is cultivated, and a new type of clustering method with many intertransformations among some important pansystems concepts is presented. Related contents include: pansystems combination of mathematics, systems, dialectics and poetry thinking, methodology to comprehend laws by pansymmetries or by moving networks, the pansystems views of generalized order, quotientization and series‐parallel relations, control‐reachability, duality transformation, discoupling principle, communication theorems, general parental relations, etc.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 29 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 June 2022

Tobias Weber

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of linguistic legacy materials within archives and databases. These data of past documentation projects are currently playing a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of linguistic legacy materials within archives and databases. These data of past documentation projects are currently playing a minor role in the design of modern language archives. This is due to various challenges that legacy materials pose – ethical considerations, difficulties with formats, unclear or deficient metadata. Tackling these challenges can highlight general issues in language documentation and the use of language data. These insights can be used to inform the design of tools and infrastructures for data in this field, both recent and legacy materials.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is conceptual and theorises digital language archives through their oldest deposits. It is informed by the author’s experiences in working with linguistic legacy materials of the South Estonian Kraasna dialect. The discussion makes references to relevant discourses in linguistics, archiving and computer science, encouraging transdisciplinary efforts in the design of language archives.

Findings

A digital archive created around linguistic legacy materials has the potential to respond to challenges posed by current data.

Originality/value

This paper discusses digital language archives from the perspective of documentary linguistics. It introduces the challenges and necessary steps in curating legacy materials. Several suggestions for the design of digital archives arise from this discussion. These ideas can inspire creators of digital language archives and provide a view from researchers using legacy materials.

Details

The Electronic Library , vol. 40 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Guo Dinghe and Wu Xuemou

A new expression of the panorama of pansystems relativity is stated. Some modes and related principles or applications are developed. Concrete contents include: new forms of the…

Abstract

A new expression of the panorama of pansystems relativity is stated. Some modes and related principles or applications are developed. Concrete contents include: new forms of the framework 784e of pansystems theory and its connections with relativity. The paper introduces eight classes of relativity topics, and further research presents many new models of pansystems relativity such as: 23456R, super‐23456R, SSOS, SOMERQ, pansystems dialectics, clustering quotient, field‐net, meta‐topology, image‐boundary, cognition and practice, thinking experiment, etc. These modes present some new understanding to systems, society, methodology, epistemology, wisdom, psychology, hi‐tech, paradox, anthropology, ego, literature, arts, poetics and aesthetics, etc. There are 60 or more related references listed in the paper.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1995

Ion Stoica

Describes the re‐establishment of a department of librarianship andinformation science at Bucharest University, Romania. Discusses some ofthe problems and dilemmas encountered and…

2591

Abstract

Describes the re‐establishment of a department of librarianship and information science at Bucharest University, Romania. Discusses some of the problems and dilemmas encountered and gives details of the curriculum and courses taught. Ends by assessing what has been achieved and outlining aims for the future.

Details

Librarian Career Development, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-0810

Keywords

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