On the basis of earlier findings, we (Fiedler & Kareev, 2006) presented a statistical decision model that explains the conditions under which small samples of information about choice alternatives inform more correct choices than large samples. Such a small-sample advantage (SSA) is predicted for choices, not estimations. It is contingent on high…

Elwin, Juslin, Olsson, and Enkvist (2007) and Henriksson, Elwin, and Juslin (2010) offered the constructivist coding hypothesis to describe how people code the outcomes of their decisions when availability of feedback is conditional on the decision. They provided empirical evidence only for the 0.5 base rate condition. This commentary argues that…

Introduces this special issue on the theory and foundations of information retrieval by discussing the growth of non-library items, the issues of speed and precision in automated retrieval, the differences between document and data retrieval, the scope and foundations of information retrieval, and the future of the field. (JD)

Discusses pluralistic alternatives for communication theory accompanied by a responsibility for specification of falsification criteria. Examines four necessary links in the falsification of rules propositions from an action perspective. The criteria suggested are an extension of the "covering law" criteria, which are adapted to a recent…

Understanding of the communications process centers generally around the conduct of the process rather than the content, and particularly the establishment of communication channels. The communications model has three generally agreed upon components: source, channel, and destination. Destination may include questions about the nature of things,…

For most of the 20th century, Roman Jakobson's name will have been synonymous with the definition of communication as a human science, i.e., communicology. Jakobson is the modern source of most of what communication scholars theorize about and practice as human communication, and he will be the source of how communication scholars shall come to…

Postwar librarians have sacrificed the humanistic basis of librarianship and regard the use of science in librarianship as a settled issue. American librarianship is currently dominated by the physical thinking of scientific systems theory, which includes Bertalanffy's general system theory, Wiener's cybernetics, and the Hartley-Shannon theory of…

This essay distinguishes several different kinds of measures of information from each other, noting that differences between them show that our pretheoretical concept of information is multiply ambiguous. Incremental information, conditional information, transmitted information, expected information, and deductive information are discussed. Ten…

Argues that in information science we must distinguish physical, objective, or document space from perspective, subjective, or information space and holds that transformations can easily be made once these two spaces are distinguished. (FM)

Discusses J. L. Austin's treatment of perlocution and extends it to an analysis of five types of perlocution. Proposes a set of conditions necessary and sufficient for consummation of any perlocutionary act. (JMF)

Chaos theory describes the way systems change over time. It proposes that systems governed by physical laws can undergo transitions to a highly irregular form of behavior and that although chaotic behavior appears random, it is governed by strict mathematical conditions. This paper applies chaos theory to administrative and organizational issues.…

It is suggested that the study of artificial intelligence can provide ways of thinking about the human mind that are potentially valuable in formulating cognitive theories. Theoretical psychology is proposed as an appropriate classification for this branch of theory. (MSE)

Compares the notion of the conservation or inconservation of information with the laws of conservation of matter and energy. The theory of entropy in physics and its significance in information theory is discussed, and the essential nature of information is considered. (LRW)

Applies prevailing conceptions of proper argument to Burke's advocacy of the comic frame. Concludes these common conceptions cannot explain the power of Burke's arguments. Examines Richard Rorty's "edifying discourse" and Burke's "perspective by incongruity" as they illuminate the purpose of Burke's argumentation method. (NH)

Views information as residual or catalytic form of energy which regulates other forms of energy in natural and artificial systems. Parallel human information processing (production systems, algorithms, heuristics) and information measurement are discussed. Suggestions for future research in area of parallel information processing include a matrix…