This philosophical essay aims to explore the concept of Information Science. The philosophical ar... more This philosophical essay aims to explore the concept of Information Science. The philosophical argumentation is composed of five steps. It is based on clarifying the meanings of its basic concepts "data", "information" and "knowledge." The article offers reflections on the explored phenomena of information science. The study suggests that the field name "information science" should be changed to "Science of Knowledge."
Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 2000
This study aimed at reevaluating the Success search strategy. It was conducted by in-depth interv... more This study aimed at reevaluating the Success search strategy. It was conducted by in-depth interviews with 15 professional information searchers in a three-round Delphi-type research. The panelists were asked to crit-ically analyze the rationale of structured searching that forms the ...
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of information science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of information science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of four articles that documents the results of the Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. In this study, the author documents 50 definitions of information science, maps the major theoretical issues relevant to the formulation of a systematic conception, formulates six different conceptions of the field, and discusses their implications. Methodology The scientific methodology used was Critical Delphi. Critical Delphi is a qualitative research methodology aimed
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005 (Zins, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c). The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 28 classification schemes of Information Science that were compiled by leading scholars in the academic community. This unique collection of 28 classification schemes portrays and documents the profile of contemporary Information Science at the beginning of the 21st century.
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Mar 1, 2001
This study aims at formulating adequate criteria for designing the field of human services. Based... more This study aims at formulating adequate criteria for designing the field of human services. Based on a conceptual analysis of "human services" the study establishes the theoretical ground of a four-category model for classifying human service organizations, and three alternative definitions of the field. The classificatory principle underlying the model and the definitions reflects the contribution of human services to overall societal wellbeing. I conclude the study by discussing the implications for social welfare policy planning, service design and evaluation, and shaping the nature of the helping professions.
The study presented in this article is aimed to improve the academic education in the field of li... more The study presented in this article is aimed to improve the academic education in the field of library and information science by structuring the curricular and pedagogical reasoning that shapes the contents of undergraduate academic programs. It was composed of two methodological phases. The first phase was a systematic Critical Delphi study with 21 leading information science scholars from Brazil. The second phase was an unsystematic formative evaluation of the content categories. The evaluation was based on a Grounded Theory study of more than 100 programs worldwide. The study resulted in a universal model that sets the guiding principles for developing bachelor's degree programs applicable worldwide. The model, which is actually composed of two complementary models, is a systematic four step developing process (model 1.1) and a structured plan of 288 content categories (model 1.2). It is grounded on theoretical foundations and empirical studies.
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study condu... more This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This article presents a systematic and comprehensive knowledge map of the field, and is grounded on the panel discussions. The map has 10 basic categories: (1) Foundations, (2) Resources, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Contents, (5) Applications, (6) Operations and Processes, (7) Technologies, (8) Environments, (9) Organizations, and (10) Users. The model establishes the groundwork for formulating theories of information science, as well as developing and evaluating information science academic programs and bibliographic resources.
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review and if necessary redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, Knowledge Map of Information Science, was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
Esse trabalho coletivo incorpora onze posições sobre as implicações do "Mapa do Conhecimento... more Esse trabalho coletivo incorpora onze posições sobre as implicações do "Mapa do Conhecimento da Ciência da Informação", um estudo crítico Delphi conduzido de 2003 a 2005 e publicado em uma série de quatro artigos (ZINS, 2007a, b, c, d). O estudo Delphi capturou as deliberações de 57 líderes acadêmicos em Ciência da Informação de 16 países para fornecer: 1) definições de conceitos fundamentais de dados, informação, conhecimento e mensagem; 2) concepções alternativas em relação ao domínio da Ciência da Informação; 3) diferentes mapeamentos classificatórios da área; e 4) mapeamento compreensivo da Ciência da Informação. Em geral, o Mapa do Conhecimento fornece um diagnóstico atual da área, retratando as questões do Século XXI, que pode auxiliar o desenvolvimento de pesquisas futuras, programas educacionais, publicações e outras perspectivas profissionais e acadêmicas. Esse tipo de pesquisa de mapeamento sobre a Ciência da Informação deveria ser feito periodicamente, incluindo...
This study exemplifies an integrated methodological approach to domain analysis. The study analyz... more This study exemplifies an integrated methodological approach to domain analysis. The study analyzes the field of social work. It is aimed at developing a systematic, comprehensive, and scientifically valid knowledge map, and its applicability as an efficient tool to adequately represent knowledge in the field. The map is composed of seven parts: foundation (meta-knowledge), social worker, environment, organization, area of practice, method, and client. The study followed a qualitative four-phase research methodology. The first phase was a phenomenological analysis of the basic characteristics of social work as a social service. The analysis resulted in a seven-facet subject classification. In the second phase the conceptual skeleton was elaborated, and adjusted to the field of social work by a grounded-theory methodology. The data used for grounding the model were 14 social work resources. The model was tested in the third phase by classifying 200 terms randomly selected from the Di...
Este trabalho explora, em tres passos, como os tres principais sistemas de classificacao de bibli... more Este trabalho explora, em tres passos, como os tres principais sistemas de classificacao de bibliotecas, LCC, CDD e CDU, cobrem o conhecimento humano. Primeiro, mapeamos o conhecimento coberto pelos tres sistemas. Foram usados os “10 Pilares do Conhecimento: Mapa do Conhecimento Humano” (10 Pillars of Knowledge: Map of Human Knowledge) como um modelo de avaliacao. Foram mapeadas todas as classes de assunto que sao parte dos dois primeiros niveis das tres estruturas hierarquicas. Depois, focamos cada um dos dez pilares e analisamos como os tres sistemas cobrem os dez dominios do conhecimento. Finalmente, focamos nos tres sistemas de bibliotecas. Baseado na maneira como cada um deles cobre os dez dominios do conhecimento, e evidente que os tres apresentaram falhas ao apresentar o conhecimento humano contemporâneo de maneira adequada e sistematica. Eles sao assistematicos e tendenciosos e, nos dois niveis superiores das estruturas hierarquicas, sao incompletos.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2007
This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study condu... more This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This article presents a systematic and comprehensive knowledge map of the field, and is grounded on the panel discussions. The map has 10 basic categories: (1) Foundations, (2) Resources, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Contents, (5) Applications, (6) Operations and Processes, (7) Technologies, (8) Environments, (9) Organizations, and (10) Users. The model establishes the groundwork for formulating theories of information science, as well as developing and evaluating information science academic programs and bibliographic resources.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
This philosophical essay aims to explore the concept of Information Science. The philosophical ar... more This philosophical essay aims to explore the concept of Information Science. The philosophical argumentation is composed of five steps. It is based on clarifying the meanings of its basic concepts "data", "information" and "knowledge." The article offers reflections on the explored phenomena of information science. The study suggests that the field name "information science" should be changed to "Science of Knowledge."
Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 2000
This study aimed at reevaluating the Success search strategy. It was conducted by in-depth interv... more This study aimed at reevaluating the Success search strategy. It was conducted by in-depth interviews with 15 professional information searchers in a three-round Delphi-type research. The panelists were asked to crit-ically analyze the rationale of structured searching that forms the ...
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of information science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of information science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of four articles that documents the results of the Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. In this study, the author documents 50 definitions of information science, maps the major theoretical issues relevant to the formulation of a systematic conception, formulates six different conceptions of the field, and discusses their implications. Methodology The scientific methodology used was Critical Delphi. Critical Delphi is a qualitative research methodology aimed
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005 (Zins, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c). The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 28 classification schemes of Information Science that were compiled by leading scholars in the academic community. This unique collection of 28 classification schemes portrays and documents the profile of contemporary Information Science at the beginning of the 21st century.
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Mar 1, 2001
This study aims at formulating adequate criteria for designing the field of human services. Based... more This study aims at formulating adequate criteria for designing the field of human services. Based on a conceptual analysis of "human services" the study establishes the theoretical ground of a four-category model for classifying human service organizations, and three alternative definitions of the field. The classificatory principle underlying the model and the definitions reflects the contribution of human services to overall societal wellbeing. I conclude the study by discussing the implications for social welfare policy planning, service design and evaluation, and shaping the nature of the helping professions.
The study presented in this article is aimed to improve the academic education in the field of li... more The study presented in this article is aimed to improve the academic education in the field of library and information science by structuring the curricular and pedagogical reasoning that shapes the contents of undergraduate academic programs. It was composed of two methodological phases. The first phase was a systematic Critical Delphi study with 21 leading information science scholars from Brazil. The second phase was an unsystematic formative evaluation of the content categories. The evaluation was based on a Grounded Theory study of more than 100 programs worldwide. The study resulted in a universal model that sets the guiding principles for developing bachelor's degree programs applicable worldwide. The model, which is actually composed of two complementary models, is a systematic four step developing process (model 1.1) and a structured plan of 288 content categories (model 1.2). It is grounded on theoretical foundations and empirical studies.
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2007
This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study condu... more This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This article presents a systematic and comprehensive knowledge map of the field, and is grounded on the panel discussions. The map has 10 basic categories: (1) Foundations, (2) Resources, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Contents, (5) Applications, (6) Operations and Processes, (7) Technologies, (8) Environments, (9) Organizations, and (10) Users. The model establishes the groundwork for formulating theories of information science, as well as developing and evaluating information science academic programs and bibliographic resources.
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review and if necessary redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, Knowledge Map of Information Science, was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
Esse trabalho coletivo incorpora onze posições sobre as implicações do "Mapa do Conhecimento... more Esse trabalho coletivo incorpora onze posições sobre as implicações do "Mapa do Conhecimento da Ciência da Informação", um estudo crítico Delphi conduzido de 2003 a 2005 e publicado em uma série de quatro artigos (ZINS, 2007a, b, c, d). O estudo Delphi capturou as deliberações de 57 líderes acadêmicos em Ciência da Informação de 16 países para fornecer: 1) definições de conceitos fundamentais de dados, informação, conhecimento e mensagem; 2) concepções alternativas em relação ao domínio da Ciência da Informação; 3) diferentes mapeamentos classificatórios da área; e 4) mapeamento compreensivo da Ciência da Informação. Em geral, o Mapa do Conhecimento fornece um diagnóstico atual da área, retratando as questões do Século XXI, que pode auxiliar o desenvolvimento de pesquisas futuras, programas educacionais, publicações e outras perspectivas profissionais e acadêmicas. Esse tipo de pesquisa de mapeamento sobre a Ciência da Informação deveria ser feito periodicamente, incluindo...
This study exemplifies an integrated methodological approach to domain analysis. The study analyz... more This study exemplifies an integrated methodological approach to domain analysis. The study analyzes the field of social work. It is aimed at developing a systematic, comprehensive, and scientifically valid knowledge map, and its applicability as an efficient tool to adequately represent knowledge in the field. The map is composed of seven parts: foundation (meta-knowledge), social worker, environment, organization, area of practice, method, and client. The study followed a qualitative four-phase research methodology. The first phase was a phenomenological analysis of the basic characteristics of social work as a social service. The analysis resulted in a seven-facet subject classification. In the second phase the conceptual skeleton was elaborated, and adjusted to the field of social work by a grounded-theory methodology. The data used for grounding the model were 14 social work resources. The model was tested in the third phase by classifying 200 terms randomly selected from the Di...
Este trabalho explora, em tres passos, como os tres principais sistemas de classificacao de bibli... more Este trabalho explora, em tres passos, como os tres principais sistemas de classificacao de bibliotecas, LCC, CDD e CDU, cobrem o conhecimento humano. Primeiro, mapeamos o conhecimento coberto pelos tres sistemas. Foram usados os “10 Pilares do Conhecimento: Mapa do Conhecimento Humano” (10 Pillars of Knowledge: Map of Human Knowledge) como um modelo de avaliacao. Foram mapeadas todas as classes de assunto que sao parte dos dois primeiros niveis das tres estruturas hierarquicas. Depois, focamos cada um dos dez pilares e analisamos como os tres sistemas cobrem os dez dominios do conhecimento. Finalmente, focamos nos tres sistemas de bibliotecas. Baseado na maneira como cada um deles cobre os dez dominios do conhecimento, e evidente que os tres apresentaram falhas ao apresentar o conhecimento humano contemporâneo de maneira adequada e sistematica. Eles sao assistematicos e tendenciosos e, nos dois niveis superiores das estruturas hierarquicas, sao incompletos.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2007
This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study condu... more This article is part of a group of four articles that resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries who represent nearly all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This article presents a systematic and comprehensive knowledge map of the field, and is grounded on the panel discussions. The map has 10 basic categories: (1) Foundations, (2) Resources, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Contents, (5) Applications, (6) Operations and Processes, (7) Technologies, (8) Environments, (9) Organizations, and (10) Users. The model establishes the groundwork for formulating theories of information science, as well as developing and evaluating information science academic programs and bibliographic resources.
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2007
The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are re... more The field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore, information scientists are required to regularly review-and if necessary-redefine its fundamental building blocks. This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The study, "Knowledge Map of Information Science," was aimed at exploring the foundations of information science. The international panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the field. This particular article documents 130 definitions of data, information, and knowledge formulated by 45 scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these three key concepts.
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Papers by Chaim Zins