Module 5: Information Ecologies

"We define an information ecology to be a system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment." Bonnie A. Nardi & Vicki L. O'Day (retrieved 28 May 2008)

What is an information ecology. Let's break it down - off to dictionary.com to look up some meanings.

information - knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance

ecology - the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.

Looking at the dictionary meanings on the words, my interpretation of this term is below:

The internet can be interpreted as being an infinite database of people interacting with one another to seek or share information. This forum, the internet as a whole, is dealing with the relations and interactions between people within a cyber environment.

This could be interpreted as being thought of as being the way of the future for people to communicate. The sharing of information may become the secondary focus as the development of the human aspect of the internet becomes more important. For me, the communication aspect is important, but the key word is 'interact'. People are interacting via websites, instant messenger, chat rooms, blogs, wikis, website for the key purpose of sharing or seeking information.

I can see how this could be applied to something such as blogging. As technology has developed to make it possible for anyone to create online journals on any topic, different roles have evolved in the Internet community and the information available has become broader, deeper and more accessible. Sites such as Wikipedia have made it possible for one person to have many roles - researcher, writer, authority, consumer. Sites such as Blinklist and del.ic.ious make it possible to quickly bookmark noteworthy sites on wide range of topics, and then categorize and rate them to share with other like minded users.

This is an interesting concept - my take on it is that it suggests that technology and human interaction work together to create the environment which is the internet as we currently view it. As technology changes so do the roles of the users.

"Indeed, it is difficult not to include humans as an informational component of any ecosystem". Dr David Casagrande, Assistant Professor of Environmental Anthropology (retrived 28 May 2008)

If I'm looking for directions on how to get somewhere, I go to Google Maps. If I want to know if a product I'm considering buying is all that and more, I'll search for reviews and feedback. When I'm writing an assignment for my uni courses, I'll turn to the web to find reference materials and additional information. I'm in the process of creating my own website and I have a personal blog for the key reason that I want to share information about myself to either potential clients (website) or to my friends and family on my recent adventures (blog). My decision to interact via these methods to seek and information helps to support the evolution on the human component of the evolution of the internet and the cyber environment.

"Information Foraging .... assumes that people, when possible, will modify their strategies or the structure of the environment to maximize their rate of gaining valuable information." Peter Pirolli and Stuart K. Card (retrieved 28 May 2008)