1. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Systems theory

2. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing  Papers:  Klir, G.J. [2001]. Facets of systems Science. Springer. Chapters: 1 and 2  Rosen, R. [1986]. "Some comments on systems and system theory". Int. J. of General Systems, 13: 1—3.  Ashby, W.R.[1956]. An Introduction to Cybernetics, Chapman & Hall, London, Chapter 1. This week

3. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Informatics: a possible parsing Complex Systems Data & Search Data Mining HCID Social Informatics Security Bio- Chem- Geo- Music- Health-  towards problem solving  beyond computing  into the natural and social  synthesis of information technology

4. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing MACY meetings:  Norbert Wiener and Arturo Rosenblueth:  Goal-directed behavior and negative feedback (control)  Homeostasis and circular causality  In machines and biology  Automata Theory  Communication  The fundamental idea is the message, even though the message may not be sent by man and the fundamental element of the message is the decision” (Norbert Wiener)  Information and Communication Theory  Natural semiotics (McCulloch and others later get into Peircean Semiotics)  “functional equivalence” of systems (general systems)  Bio-inspired mathematics and engineering and computing/mechanism-inspired biology and social science

5. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing What is systems science? a science of relations and a lesson for informatics?  How to define an interdisciplinary field  “systems science is what systems scientists do”  “systems science is that field of scientific inquiry whose objects of study are systems”  What are systems? (George Klir)  “a set or arrangement of things so related or connected as to form a unity or organic whole” (Webster’s New World Dictionary)  Systemhood properties of nature  Robert Rosen  Systems depends on a specific adjective: thinghood (cf. “setness” or cardinality)  Systemhood: properties of arrangements of items, independent of the items

6. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing What is a system? (slightly more formally)  S = (T, R)  S: a System  T: a set of things  thinghood  R: a (or set of) relation(s)  Systemhood  Examples  Collections of books or music files  Are sets  But organizations of such sets are systems  E.g. alphabetically, chronologically, typologically, etc.

7. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing What is a system, cont’d...  Organizational properties defined by relations  Same relation can be applied to different sets of objects or things  Systems science deals with organizational properties of systems independently of the items  Wiener’s functional equivalences  Separation only relevant for complex systems  What about Informatics?  Can we separate what pertains to informatics and what pertains to thinghood- based dsciplines?

8. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Systems science: cross-disciplinary  It is a scientific endeavor that contains  A body of knowledge~ (complex) relations  A methodology to acquire new knowledg, solve problems  A metamethodology: Methods and problem-solving capabilities are characterized and critically examined  Knowledge and methodology  Applicable to thinghood-based science  Equivalent organizations from different fields can be studied as a whole rather than as a subproblems in a specific field  Offers unifying principles in partnership with traditional science  Two-dimensional science for the information or postindustrial age  Examples  Control, Communication, information, dynamical systems, chaos, evolutionary systems, scale-free networks, modularity, robustness, information networks, search, Etc.

9. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing What is a system: more formally  S = (T, R)  S : a System  T = {A 1, A 2, …, A n }  A family of sets of things: thinghood  Cartesian Product  Set of all possible associations of elements from each set, i.e. all n-tuples  {A 1 × A 2 × … × A n }  R : a (or set of) relation(s)  Subset of the Cartesian product of some set of sets: Systemhood  Many relations R can be defined on the same T From Klir [2001]

10. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Types of relations  Equivalence: (~exact same features)  Reflexive,  Symmetric,  transitive  Compatibility: (~synonyms)  Reflexive,  symmetric  Partial orderings:  Reflective,  anti-symmetric,  transitive (t1 >= t2)  Strict orderings:  anti-reflexive,  Antisymmetric,  transitive (t1 > t2)

11. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Equivalence classes

12. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Equivalence classes

13. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Equivalence classes

14. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Compatibility classes Not different in more than 2 categories.

15. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system  System: science  Things: scientists  Relation: compatibility relation, e.g. co-authorship S = (T,R) T = {t1,t2, …, tk} R is subset or equal to T x T, R = {(ti,tj), …} defined as: has co-authored a paper compatibility relation: reflexive, symmetric, non necessarily transitive

16. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system

17. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system

18. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system

19. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system

20. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing An example in bibliometrics: the scientific social system We have defined our system now. In fact, equivalence class of systems? - set of systems for which isomorphic relation establishes equivalence such that systemhood properties are preserved, for different set of things What would be in equivalence class of this system?  article networks,  social networks,  epidemiological networks? Scientific process of analysis and modeling continues, but now focused on system properties of equivalence class, not so much thinghood.

21. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Interpretation-free relations From Klir [2001] Class of isomorphic abstracted systems Systemhood properties are totally preserved under some suitable transformation from the set of things of one system into the set of things from the other system Equivalence relation: Reflexive, symmetric, and transitive Divide the space of possible systems (relations) into equivalent classes Devoid of any interpretation! General systems Canonical examples of equivalence classes

22. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Constructivism vs. realism Issue situated in epistemology: “branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.”philosophyknowledge Systems: two positions: 1) exist independent of observer and discovered from nature: realism 2) system do not exist in the real word, independent from of the human mind, but created by the decisions and distinctions that scientists make: constructivism OK, but how to choose between such constructions? Francis Heylighen (evolutinary perspective): - objective: distinctiveness ("difference that makes a difference”), invariance (to point of view, time, persons), controllability - subjective: utility, coherence, complexity, etc - intersubjective: formality, conformity, infectiousness etc

23. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Immersed in scientific currents of the last decade http://www.scribd.com/doc/14805983/Streams-Systemic-Thinking

24. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing 10 miles up: http://www.art-sciencefactory.com/complexity-map_feb09.html

25. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Discussion questions Klir, Facets of Systems Science: - Think of two isomorphic systems based on partial orderings in your domain of interest - “constructivism”: summarize in your own words and speculate on relevance to education Rosen, comments on cybernetics and systems science - Margaret Thatcher famously said: “There's no such thing as society... only individuals and families.” Frame that statement in Rosen’s comments on systems science. Ashby, introduction to cybernetics Ashby gives an example of the development of a rabbit ovum. Discuss the cybernetics point of view and juxtapose it to what Ashby calls the “older point of view

26. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Discussion questions The importance of stupidity: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

27. I501 – Introduction to Informatics jbollen@indiana.edu http://informatics.indiana.edu/jbollen/I501 Info rm atics and computing Lecture 3 – Fall 2011 Info rm atics and computing Next lecture: September 28  Complexity  Lazebnik, Y [2002]. "Can a biologist fix a radio?--Or, what I learned while studying apoptosis". Cancer Cell, 2(3):179-182.  Simon, H.A. [1962]. "The Architecture of Complexity". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106: pp. 467-482.  Klir, G.J. [2001]. Facets of systems Science. Springer. Chapters: 3, 8, and 11. September 28 Note: September 19 we will have no readings – postponed until September 28