2009-7-27 P,1
Unit 1
Definitions and History of Information Science
Chapter Study Tasks（ 1）
In this chapter,you will be able to
— Identify the different definitions of information science
— Learn the history of information science
— Get the general ideas of the texts and extensive readings
— Complete all the practice required
Chapter One
&Part4 Extensive Reading@ Part 1 Notes to Text
@Part5 Notes to Passage& Part 2 Word Study
@Part3 Practice on Text @Part6 Practice on Passage
2009-7-27 P,2
Definitions of Information Science @ Part 1 Notes to Text
1) Information science (also information studies) is an
interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection,
classification,manipulation,storage,retrieval and dissemination
of information.信息科学（也称信息研究）是一门跨学科科学，主要是研究信息的采集、分类、处理、储存、检索和传播。
注释,该句是个系表结构的简单句型。注意 primarily concerned with
是过去分词短语用作定语，修饰表语 an interdisciplinary science。
2) It is actually a broad,interdisciplinary field,incorporating not
only aspects of computer science,but also library science,
cognitive,and social sciences,事实上信息科学的研究范围非常之广，
是一种跨学科领域。其中不但涉及了计算机科学的方方面面，而且还包含了图书馆 (管理 )学、认知科学和社会科学。
注释,此句的结构与上句相同，也是简单句。不同的是：现在分词短语
incorporating not only …,but also … 的语法功能则是伴随状语。
2009-7-27 P,3
3) In this respect,information science can be seen as a
response to technological determinism,the belief that
technology,develops by its own laws,that it realizes its own
potential,limited only by the material resources available,and
must therefore be regarded as an autonomous system
controlling and ultimately permeating all other subsystems of
society.” 在这方面，信息科学可以被视为是对技术缩命论的回应。
技术缩命论相信技术的“发展靠的是其自身的规律，技术可以实现其自身的潜能，而唯一能制约这种潜能的则是可利用资源。因此必须视之为独立系统，它控制着社会所有其它子系统，而且最终会渗透其中。
注释,名词性短语 the belief是 technological determinism的同位语；
that technology… 是同位语从句，说明 belief的具体内容。从句 that
it realizes… 则是同位语从句中的结果状语；过去分词短语 limited
only by… 修饰 potential; 此外 must therefore be regarded as… 是并列分句。
2009-7-27 P,4
4) Because of the rapidly evolving,interdisciplinary nature
of informatics,a precise meaning of the term "informatics"
is presently difficult to pin down.也正是由于信息科学具有发展势头迅猛和跨学科这种特有的性质，所以“信息学”这一术语到目前为止还很难给出一个精确的定义。
注释,注意介词短语 because of后面的宾语是 nature,其它都是
nature的定语；此句的主语是 meaning；不定式 to pin down是状语修饰形容词 difficult，意思相当于 to fix or establish
clearly ( 清楚地固定或建立 )。
End
2009-7-27 P,5
1,interdisciplinary adj,跨学科的 11.systemic adj,系统的
2,manipulation n,操作 ; 处理 12.determinism n,宿命论；决定论
3,retrieval n,检索 13.autonomous adj,自治的；独立的
4,dissemination n,传播 14.permeate v,渗透,透过
5,interaction n,互相作用；互动 15.groupware n,组件
6,incorporate v,合并 ; 合成 16.semantic adj,语义的
7,cognitive adj,认知的,认识的 17.iterative adj,反复的,重复的,
8,perspective n,观点,看法 18.synonym n,同义字
9,stakeholder n,股东 19.informatics n,信息学,情报学
10.tackle v,处理,解决 20.emerge vi,显现,浮现
& Part 2 Word Study
End
2009-7-27 P,6
Task 1,Listening training
Dictation of some key words
Directions,You will hear some key words twice,most of which are taken from
the Word Study,Then finish the Crossword Puzzle,(See you book p,)
2,Dictation of some key expressions
Directions,You will hear some key expressions twice,most of which are
taken from this text,Then you are asked to complete the missing words.
1) interdisciplinary _____________
2) _____________ systems
3) ___________ and social sciences
4) technological ________________
5) ____________ design processes
6) international _______________
@Part3 Practice on Text
science
information
cognitive
determinism
iterative
terminology
2009-7-27 P,7
Read and Reply
Directions:Students are required to read aloud the whole text after
the teacher,Then give short answers to the following questions:
a) What does information science study?
b) What tackles systemic problems first rather than
individual pieces of technology within that system?
c) Why is a precise meaning of the term "informatics"
presently difficult to pin down?
Task 2,Read,Write and Translate
The application and usage of knowledge in organizations,and
the interaction between people,organizations and information
systems
Information science
Because of the rapidly evolving,interdisciplinary nature
of informatics
2009-7-27 P,8
Directions:Students are required to read through the whole text again and then
tell whether the following statements true (T) or false (F).
( )1) Information science mainly involves in the collection,classification,
manipulation,storage,retrieval and dissemination of information,
( )2)It is right to take information science as a branch of computer science,
( )3) Information science focuses on understanding problems from the
perspective of the government and customers involved,
( )4) Nowadays,a number of Schools and Colleges of Information are
growing fast,
( )5) Regional differences and international terminology may be the causes to
make it difficult to define information science procisely,
Read and Judge
T
F
F
T
T
End
2009-7-27 P,9
Directions:Read the following short passage,Complete it by filling in the missing words.
A,speaking B,representation C,as D,meanings E,acquired
F,word G,information H,closely related I,society J,about
Information as a concept bears a diversity of 1)_____,from everyday
usage to technical settings,Generally 2)_____,the concept of
information is 3)_____to notions of constraint,communication,
control,data,form,instruction,knowledge,meaning,mental stimulus,
pattern,perception,and 4)_____.
Many people speak 5)_____the Information Age 6)_____the advent
of the Knowledge Age or knowledge society,the information 7)_____,
and information technologies,and even though informatics,
8)_____science and computer science are often in the spotlight,the
9)_____ "information" is often used without careful consideration of
the various meanings it has 10)_____.
Read and Complete
D
A
H
B
J C
I
G
F
E
End
2009-7-27 P,10
1)请你尽快将所有的信息 E给我们公司那些相关人员。（ concerned）
2)去年史密斯公司与别家合并了,这使他蒙受了巨大损失。
（ incorporate with）
3)老师提的问题是那样难，以致于学生们不知道怎么解决。 (tackle)
4)太阳从云层后面露出来。船也从雾里露了出来。 (emerge)
5)结果是，信息渗透到我们生活的各个区域。 (permeate into)
Read and Translate
Directions:Put the following sentences into English,using the words or phrases given.
Please send all the information to those concerned in our
company as soon as possible.
Mr,Smith's firm incorporated with others last year,
which makes him suffer a great loss,
The question set by the teacher was so difficult that the
pupils did not know how to tackle it.
Finally,the sun emerged from behind the clouds,and the
ship emerged from behind the fog,
As a result,information will permeate into all areas of our life.
End
2009-7-27 P,11
Information As a Message
Information is a quality of a message from a sender to one or more receivers,
Information is always about something (size of a parameter(参数 ),occurrence
of an event,… ),Viewed in this manner,information does not have to be
accurate,It may be a truth or a lie,or just the sound of a kiss,Even a
disruptive(破坏性的 )noise used to inhibit(阻止 )the flow of communication and
create misunderstanding would in this view be a form of information,
However,generally speaking,if the amount of information in the received
message increases,the more accurate the message is.
This model assumes there is a definite sender and at least one receiver,
Many refinements(精练 )of the model assume the existence of a common
langua-ge understood by the sender and at least one of the receivers,An
important variation identifies information as that which would be
communicated by a message if it were sent from a sender to a receiver
capable of understand-ing the message,However,in requiring the
existence of a definite sender,the "information as a message" model does
not attach any significance to the idea that information is something that
can be extracted from an envi-ronment,e.g.,through observation,reading
or measurement.
&Part4 Extensive Reading
2009-7-27 P,12
Information is a term with many meanings depending on
context(语境 ),but is as a rule closely related to such concepts
as meaning,knowledge,instruction,communication,
representa-tion,and mental stimulus(刺激 ),Simply stated,
information is a message received and understood,In terms
of data,it can be defined as a collection of facts from which
conclusions may be drawn,There are many other aspects of
information since it is the knowledge acquired through study
or experience or instruction,But overall,information is the
result of process-ing,manipulating and organizing data in a
way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.
Another form of information is the Fisher information,a
concept of R.A,Fisher,This is used in application of statistics
(统计 (学 ))to estimation theory and to science in general,Fisher
information is thought of as the amount of information that a
message carries about an unobservable parameter,It can be
computed from knowledge of the likelihood function defining
2009-7-27 P,13
the system,For example,with a normal likelihood function,(似然函数 )the Fisher information is the reciprocal (互补 ;倒数 )of the
variance(差 )of the law,In the absence of knowledge of the
likelihood law,the Fisher information may be computed from
normally distributed score data as the reciprocal of their
second moment.
Even though information and data are often used
interchangeably(交替地 ),they are actually very different,Data is
a set of unrelated information,and as such is of no use until
it is properly evaluated,Upon evaluation,once there is some
significant relation between data,and they show some
relevance(相关性 ),then it is converted into information,Now
this same data can be used for different purposes,
Thus,till the data convey some information,they are
not useful.
End
2009-7-27 P,14
1)Viewed in this manner,information does not have to be
accurate,It may be a truth or a lie,or just the sound of a kiss,以这种方式来看，信息就无所谓精确了。亦真亦假，恰如轻拂之声。
注释,过去分词短语 Viewed in this manner是状语，相当于 If it is
viewed in this manner;注意 kiss一词在这里的意思不是“亲吻”，
而是“轻拂”。
2)Even a disruptive noise used to inhibit the flow of
communication and create misunderstanding would in this view
be a form of information.在这种观点中，即使是一种用来制约通信流通、导致误解的破坏性噪音都被视为一种信息形式。
注释,该句中的 used to inhibit the flow of communication and
create misunderstanding是过去分词短语充当定语，修饰 noise；此句由于 even置于句首而采用了倒装形式。
@Part5 Notes to Passage
2009-7-27 P,15
3)An important variation identifies information as that which would
be communicated by a message if it were sent from a sender to a
receiver capable of understanding the message.有一个重大的变化是，
将信息看成是可以用音信来传达的东西，前提是：如果该信息是由发送者传递给一位能理解信息的接收者。
注释,注意 which引导的是定语从句，修饰先行词 that，而 that则用以指代 information。
4)Another form of information is the Fisher information,a concept
of R.A,Fisher,This is used in application of statistics to estimation
theory and to science in general.另一种信息形式是 Fisher信息，即
R.A,Fisher的信息概念。这种信息概念将统计学应用于评估理论和普通科学。
注释,R.A,Fisher或 Fisher,Ronald Aylmer (1890-1962)是世界最著名的英国数学家、生物学家、统计学家。是他发明了革命性的技术，使统计学应用于自然科学。尤其是他发现了优化实验结果评估的方法。在他众多的重要发现中有方差分析 analysis of variance (ANOVA)、极值理论
(extreme value theory)和 P分位差 （ P-value）等论著。
End
2009-7-27 P,16
1.Listening Challenge
Spot Dictation
Directions,The following passage will be heard 3 times,During the second time,you
are required to put the missing words or phrases in the numbered blanks according to
what you hear,The third time is for you to check your answers,Now the passage
begins.
Information 1)_______________is a discipline in applied mathematics
involving the quantification of 2)_________________with the goal of
enabling as much data 3)_________________to be reliably stored on a
medium or communicated over a 4)______________,The measure of
information,known as 5)________________entropy,is usually
6)____________________the average number of bits needed for
storage or 7)_______________,For example,if a daily weather
description has an entropy of 3 bits,then,over enough days,we can
8)______________ daily weather with an 9)_________of approximately
3 bits 10)_______________________,
@Part6 Practice on Passage
theory
data
as possible
channel
information
expressed by
communication
communicate average
per day
End
2009-7-27 P,17
End of this Unit
Unit 1
Definitions and History of Information Science
Chapter Study Tasks（ 1）
In this chapter,you will be able to
— Identify the different definitions of information science
— Learn the history of information science
— Get the general ideas of the texts and extensive readings
— Complete all the practice required
Chapter One
&Part4 Extensive Reading@ Part 1 Notes to Text
@Part5 Notes to Passage& Part 2 Word Study
@Part3 Practice on Text @Part6 Practice on Passage
2009-7-27 P,2
Definitions of Information Science @ Part 1 Notes to Text
1) Information science (also information studies) is an
interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection,
classification,manipulation,storage,retrieval and dissemination
of information.信息科学（也称信息研究）是一门跨学科科学，主要是研究信息的采集、分类、处理、储存、检索和传播。
注释,该句是个系表结构的简单句型。注意 primarily concerned with
是过去分词短语用作定语，修饰表语 an interdisciplinary science。
2) It is actually a broad,interdisciplinary field,incorporating not
only aspects of computer science,but also library science,
cognitive,and social sciences,事实上信息科学的研究范围非常之广，
是一种跨学科领域。其中不但涉及了计算机科学的方方面面，而且还包含了图书馆 (管理 )学、认知科学和社会科学。
注释,此句的结构与上句相同，也是简单句。不同的是：现在分词短语
incorporating not only …,but also … 的语法功能则是伴随状语。
2009-7-27 P,3
3) In this respect,information science can be seen as a
response to technological determinism,the belief that
technology,develops by its own laws,that it realizes its own
potential,limited only by the material resources available,and
must therefore be regarded as an autonomous system
controlling and ultimately permeating all other subsystems of
society.” 在这方面，信息科学可以被视为是对技术缩命论的回应。
技术缩命论相信技术的“发展靠的是其自身的规律，技术可以实现其自身的潜能，而唯一能制约这种潜能的则是可利用资源。因此必须视之为独立系统，它控制着社会所有其它子系统，而且最终会渗透其中。
注释,名词性短语 the belief是 technological determinism的同位语；
that technology… 是同位语从句，说明 belief的具体内容。从句 that
it realizes… 则是同位语从句中的结果状语；过去分词短语 limited
only by… 修饰 potential; 此外 must therefore be regarded as… 是并列分句。
2009-7-27 P,4
4) Because of the rapidly evolving,interdisciplinary nature
of informatics,a precise meaning of the term "informatics"
is presently difficult to pin down.也正是由于信息科学具有发展势头迅猛和跨学科这种特有的性质，所以“信息学”这一术语到目前为止还很难给出一个精确的定义。
注释,注意介词短语 because of后面的宾语是 nature,其它都是
nature的定语；此句的主语是 meaning；不定式 to pin down是状语修饰形容词 difficult，意思相当于 to fix or establish
clearly ( 清楚地固定或建立 )。
End
2009-7-27 P,5
1,interdisciplinary adj,跨学科的 11.systemic adj,系统的
2,manipulation n,操作 ; 处理 12.determinism n,宿命论；决定论
3,retrieval n,检索 13.autonomous adj,自治的；独立的
4,dissemination n,传播 14.permeate v,渗透,透过
5,interaction n,互相作用；互动 15.groupware n,组件
6,incorporate v,合并 ; 合成 16.semantic adj,语义的
7,cognitive adj,认知的,认识的 17.iterative adj,反复的,重复的,
8,perspective n,观点,看法 18.synonym n,同义字
9,stakeholder n,股东 19.informatics n,信息学,情报学
10.tackle v,处理,解决 20.emerge vi,显现,浮现
& Part 2 Word Study
End
2009-7-27 P,6
Task 1,Listening training
Dictation of some key words
Directions,You will hear some key words twice,most of which are taken from
the Word Study,Then finish the Crossword Puzzle,(See you book p,)
2,Dictation of some key expressions
Directions,You will hear some key expressions twice,most of which are
taken from this text,Then you are asked to complete the missing words.
1) interdisciplinary _____________
2) _____________ systems
3) ___________ and social sciences
4) technological ________________
5) ____________ design processes
6) international _______________
@Part3 Practice on Text
science
information
cognitive
determinism
iterative
terminology
2009-7-27 P,7
Read and Reply
Directions:Students are required to read aloud the whole text after
the teacher,Then give short answers to the following questions:
a) What does information science study?
b) What tackles systemic problems first rather than
individual pieces of technology within that system?
c) Why is a precise meaning of the term "informatics"
presently difficult to pin down?
Task 2,Read,Write and Translate
The application and usage of knowledge in organizations,and
the interaction between people,organizations and information
systems
Information science
Because of the rapidly evolving,interdisciplinary nature
of informatics
2009-7-27 P,8
Directions:Students are required to read through the whole text again and then
tell whether the following statements true (T) or false (F).
( )1) Information science mainly involves in the collection,classification,
manipulation,storage,retrieval and dissemination of information,
( )2)It is right to take information science as a branch of computer science,
( )3) Information science focuses on understanding problems from the
perspective of the government and customers involved,
( )4) Nowadays,a number of Schools and Colleges of Information are
growing fast,
( )5) Regional differences and international terminology may be the causes to
make it difficult to define information science procisely,
Read and Judge
T
F
F
T
T
End
2009-7-27 P,9
Directions:Read the following short passage,Complete it by filling in the missing words.
A,speaking B,representation C,as D,meanings E,acquired
F,word G,information H,closely related I,society J,about
Information as a concept bears a diversity of 1)_____,from everyday
usage to technical settings,Generally 2)_____,the concept of
information is 3)_____to notions of constraint,communication,
control,data,form,instruction,knowledge,meaning,mental stimulus,
pattern,perception,and 4)_____.
Many people speak 5)_____the Information Age 6)_____the advent
of the Knowledge Age or knowledge society,the information 7)_____,
and information technologies,and even though informatics,
8)_____science and computer science are often in the spotlight,the
9)_____ "information" is often used without careful consideration of
the various meanings it has 10)_____.
Read and Complete
D
A
H
B
J C
I
G
F
E
End
2009-7-27 P,10
1)请你尽快将所有的信息 E给我们公司那些相关人员。（ concerned）
2)去年史密斯公司与别家合并了,这使他蒙受了巨大损失。
（ incorporate with）
3)老师提的问题是那样难，以致于学生们不知道怎么解决。 (tackle)
4)太阳从云层后面露出来。船也从雾里露了出来。 (emerge)
5)结果是，信息渗透到我们生活的各个区域。 (permeate into)
Read and Translate
Directions:Put the following sentences into English,using the words or phrases given.
Please send all the information to those concerned in our
company as soon as possible.
Mr,Smith's firm incorporated with others last year,
which makes him suffer a great loss,
The question set by the teacher was so difficult that the
pupils did not know how to tackle it.
Finally,the sun emerged from behind the clouds,and the
ship emerged from behind the fog,
As a result,information will permeate into all areas of our life.
End
2009-7-27 P,11
Information As a Message
Information is a quality of a message from a sender to one or more receivers,
Information is always about something (size of a parameter(参数 ),occurrence
of an event,… ),Viewed in this manner,information does not have to be
accurate,It may be a truth or a lie,or just the sound of a kiss,Even a
disruptive(破坏性的 )noise used to inhibit(阻止 )the flow of communication and
create misunderstanding would in this view be a form of information,
However,generally speaking,if the amount of information in the received
message increases,the more accurate the message is.
This model assumes there is a definite sender and at least one receiver,
Many refinements(精练 )of the model assume the existence of a common
langua-ge understood by the sender and at least one of the receivers,An
important variation identifies information as that which would be
communicated by a message if it were sent from a sender to a receiver
capable of understand-ing the message,However,in requiring the
existence of a definite sender,the "information as a message" model does
not attach any significance to the idea that information is something that
can be extracted from an envi-ronment,e.g.,through observation,reading
or measurement.
&Part4 Extensive Reading
2009-7-27 P,12
Information is a term with many meanings depending on
context(语境 ),but is as a rule closely related to such concepts
as meaning,knowledge,instruction,communication,
representa-tion,and mental stimulus(刺激 ),Simply stated,
information is a message received and understood,In terms
of data,it can be defined as a collection of facts from which
conclusions may be drawn,There are many other aspects of
information since it is the knowledge acquired through study
or experience or instruction,But overall,information is the
result of process-ing,manipulating and organizing data in a
way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.
Another form of information is the Fisher information,a
concept of R.A,Fisher,This is used in application of statistics
(统计 (学 ))to estimation theory and to science in general,Fisher
information is thought of as the amount of information that a
message carries about an unobservable parameter,It can be
computed from knowledge of the likelihood function defining
2009-7-27 P,13
the system,For example,with a normal likelihood function,(似然函数 )the Fisher information is the reciprocal (互补 ;倒数 )of the
variance(差 )of the law,In the absence of knowledge of the
likelihood law,the Fisher information may be computed from
normally distributed score data as the reciprocal of their
second moment.
Even though information and data are often used
interchangeably(交替地 ),they are actually very different,Data is
a set of unrelated information,and as such is of no use until
it is properly evaluated,Upon evaluation,once there is some
significant relation between data,and they show some
relevance(相关性 ),then it is converted into information,Now
this same data can be used for different purposes,
Thus,till the data convey some information,they are
not useful.
End
2009-7-27 P,14
1)Viewed in this manner,information does not have to be
accurate,It may be a truth or a lie,or just the sound of a kiss,以这种方式来看，信息就无所谓精确了。亦真亦假，恰如轻拂之声。
注释,过去分词短语 Viewed in this manner是状语，相当于 If it is
viewed in this manner;注意 kiss一词在这里的意思不是“亲吻”，
而是“轻拂”。
2)Even a disruptive noise used to inhibit the flow of
communication and create misunderstanding would in this view
be a form of information.在这种观点中，即使是一种用来制约通信流通、导致误解的破坏性噪音都被视为一种信息形式。
注释,该句中的 used to inhibit the flow of communication and
create misunderstanding是过去分词短语充当定语，修饰 noise；此句由于 even置于句首而采用了倒装形式。
@Part5 Notes to Passage
2009-7-27 P,15
3)An important variation identifies information as that which would
be communicated by a message if it were sent from a sender to a
receiver capable of understanding the message.有一个重大的变化是，
将信息看成是可以用音信来传达的东西，前提是：如果该信息是由发送者传递给一位能理解信息的接收者。
注释,注意 which引导的是定语从句，修饰先行词 that，而 that则用以指代 information。
4)Another form of information is the Fisher information,a concept
of R.A,Fisher,This is used in application of statistics to estimation
theory and to science in general.另一种信息形式是 Fisher信息，即
R.A,Fisher的信息概念。这种信息概念将统计学应用于评估理论和普通科学。
注释,R.A,Fisher或 Fisher,Ronald Aylmer (1890-1962)是世界最著名的英国数学家、生物学家、统计学家。是他发明了革命性的技术，使统计学应用于自然科学。尤其是他发现了优化实验结果评估的方法。在他众多的重要发现中有方差分析 analysis of variance (ANOVA)、极值理论
(extreme value theory)和 P分位差 （ P-value）等论著。
End
2009-7-27 P,16
1.Listening Challenge
Spot Dictation
Directions,The following passage will be heard 3 times,During the second time,you
are required to put the missing words or phrases in the numbered blanks according to
what you hear,The third time is for you to check your answers,Now the passage
begins.
Information 1)_______________is a discipline in applied mathematics
involving the quantification of 2)_________________with the goal of
enabling as much data 3)_________________to be reliably stored on a
medium or communicated over a 4)______________,The measure of
information,known as 5)________________entropy,is usually
6)____________________the average number of bits needed for
storage or 7)_______________,For example,if a daily weather
description has an entropy of 3 bits,then,over enough days,we can
8)______________ daily weather with an 9)_________of approximately
3 bits 10)_______________________,
@Part6 Practice on Passage
theory
data
as possible
channel
information
expressed by
communication
communicate average
per day
End
2009-7-27 P,17
End of this Unit
