biology

Information ecology

Information ecology is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Information ecology rather than just read about it. In short: Information ecology is the application of ecological concepts for modeling the information society. It considers the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment. "Information ecology" often is used as metaphor, viewing the information space as an ecosystem, the information ecosystem.

Key takeaways

Information ecology belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Information ecology to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Information ecology from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Information ecology is the application of ecological concepts for modeling the information society. It considers the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment. "Information ecology" often is used as metaphor, viewing the information space as an ecosystem, the information ecosystem. Information ecology also makes a connection to the concept of collective intelligence and knowledge ecology (Pór 2000). Eddy et al. (2014) use information ecology for science-policy integration in ecosystems-based management (EBM).

Networked information economy In The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, a book published in 2006 and available under a Creative Commons license on its own wikispace, Yochai Benkler provides an analytic framework for the emergence of the networked information economy that draws deeply on the language and perspectives of information ecology together with observations and analyses of high-visibility examples of successful peer production processes, citing Wikipedia as a prime example. Bonnie Nardi and Vicki O'Day in their book Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart (Nardi & O'Day 1999) apply the ecology metaphor to local environments, such as libraries and schools, in preference to the more common metaphors for technology as tool, text, or system.

In different domains and disciplines

Anthropology Nardi and O'Day's book represents the first specific treatment of information ecology by anthropologists. H.E. Kuchka situates information within socially-distributed cognition of cultural systems. Casagrande and Peters use information ecology for an anthropological critique of Southwest US water policy. Stepp (1999) published a prospectus for the anthropological study of information ecology.

Knowledge management Information ecology was used as book title by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak (Davenport & Prusak 1997), with a focus on the organization dimensions of information ecology. There was also an academic research project at DSTC called Information ecology, concerned with distributed information systems and online communities.

Law Law schools represent another area where the phrase is gaining increasing acceptance, e.g. NYU Law School Conference Towards a Free Information Ecology and a lecture series on Information ecology at Duke University Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

Library science The field of library science has seen significant adoption of the term and librarians have been described by Nardi and O'Day as a "keystone species in information ecology", and references to information ecology range as far afield as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service of the Library of Congress, to children's library database administrator in Russia.

Science-policy integration (SPI) / Ecosystems-based management (EBM) Eddy et al. (2014) use principles of information ecology to develop a framework for integrating scientific information in decision-making in ecosystem-based management (EBM). Using a metaphor of how a species adapts to environmental changes through information processing, they developed a 3-tiered model that differentiates primary, secondary and tertiary levels of information processing, within both the technical and human domains.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Information ecology

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Information ecology claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Information ecology before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Information ecology ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Information ecology

In research: Information ecology appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Information ecology in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Information ecology is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Information, Systems ecology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Information ecology outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Information ecology in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Information ecology means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Information ecology out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Information ecology in simple terms?

Why does Information ecology matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Information ecology?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Information ecology.