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Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

George Adam Holland

To develop a unified research framework that synthesizes similarities between cognitive science and information studies, particularly language. This framework is proposed and…

1569

Abstract

Purpose

To develop a unified research framework that synthesizes similarities between cognitive science and information studies, particularly language. This framework is proposed and explored as useful for future information study research.

Design/methodology/approach

Analysis is conducted of two contemporary developments in the distinct disciplines of information studies and cognitive science. The theories of extended cognition and social constructionism are explored, focusing on the issue of context in each of the arguments. The complementarity argument is presented as the strongest argument for extended cognition, while Sanna Talja's work is offered as representative of social constructionism in information studies. The philosophical similarities between extended cognition and social constructionism are then integrated at points of similarity.

Findings

Cognitive science and information studies have a number of unexpected similarities both in broad and specific terms. The opportunity to develop a synchronized research framework is presented as both feasible and mutually beneficial. Additionally, cognitive science is suggested as useful tool in bridging the gap between the frameworks of cognitivism and social constructionism in information studies.

Research limitations/implications

The philosophic discussion borders on technical at times possibly limiting it to those familiar with or interested in the philosophy or meta‐theory within cognitive science and information studies.

Practical implications

The conclusion points to future research between cognitive science and information studies that can be conducted in further research projects. The arguments also move toward continuing discussions of interdisciplinarity in information studies.

Originality/value

Cognitive science is being frequently employed in information studies research and practice. This paper presents an alternative take on how the two can relate and possible benefits, while also exploring very particular movements within each discipline.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 62 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

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Article
Publication date: 18 January 2008

George Adam Holland

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of collaboration within information science, to argue for distinct meanings for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary…

4245

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of collaboration within information science, to argue for distinct meanings for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research and to answer two questions: What philosophic distinction can be made between inter‐ and multi‐disciplinary efforts? Is one more valuable than the other to information science research?

Design/methodology/approach

The semantic inconsistency for describing collaboration is identified in information science. Philosophic analysis of the terms interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary is conducted, arguing for distinct meanings. A case study through cognitive science exploring the philosophic meanings is developed.

Findings

Interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity are very distinct in terms of methods and frameworks. Interdisciplinary research has longer‐term benefits for information science, but multidisciplinary research can also fulfil valid collaborative roles in information science.

Research limitations/implications

A brief technical discussion of cognitive science theory lends itself to those interested in cognitive science. The paper is philosophic in nature.

Practical implications

The inconsistencies surrounding the terms interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary have impact on professional practice. The argument for more consistent terminology will introduce more semantic integrity and reduce miscommunication. There is a challenge to engage in more interdisciplinary research and practice within information science.

Originality/value

Collaboration is a common term used, but little research into what it precisely means within information science has been conducted. The paper argues for a clear distinction between various types of collaboration, and provides a case study with cognitive science.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 64 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1244

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

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International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1954

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

120

Abstract

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

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Article
Publication date: 1 September 1899

In a previous article we have called attention to the danger of eating tinned and bottled vegetables which have been coloured by the addition of salts of copper and we have urged…

78

Abstract

In a previous article we have called attention to the danger of eating tinned and bottled vegetables which have been coloured by the addition of salts of copper and we have urged upon the public that no such preparations should be purchased without an adequate guarantee that they are free from copper compounds. Copper poisoning, however, is not the only danger to which consumers of preserved foods are liable. Judging from the reports of cases of irritant poisoning which appear with somewhat alarming frequency in the daily press, and from the information which we have been at pains to obtain, there can be no question that the occurrence of a large number of these cases is to be attributed to the ingestion of tinned foods which has been improperly prepared or kept. It is not to be supposed that the numerous cases of illness which have been ascribed to the use of tinned foods were all cases of metallic poisoning brought about by the action of the contents of the tins upon the metal and solder of the latter. The evidence available does not show that a majority of the cases could be put down to this cause alone; but it must be admitted that the evidence is in most instances of an unsatisfactory and inconclusive character. It has become a somewhat too common custom to put forward the view that so‐called “ptomaine” poisoning is the cause of the mischief; and this upon very insufficient evidence. While there is no doubt that the presence in tinned goods of some poisonous products of decomposition or organic change very frequently gives rise to dangerous illness, so little is known of the chemical nature and of the physiological effects of “ptomaines” that to obtain conclusive evidence is in all cases most difficult, and in many, if not in most, quite impossible. A study of the subject leads to the conclusion that both ptomaine poisoning and metallic poisoning—also of an obscure kind—have, either separately or in conjunction, produced the effects from time to time reported. In view of the many outbreaks of illness, and especially, of course, of the deaths which have been attributed to the eating of bad tinned foods it is of the utmost importance that some more stringent control than that which can be said to exist at present should be exercised over the preparation and sale of tinned goods. In Holland some two or three years ago, in consequence partly of the fact that, after eating tinned food, about seventy soldiers were attacked by severe illness at the Dutch manœuvres, the attention of the Government was drawn to the matter by Drs. VAN HAMEL ROOS and HARMENS, who advocated the use of enamel for coating tins. It appears that an enamel of special manufacture is now extensively used in Holland by the manfacturers of the better qualities of tinned food, and that the use of such enamelled tins is insisted upon for naval and military stores. This is a course which might with great advantage be followed in this country. While absolute safety may not be attainable, adequate steps should be taken to prevent the use of damaged, inferior or improper materials, to enforce cleanliness, and to ensure the adoption of some better system of canning.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 1 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Publication date: 30 November 2016

Robert L. Axtell

Certain elements of Hayek’s work are prominent precursors to the modern field of complex adaptive systems, including his ideas on spontaneous order, his focus on market processes…

Abstract

Certain elements of Hayek’s work are prominent precursors to the modern field of complex adaptive systems, including his ideas on spontaneous order, his focus on market processes, his contrast between designing and gardening, and his own framing of complex systems. Conceptually, he was well ahead of his time, prescient in his formulation of novel ways to think about economies and societies. Technically, the fact that he did not mathematically formalize most of the notions he developed makes his insights hard to incorporate unambiguously into models. However, because so much of his work is divorced from the simplistic models proffered by early mathematical economics, it stands as fertile ground for complex systems researchers today. I suggest that Austrian economists can create a progressive research program by building models of these Hayekian ideas, and thereby gain traction within the economics profession. Instead of mathematical models the suite of techniques and tools known as agent-based computing seems particularly well-suited to addressing traditional Austrian topics like money, business cycles, coordination, market processes, and so on, while staying faithful to the methodological individualism and bottom-up perspective that underpin the entire school of thought.

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Revisiting Hayek’s Political Economy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-988-6

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Article
Publication date: 14 May 2019

John Holland

Corporate financial communications concern public and private disclosure (Holland, 2005). This paper aims to explain how banks developed financial communications and how problems…

786

Abstract

Purpose

Corporate financial communications concern public and private disclosure (Holland, 2005). This paper aims to explain how banks developed financial communications and how problems emerged in the global financial crisis. It explores policy responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Bank cases reveal construction and destruction of the social, knowledge and economic world of financial communications over two periods.

Findings

In the 1990s, learning about financial communications by a “dominant coalition” (Cyert, March, 1963) in bank top management was stimulated by gradual change. The management learnt how to accumulate social and cultural capital and developed “habitus” for disclosure (Bourdieu, 1986). From 2000, rapid change and secrecy factors accelerated bank internalisation of shareholder wealth maximising values, turning “habitus” in “market for information” (MFI) (Barker, 1998) into a “psychic prison” (Morgan,1986), creating riskier bank cultures (Schein, 2004) and constraining learning.

Research limitations/implications

The paper introduces sociological concepts to banking research and financial disclosures to increase the understanding about financial information and bank culture and about how regulation can avoid crises. Limitations reflect the small number of banks and range of qualitative data.

Practical implications

Regulators will have to make visible the change processes, new contexts and knowledge and connections to bank risk and performance through improved regulator action and bank public disclosure.

Social Implications

“Masking” and rituals (Andon and Free, 2012) restricted bank disclosure and weakened governance and market pressures on banks. These factors mediated bank failure and survival in 2008, as “psychic prisons” “fell apart”. Bank and MFI agents experienced a “cosmology episode” (Weick, 1988). Financial communications structures failed but were reconstructed by regulators.

Originality/value

The paper shows how citizens require transparency and contested accountability to democratise finance capitalism. Otherwise, problems will recur.

Details

Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4179

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Publication date: 20 March 2001

Abstract

Details

Edwin Seligman's Lectures on Public Finance, 1927/1928
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-073-9

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 1999

Erik S. Reinert

This paper attempts to trace and describe the role played by the government sector – the state – in promoting economic growth in Western societies since the Renaissance. One…

8617

Abstract

This paper attempts to trace and describe the role played by the government sector – the state – in promoting economic growth in Western societies since the Renaissance. One important conclusion is that the antagonism between state and market, which has characterised the twentieth century, is a relatively new phenomenon. Since the Renaissance one very important task of the state has been to create well‐functioning markets by providing a legal framework, standards, credit, physical infrastructure and – if necessary – to function temporarily as an entrepreneur of last resort. Early economists were acutely aware that national markets did not occur spontaneously, and they used “modern” ideas like synergies, increasing returns, and innovation theory when arguing for the right kind of government policy. In fact, mercantilist economics saw it as a main task to extend the synergetic economic effects observed within cities to the territory of a nation‐state. The paper argues that the classical Anglo‐Saxon tradition in economics – fundamentally focused on barter and distribution, rather than on production and knowledge – systematically fails to grasp these wider issues in economic development, and it brings in and discusses the role played by the state in alternative traditions of non‐equilibrium economics.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 26 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

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Details

Histories of Economic Thought
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-997-9

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