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Dissertation Information for Linda Huang An

NAME:
- Linda Huang An

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Rutgers University (USA) (1980)

ADVISORS:
- Henry Voos

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Susan Artandi
- Thomas H. Mott Jr.
- Joseph I. Naus
- Barbara Sangster

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: LINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF THE DISCIPLINE OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

Abstract: The nature and development of Information Science from a linguistic approach is explored for two purposes. Methodologically, the research uses Information Science as a basis for establishing a linguistic model for studying disciplines. Epistemologically, the research pursues a further understanding of Information Science itself from a new aspect, its language.

The Information Science vocabulary, composed of the title words of the literature abstracted in Information Science Abstracts in 1951, 1958, 1966, 1970, and 1974 is studied. The hypothesis is that if Information Science has been developing as a coherent and scientific discipline over time, its vocabulary should have behaved as follows over time: (1) its growth and change should be like that of an organism, (2) its development should become more stabilized, (3) its style should become more scientific, (4) its statistical structure should become more like the "general structure" of all languages, (5) its lexical composition should become more distinct from "common English", and (6) Information Science community should become more coherent by having members sharing more identical word-pairs. The findings are:

(1) The growth and change of Information Science vocabulary is analogous to that of an organism. The growth follows the form of a logistic curve with four growth stages. The vocabulary is predicted to reach its saturation by 1990 with about 6500 words. The change also undergoes four phases: (1) great turnover of terms, (2) rapid expansion of new terms, with simultaneous solidification of old terms, (3) expansion slightly reduced; solidification slightly increased, (4) both expansion and solidification reduced.

(2) Information Science vocabulary has been developing more stably over time.

(3) The style of Information Science vocabulary has always been between scientific and non-scientific texts, and no overall trend can be seen. However, for its content words, the style seems to become more scientific up to 1966, and less so after 1966.

(4) The statistical structure of Information Science vocabulary has always been very close to the "general structure" of all languages. Yet there is a trend of moving even closer to it up to 1970, and away from it slightly in 1974.

(5) The lexical composition of Information Science vocabulary has always been very distinct from "common English". Yet it becomes even more distinct up to 1966, and less so since then.

(6) The Information Science community has become less coherent over time. Yet, up to 1970, there is an increase of coherence surrounding a few core concerns: information problems of sci-tech literature (1951-1970), information retrieval systems (1966-1974), systems and management (1974).

This research has used some established linguistic measures, e.g., type-token ratios, Herdan's V(,m), and Yule's K, etc. It has also designed some new measures, among which are: (1) a mathematical model which describes and predicts the vocabulary growth of a discipline or any branch of knowledge, (2) an entropy model which, combining information theory and Zipf's law, evaluates and compares the "structrual efficiency" of different vocabularies, (3) a "Co-orientation Ratio" that measures the degree to which identical word-pairs are shared in a disciplinary community and serves as a crude index of community coherence.

MPACT Scores for Linda Huang An

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:09:30

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Students under Linda Huang An

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None