Introduction

In this chapter we will consider some of the overarching approaches to the study of information, and of information science. Specific theories – of informationrelated behaviour, and of Shannon's mathematical theory of communication, for example – will be covered in their appropriate chapters. Here, we will look at the general ways in which we can understand the discipline and practice of information science; these may be termed philosophies, paradigms or metatheories, or may be said to be the asking of ‘meta-questions’, or the examination of the presuppositions on which the field is based; for more discussion and examples of these terms, see Vickery (1997), Hjørland (1998) and Bates (2005).

Consideration of these theoretical foundations are as important for practice as for academic study. As the quote from Jesse Shera, above, reminds us, the information disciplines have for too long been concerned with the detail of practical activities – technical and organizational – without a proper understanding of what is being done, and why. As Hjørland (1998, 606) puts it, philosophies and meta-theories

Shera was writing specifically of library science, but concerns about the lack of a coherent body of disciplinary theory as the basis for study and practice have also been made for the other information sciences. Hjørland (1998) comments that it is difficult to give even one good example of an explicit theory in information; what we have are theories taken from other fields, and some ‘unconscious attitudes’ guiding research and practice.