Information Science

Information Science is an introductory guide to a discipline with deep historical roots and a wide reach. It opens by asking what the word "information" actually means, then follows the information life cycle from classification through to preservation.

Each chapter takes up a separate area of the field and surveys its history, tools and everyday practices with a critical perspective. Because the discipline is interdisciplinary, it borrows approaches from the humanities, the social sciences and technology. What sets it apart is its focus on how information, technology and society shape one another.

The book considers why sharing information more effectively has become so pressing in the face of social, environmental and biomedical problems. It weighs the dangers and the benefits of the emerging technologies that make such sharing possible. It also asks how information science, with its long commitment to intellectual freedom and digital inclusion and its attention to privacy, data ethics and algorithmic transparency, could help build a more open and fair society.

The book suits anyone who wants to understand information and its effects on the world, and it is especially useful for readers planning undergraduate study in the field or thinking about moving into a career in the information professions.