[Fis] Life goes on

[Xueshan Yan]

Dear Pedro,

 

I much admire you for bringing up a new theme: Narration——a container with a special set of information. It involves economics, political science, media research, literature, etc., nearly all the humanities. Traditionally, its exploration is a new direction in contemporary literature named narratology, which is undoubtedly a branch of human communication studies too. But more fundamentally, it is a subject of human informatics and therefore a basic branch of FIS/UTI. You must know, I have been spending much efforts on it.

 

Theoretically, for quite a long time, about 90% of the topics on the FIS forum can be basically classified as the research of human information - human informatics, but we do not actively focus on this branch as a whole. In order to achieve the final and effective results of fundamental information science, we need to do reductionist research on "information" to a great extent. Reductionism! Reductionism! Reductionism! Only after a sufficient reductionist study to various information: human information, cellular information, physical information, chemical information, technical information, etc., can we put forward the effective definition, principle, or axiom of our tough information endeavor. Without this process, it is impossible to win the final result of our enterprise. This lesson can be seen from the "10 Principles of Information Science" you put forward last year.

 

The recertification of the FIS list allows some more explanations, and many our colleagues don't update it because they don't know why we need to do so thoroughly.

 

Thank you for doing so much work for FIS forum silently.

 

With all best,

 

Xueshan

From: fis-bounces at listas.unizar.es <fis-bounces at listas.unizar.es> On Behalf Of Pedro C. Marijuan
Sent: Saturday, October 6, 2018 1:25 AM
To: 'fis' <fis at listas.unizar.es>
Subject: [Fis] Life goes on

 

Dear FIS Colleagues,

Around the beginnings of the new course, the University of Zaragoza released the FIS list, after the authentication process mandated by an European Directive on Data Protection. The outcome has been rather tough, from around 350 we have been decimated to just 62. Provided that the most active participants have renewed, we wouldn't see much changes, although not very probably. The pity now is the diminished broadcast of the  discussions, for many of the passive recipients were more or less listening (and the warning message in Spanish didn't help at all for their awareness of the renewal process).

In any case, life goes on. There is a ISIS and FIS Conference next year (in the US, chaired by Terry Deacon). In the future list discussions we should keep this in mind and progressively put the focus on it. The present "slimming cure" of the list might also be a good occasion to reflect on its trajectory and aims. Are we fulfilling the foundational goals? Not so much yet... Well, from my part, I have a novel theme that I consider of interest to this basic discussion. Several readings of mine during this year have neatly converged on the power of "narratives" in our human communication. From economics, to political science, to communication studies, to Media both traditional and new, and essentially in literature and oral traditions... In particular the approach by Christopher Booker (2004, 2017) makes clear the centrality of storytelling in our whole lives. He is a controversial figure, but this book ("The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories") is a master work. My only personal caveat is the Jungian framework the author utilizes--is it necessary? I do not think so. Translating his ideas to common multidisciplinary language, pertaining both to natural science and humanities, would make for a great discussion. Right in the center. My feeling is that he has achieved for human communication what I have tried during recent years for cellular communication.

And that's all! Little by little am getting used to my new life "far from the madding crowd" of local Faculty.

Friendly regards to all,

--Pedro

 
-------------------------------------------------
Pedro C. Marijuán
Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
 
pcmarijuan.iacs at aragon.es <mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs at aragon.es> 
http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
------------------------------------------------- 

 


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