Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The additional value of theory lies in the enhanced understanding of
practice and in its comprehension and generalization of experientially and
empirically obtained understandings. The choice of particular theories
(for instance, Saussurean over Chomskyan linguistics) can be supported
by experience, with a dialectic relation between practice and choice of
theory. In this instance, some particularly strong theories are employed.
Mediated by semiotics, Saussurean linguistics provides the most sophis-
ticated and powerful method known for analyzing signification (Warner
1994, 9-15). Information theory (Shannon 1948/1993) sets limits for the
transmission of messages of comparable standing and significance to the
limits established for computation by automata theory (Minsky 1967).
The strength of theories is such that they may assist in establishing that
the emerging elements of stability in practice correspond to a teleological
statue or plateau that only could be transcended by disproving the theo-
ries. Generally recognized as particularly strong, automata theory estab-
lished fundamental possibilities and limits for computation (Cockshott
and Michaelson 2007). Information theory gives a model of communica-
tion that identifies the fundamental entities required for signal transmis-
sion. Information theory has not been disproven, although understanding
of its legitimate application to message and signal transmission has been
obscured by its analogical interpretation to include semantic understand-
ing (Tidline 2004). Saussurean linguistics can yield a very powerful,
although not previously developed, account of transformation for mean-
ing for full-text description and searching. From the perspective of autom-
ata theory, failure to progress in practical applications despite repeated
efforts may strongly imply that processes are computationally intractable.
The theories here may reveal the sources of the continuing intractabil-
ity of information retrieval, in both its ordinary discourse and its techni-
cal sense, and even identify the sources of possible noncomputability that
may underlie its intractability. Contemplating moving beyond the current,
relatively stable elements of practice might then require a refutation of
firmly embedded and not-yet-disproved theories. In particular, human
semantic labor, possibly invested in search rather than description, may
remain inescapable to counter the intractability of the process of retrieval.
This chapter adopts a rigorous understanding of knowledge and theory
as knowledge. One powerful understanding of knowledge is that it must
be communicable and useful, amenable to translation into successful
