Tracing Competing Paradigms - Mapping Scientific Frontiers: The Quest for Knowledge Visualization - page 199

Tabl e 6. 1 Differences between cognitivism and the domain-specific viewpoint (Hjorland and
Albrechtsen 1995 )
Cognitivism

The domain-specific view

Priority is given to the understanding of
isolated user needs and intrapsychological
analysis. Intermediating between producers
and users emphasizes psychological
understanding

Priority is given to the understanding of user
needs from a social perspective and the
functions of information systems in trades
or disciplines

Focus on the single user
Typically looks at the disciplinary context as a
part of the cognitive structure of an
individual - if at all

Focus on either one knowledge domain or the
comparative study of different knowledge
domains. Looks at the single user in the
context of the discipline

Mainly inspired by artificial intelligence and
cognitive psychology

Mainly inspired by knowledge about the
information structures in domains, by the
sociology of knowledge and the theory of
knowledge

The psychological theory emphasizes the role
of cognitive strategies in performance

The psychological theory emphasizes the
interaction among aptitudes, strategies, and
knowledge in cognitive performance

Central concepts are individual knowledge
structures, individual information
processing, short- and long-term memory,
categorical versus situational classification

Central concepts are scientific and professional
communication, documents (including
bibliographies), disciplines, subjects,
information structures, paradigms etc

Methodology characterized by an
individualistic approach

Methodology characterized by a collectivistic
approach

Methodological individualism has some
connection to a general individualistic
view, but the difference between cognitive
and the domain-specific view is not a
different political perception of the role of
information systems, but a different
theoretical and methodological approach to
the study and optimization of information
systems

Methodological collectivism has some
connection to a general collectivistic view,
but the difference between cognitivism and
the domain-specific view is not a different
political perception of the role of
information systems, but a different
theoretical and methodological approach to
the study and optimization of information
systems

Best examples of applications: user interfaces
(the outer side of information systems)

Best examples of applications:
subject-representation/classification (the
inner side of information systems)

Implicit theory of knowledge: mainly
rationalistic/positivistic, tendencies toward
hermeneutics

Theory of knowledge: scientific realism/forms
of social constructivism with tendencies
towards hermeneutics

Implicit ontological position: subjective
idealism

Ontological position: realism

Hjorland called his approach activity-theoretical approach. The traditional
approaches focus on individuals as a single user of information in terms of their
cognitive structures and strategies. The activity-theoretical approach, on the other
hand, emphasizes a holistic view of information retrieval issues in a much broader
context so that the needs of a user should be always interpreted in the context of
the discipline (See Table 6.1 ). In this sense, information retrieval is not an isolated