1-206-459-7493

• Home
  • There's Much More to Information than Meets I.T.
  • Managing information about information manages all information about everything else.
• Turning Information Management Right Side Up
• What the IT Industry Has Never Understood
  • What the IT Industry Has Never Understood
  • Where I.T. goes wrong.
  • A False Discipline
    • A False Discipline
    • What we don't understand because we don't understand information.
  • The I.T. Penalty.
    • The I.T. Penalty.
    • The costs and consequences of not understanding information.
  • Accounting Systems
    • Accounting Systems
    • Legacy concepts that are based on and still assume we're using quill pen and ruled ledgers.
  • CRM, ERP, SAP
    • CRM, ERP, SAP
    • Partial solutions that obstruct whole solutions.
  • Databases & Spreadsheets
    • Databases & Spreadsheets
    • Automating pencil and paper instead of information.
  • Word Processing
    • Word Processing
    • Making it pretty but not informative.
  • Operating Systems
    • Operating Systems
    • Making how technology works more important than how information works.
  • Enterprise Modeling
    • Enterprise Modeling
    • Expediting the problem.
  • Information Architecture
    • Information Architecture
    • Re-designing what already exists naturally.
  • Normalization
    • Normalization
    • Force-fitting function to follow (third normal)form to justify foregone conclusions.
  • Object Orientation
    • Object Orientation
    • Assuming an implementation tactic makes up for the lack of an effective information strategy.
  • System Development
    • System Development
    • Planning the least benefits at the highest cost.
  • Data Mining
    • Data Mining
    • Gold or fool's gold?
• Managing Information to Its
  Full Potential
  • Managing Information to Its Full Potential
  • Managing information by how it CAN be used regardless of circumstances instead of restricting it to how we think it WILL be used in a specific circumstance.
• When Information Is More Important than Technology
  • When Information Is More Important than Technology
  • Planning solutions by how information works instead of by how technology works vastly improves how we use both, slashing costs by well over half.
• Learning to Think about Information
  • Learning to Think about Information
  • Resolving incomplete concepts and contradictions that make it difficult to think about information.
  • Informability
    • Informability
    • The four corners of information capability.
  • Planning Change
    • Planning Change
    • Making change a part of systems instead of something that happens to systems.
  • Data vs. Information
    • Data vs. Information
    • Distinguishing between organizing data-symbols and organizng information-meaning.
  • Technology vs. Information
    • Technology vs. Information
    • Making technology fit how information works instead of making information fit how technology works.
  • Process vs. Function
    • Process vs. Function
    • Putting function (what we accomplish) ahead of process (what we do) to eliminate process-oriented anti-functionalities hidden in conventional systems.
  • Goals vs. Purpose
    • Goals vs. Purpose
    • Assuring how we achieve our goals (win battles) doesn't violate our overall purpose (lose the war).
  • Results vs. Capability
    • Results vs. Capability
    • Planning systems with information capablities ("teach to fish") instead of providing a relative handfull of results ("give fish").
  • Design vs. Discovery
    • Design vs. Discovery
    • How information fits the real world (discovery) instead of how it fits technology (design).
  • Efficiency vs. Efficacy
    • Efficiency vs. Efficacy
    • Planning that how well we do something (efficacy) takes priority over how fast we do something (efficiency) while still improving efficiency.
• How Information Works!
• Information Topography
  • Information Topography
  • The natural organization of meaning. --- What we need to know about to know about something. --- What information tells us and what it tells us about.
  • Information Layers
    • Information Layers
    • The layers within which meaning develops and builds from one layer to the next.
  • Information Types (Topologs)
    • Information Types (Topologs)
    • The ingredients of meaning. Meaning possibilities within each meaning layer.
  • Proto-Contexts
    • Proto-Contexts
    • "Things" (entities) and how they fit tigether (predicates) regardless of circumstances.
  • Contexts
    • Contexts
    • Entity and predicate meanings; functionally the same in every situation but which we uniquely name for each situation.
  • Sub-Contexts
    • Sub-Contexts
    • Informational possibilities within a context: identification, classification, correlation, collective, and comparison.
  • Facts
    • Facts
    • What information means when we express it ... when we finally put it into data.
• Information Mechanics
  • Information Mechanics
  • The "Physics" of Information
  • Information Origins and Precedence
    • Information Origins and Precedence
    • How we become informed.
  • Information Dimensions
    • Information Dimensions
    • The four dimensions of information.
  • Information Vectors
    • Information Vectors
    • Paths followed within information dimensions to derive new information from existing information.
  • Supercession
    • Supercession
    • Just because informaiton is no longer current does not mean it is no longer information.
  • Delta Vectoring
    • Delta Vectoring
    • What did we know, when did we know it, and what did we do about it?
  • Information Correlations
    • Information Correlations
    • Beyond hierarchies and relationships. How information correlates.
• Making Information Work!
• Information Cartography
  • Information Cartography
  • Mapping the Information Content of a Business
  • Defending against preclusion
    • Defending against preclusion
    • Assuring that no legitimate use of information is made impossible by how it is developed and organized.
  • Policy vs. Reality
    • Policy vs. Reality
    • Managing information means reflecting reality, not creating or enforcing policy.
  • The Importance of Context
    • The Importance of Context
    • Protecting against taking information out of context.
  • When information becomes
    data
    • When information becomes
      data
    • Giving system users control over their own destiny.
  • Choosing the Right Data Form.
    • Choosing the Right Data Form.
    • What does it look like and what does it mean?
  • Whole information.
    • Whole information.
    • Identifying whole instead of partial information.
  • Single Meaning
    • Single Meaning
    • Keeping meaning simple and uncluttered.
  • Overcoming Our Own Vocabulary
    • Overcoming Our Own Vocabulary
    • What we call it affects our ability to think about it.
  • Merging Maps
    • Merging Maps
    • Seamlessly putting two or more information maps together.
• The Information Engine
  • The Information Engine
  • An information intelligent tool ... a vehicle ... that has everything we can do with information already built in allowing for the implementation, maintenance, and evolution of complex information systems with no software development.
• Making Information More Important than Technology
• Training
  • Training ... Understanding information as a discipline, separate and distinct from technology, requiring new and different skills, knowledge, and perspectives. Making what we could and should accomplish with information more important than just using computers.
• Consulting
  • Consulting ... Advising / mentoring organizations and project teams in identifying and solving information problems built into and perpetuated by conventional IT products and practices.
• Information Audits
  • Information Audits ... Audit existing and proposed systems for informational lapses, inadequacies, and failures.
• Strategic Planning / Needs Analysis
  • Strategic Planning / Needs Analysis ... Planning effective information management based on how information works instead of how technology works.
• Printable Overview/Summary
  • Printable Overview/Summary
  • A three page PDF overview/ summary on Rethinking Information Systems and Technology.
• Printable Information Map
  • Printable Information Map
  • A PDF Information Map example of a Public Utility.

-	Page Links

	Information Topography

 

Organized meaning. How information reflects

and describes the world around us. 

 

 

The engineers, architects, and project managers for Egypt's pyramids were subject to the same information types and meanings that we are today.  They just named them and expressed them differently. Unfortunately, we are far more preoccuppied with what we call information and how we express it then with what it means.  Though the common denominator of all systems,meaning is the least consideration for planning conventional information management.

 

Page Contents Information Layers The layers within which meaning develops, building from one layer to the next to an informational whole. Information Types (Topologs) The ingredients of meaning.  Meaning possibilities within each meaning layer. Proto-Contexts "Things" (entities) and how they fit tigether (predicates) regardless of circumstances.  Contexts Entity and predicate meanings; functionally the same in every situation but which we uniquely name for each situation. Sub-Contexts Informational possibilities within a context:  identification, classification, correlation, collective, and comparison. Facts What information means when we express it ... when we finally put it into data.

 

 

 

Information Layers

Information is meaning.  Meaning develops in layers with each layer adding an incremental piece of meaning to an informational whole.

 

Information Layers What We Need to Know About to Know About Something Meta-Context: What InformationTells Us About Proto-Contexts -1- 2   Typed Info  -2- 4 Contexts  -3- 10 Named Info Sub-Contexts  -4- 7 What information Tells Us Facts  -5- 12   Topologs

 

When contemplating information we must carefully distinguish whether we're talking about

 

• What information means (what it tells us or what it tells us about)
  
  
• What we name the information in a specific situation
  
  
• And (on the lowest, fact level) how we express it. 

 

While information names and expression are essentially infinite, meaning possibilities are fixed and finite. 

 

 

Topologs: Information / meaning types; the ingredients of meaning.

 

 

Meaning builds through information layers one topolog per layer. There are twelve fact topologs.  Every fact of whichever type occurs ...

... within one of seven sub-context topologs

... within one of ten context topologs

... within one of four pre-context topologs

... within one of two proto-context topologs. 

Regardless of how we name or express them or the situation in which we find them, meaning is determined by the possibilities and limits inherent to each information layer.

 

The following table shows the differences among meaning, name, and expression for six of twelve fact topologs.

 

 

Fact Topologs/ Meanings	Fact Names	Fact Expression
Identity	Social Security Number	123-45-6789
	E-Ticket Number	CHQTSV
Name	Name	Jon Smith
	Description	Router
Quantity	Price	$23.98
	Height	5'10"
Quality	Gender	Female
	Color	Orange
Chronolog	Birth Date	January 23, 2005
	Start Time	1/23/2005 08:01:37
Location	E-Mail	joe@xyzzy.gov
	Phone	206.555.1234
	Address	123 Oak Street Reno, NV 89504

 

 

 

InformationTypes (Topologs)

The Ingredients of meaning.  Identifiable meanings specific to each layer.

Topologs: Information Types The Ingredients of Meaning What We Need to Know About to Know About Something
Meta-Context: What Information Tells Us About				What Information Tells Us
Proto-Contexts		Contexts	Sub-Contexts	Facts
-1-	-2-	-3-	-4-	-5-
"Nouns"   Entities ("Things")	Subject (Doer)	Principal Actor Role	(Rows, Data Sets)       EXPLICIT Context-ID Identification Classification   Correlations X-Correlate (Relational) N-Correlate (Hierarchical)   IMPLICIT Summary Comparison	(Columns, Data Elements)   OBJECTIVE Existence Identity Name Quality Quantity Chronolog Location   I-Chronolog Effectivity Applicability SUBJECTIVE Comment   NON-LINGUISTIC Depiction Replication
	Object	Tangible Location Construct
"Verbs"   Predicates (Correlation)	Intransitive (Being)	Co-Existence Behavior
	Transitive (Doing)	Intention Action Activity Event
		Scenarios (Business Processes)
		Named Information
Typed Information

 

Proto-Contexts

 

...... What "Nouns" and "Verbs" mean.  What they are informationally, not grammatically.  Pre-contexts are important information (knowledge) about information ... about organizing Context meaning.  When planning information they are implicitly identified with the identification of contexts.   Entity - Nouns, Things (More than and subtlety different from just people, places, and things)   • Subject - Doers. Things that have the ability to do.   • Object - Things done to, for, with, etc. All subjects can be objects but not all objects can be subjects Correlate - Verbs, Predication    ["A correlate" (kawr-uh-lut) not "to correlate" (kawr-uh-leyt)]   The association/correlation of two or more things as a consequence of being or doing.  Though we think of "verbs" in terms of procedures and behaviors, informationally, the fact of correlation is the relevant issue, not the the act of correlation .    • Intransitive - Being   With Intransitives what causes association ... the doer ... is unknown, irrelevant, or difficult to resolve.  The act of association is NOT identified.  That actor John is in role customer is the issue, not what put him into the role.   Because they are not uniquely identified (or identifiable), intransitives do not establish contexts but are sub-contexts belonging equally to each correlated context.    • Transitive - Doing   The act of association is uniquely identified establishing a transitive context.  Transitives are both identified and contain overlapping sub-contexts for each correlated context.

Contexts

 

...... Context Types identify what needs to be discovered and identified (and also named) to know about a situation.  While they manifest themselves uniquely and in different combination within different situations, context-types function identically in all environments.   Contexts may overlap each other.     A context is established when occurrences of whatever a context is about (a Person, a Sales Order ... singular, individual; each) are uniquely identified within the context (People, Sale-Orders ... plural, collective; all).   Subjects   • Principal - The entity, business, or organization on whose behalf information is organized and managed. The principal actor in the principal role.   • Actor - Those with the potential to do. People or groups of people (individuals, clubs, organizations, a married couple, etc.)   • Role - What actors are relative to the Principal . (e.g. customers, employees, stock holders, student, faculty, etc.).   Roles and actors are examples of context overlap.  An actor can have more than one role and a role is filled by more than one actor. Informationally, it is important to distinguish that the actor is not the role and that the role is not the actor. Objects   • Tangible - Physical things (e.g. buildings, vehicles, products, etc.)   • Location - Where and how something can be found or contacted (mailing address, phone number, email address, aisle-row-bin, etc.)   • Construct - Organizational concepts (e.g. chart of accounts, organization charts, jurisdictions, etc.) Intransitives - Being   Because they are not uniquely identified (or identifiable), intransitives do not establish contexts but are equal, overlapping sub-contexts parts to each correlated context.    • Co-Existence - Hierarchies and relationships reflecting how occurrences of things within and across contexts associate.   • Behaviors - Happenings in the absence of or without identification of a real subject.  In the sentence, "The Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun," Earth is the grammatical subject but is not the doer ... the real subject.  The informational imperatives are different when planning information about what people do as contrasted with how nature behaves.  Transitives - Doing   Transitives are both identified (establishing a context) and contain equal overlapping sub-context parts to correlated contexts.   • Intention - Formal, communicated expectation (e.g. contracts, sales orders, etc.  Note that contracts and sale orders are not things ... they are not the piece of paper on which they are written.  The informational issue is the intent, not the form or media.).    • Action - Specific tasks (e.g. company ships product, customer pays for products, etc.)   • Activity - Summarized "doings" over time (e.g. time reporting for payroll or projects).   • Event - An information management action done by (on behalf of) Ownself as the subject-doer that creates information as distinct from just reporting information (e.g. paying employees, paying vendors).   Scenarios - Business processes, A Sequence of transitive doings.     Intent   (a customer orders products from a company); Action  (the company delivers products to a customer); Event  (the company bills the customer for products), Action  (the customer pays the company for products).

Sub-Contexts

 

...... The informational possibilities within a context.  Sub-context rules and possibilities are equally applicable to all context-types, grouping and organizing facts for specific purposes/meanings.   EXPLICIT Sub-Context Types - EXPLICIT Information is determined when planning information.  In descending sub-layers explicit sub-contexts reflect (organize facts about) the name and type of the context, how we classify occurrences of whatever the context is about, how we identify those occurrences, and how identified occurrences correlate with other identified occurrences across or within the same context.   Explicit Sub-Context Topologs     • Context-ID - The name and type of a context establishing its existence and the potential for information about it.  There is one Context-ID per context with one occurrence of information.  (Plural, Collective ... People, Customers, Sales-Orders)   • Identification - Information needed about each occurrence of what the context is about. There is one identification sub-context per context with multiple occurrences of information . (Singular, Individual ... People, Customer, Sales-Order)   • Classfication - Classification sub-contexts identify all the ways we classify or group identified occurrences (Gender, Ethnicity, State, Area Code, Zip Code, Color, etc.). There are potentially multiple Classififcations with multiple occurrences of information.   Classifications are by:   Case: (e.g. Gender)   Range-threshhold: (e.g. Tax Tables)   Duration-Recurrence: (e.g. Birthdays, Holidays, Shift Startop) Correlations   An association of two or more identified occurrences within or across contexts.  The association is a true Co-relationship with neither being subordinate to the other. A correlation is always a place for information, not just a line on a page connecting two boxes.   • X-Correlate - (relational) -  Cross-Context- Correlate - An association of two or more Identification occurrences within two or more different contexts.   • N-Correlate - (hierarchical) -  Within-Context Correlate - An association of two Identification occurrences within the same context.    Correlations are where contexts overlap or self-overlap.  Correlations belong equally to all correlated contexts.   IMPLICIT Sub-Context Types - IMPLICIT Information is derived as a natural consequence of properly organized explicit information and the ability to do math.  Implicit information is dynamic and spontaneous.  It is available (derivable) whether we plan for it or not.  It is time dependent.    Implicit Sub-Context Topologs   • Summary - Counting; algebraic summation of multiple occurrences of information for a period of time (February)  at a point in time (March 15, or March 31, or April 10, or March 1 next year), Answers change based on the "for" period and "as of" times chosen.   • Comparison - The facts between the facts.  The difference between two occurrences (John is seven years older, forty pounds heavier, and six inches taller than Jane), or the difference between what is and what was.  The is/was comparison can be for an occurrence (how much more does Jon way today than he did six months ago) or for a summary (2700 fewer widgets were ordered in April than in May).    Implicit information is a sub-context because it exists separate from occurrences of information for an explicit sub-context, and because more than one fact potentially applies.  The formula  Average = Sum / Count includes three facts and the formula itself.  The ratio of John's and Jane's weight or ages or the percent of Jon's weight gain, require multiple facts and formula for their expression.  As with explicit sub-contexts, implicit sub-contexts identify where information actually exists, even though that information is dynamic, spontaneous, and transient.

 

Facts

 

Facts are the point at which, with one exception (existence), we cast meaning into data.   OBJECTIVE - Meaning and information are subtlety distinct.  We know the meaning before or without knowing the information.    • Existence - If we have information about someone (their name, address, birth date, etc.) we intuitively assume they exist. However, there are times, especially as regards Correlates, where the only thing we know or need to know is that they exist, causing confusion in the absence of other information as to how to identify existence.   • Identity - Tells how something is unique, distinct from all others of its kind.   • Name - Tells how something is individual but not necessarily informationally unique. ("John Smith")   • Quality - Tells which Classification case, range, or recurrence applies to an Identification-!.     • Quantity - Tells how much / how many of something apply.   • Chronolog - Tells when something will or did occur.   • Location - Tells where/how something can be found/contacted. I-Chronolog - Information Chronology. When receiving information there are two facts that we intuitively attach to it:   • Effectivity -  When something did/will happen and thus information about it became/becomes effective.   • Applicability - When we found out about something and can thus apply information about it.   We don't worry about forgetting a new friends January birthday if we didn't meet them until February.  Nor are we concerned, if we met them in November, if we didn't find out their birthday is in January until April.   What was true (what and when something was/will be effective) and what we knew (when we found out about it) is critical to properly managing information.  SUBJECTIVE - Meaning is ascertained with or subsequent to obtaining information.(if then).     • Comment - Collections of words that may or may not have meaning.  Words can be objective but we don't know it until we get the words.  NON-LINGUISTIC - Information presented in some form other than words.   • Depiction -  Images, photographs, diagrams, drawings.   • Replication - A reproduction ... music (recordings), cloning.