Inform. Stor. Retr. Vol. 8. pp. 95-98. Pergamon Press 1972. Printed in Great Britain

I N F O R M A T I O N S C I E N C E : O N T H E S T R U C T U R E O F I T S

P R O B L E M S

WERNER KUNZ

Studiengruppe for Systemforschung, Heidelberg, Germany

and

HORST W. J. RITTEL

University of California, Berkeley, California

Sumrnary--Information Science is still trying to live up to its program. One handicap is its Methodology. Systems design methods of the Ist generation do not provide the methodological basis. Approaches of the 2nd generation have to cope with the "wicked" character of tasks of information systems design.

1. HANDICAPS OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

TODAY Information Science is confronted with three major handicaps: (a) to overcome its preoccupation with scientific and technical information, (b) to "strip the eggshells" remaining from its ancestor disciplines, (c) to find its "systems approach". (a) is a consequence of the WEINBERG Report where the sad state of the scientific and technical information system was depicted as a major bottleneck of national wellbeing. It has, how- ever, become obvious that the whole gamut of information processes--and not only STI--is in a critical state, and that the non-STI processes pose even wickeder problems. (b) is due to the parenthood of librarianship and documentation science. Most of the emphasis of research and teaching is focused on libraries and literature documentation, although there are so many other kinds of at least as important information systems. (c) is caused by the fascination with a "systems approach" as it is supposed to have been useful in "mission-oriented" projects of the military, of space endeavours, etc. Because information systems are also "highly complex" and require "multi- and inter- disciplinary" treatment this approach is believed to be the panacea. Unfortunately it does not work.

Renaming ADI into ASIS was a symbolic indication of the widening scope of the field. It was far sighted and courageous to claim the whole area of information processes and systems. But the present state of the field reveals that it has not grown yet into its new clothes.

2. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF OTHERS This situation should not be alarming--if it were not for the fact that there is an urgent

demand for dealing with the neglected areas. The "information problems of the changing world" are in the wrong hands and treated the wrong way if they are considered as mere technical problems; information scientists are needed.

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96 WERNER KUNZ AND HORST W. J. RIT1E~_

In order to obtain indications about the self image of the future information scientist one should look at the structure of the knowledge and logic of procedure he needs to cope with his problems.

Information scientists are providing the information environment for problem solvers. Their central methodological difficulty is to understand the logic of the problem solvers' problems and the structure of the knowledge they need. They professionally try to "break their heads" on behalf of other people, not only in the context of a particular problem, but a whole class of future problems. Their dilemma is to know what somebody knows or might need to know. In contrast to the traditional scientist who can consider himself outside and different from his object, the information scientist--even in theory--is in a very symmetric relationship with his subjects. He relies on good information exchange with those for whom he designs his system.

3. I N F O R M A T I O N P R O B L E M S A R E W I C K E D

The problems which the most important information systems are to serve (of politicians, citizens, managers, planners) have not been studied very much. There are good reasons to call these problems "wicked" in contrast to "tame problems" (as chess problems, mathematical and many other scientific problems). Wicked problems (WPs) are charac- terized by a number of properties:

- -There is no definitive formulation of the problem. Every problem can be considered a symptom of a "higher" problem.

Ex. : A bottleneck in replacing books to their shelves may be considered a symptom of the lending practice.

- -Problem formulation is identical with problem solving.

Ex. : Saying that "The chief executive's information is too slow in the face of crisis" says nothing more than that the "crisis information system of the chief executive" has to be accelerated--which is a specification of solution.

- - F o r WPs there is no stopping rule. The designer of an information system can always try to do better. He stops because time, money or patience is running out, and not for logical reasons.

- -WPs are discrepancies between a realized situation and a situation as it ought to be. Solution requires an explanation of these discrepancies. The explanation depends upon the world view of the WP solver and is not objectively given.

Ex. : The discrepancy between the desired and the actual response time of a Management Information System can be explained by " too slow processing of questions" but also by inadequate training of the user in formulating his question, etc.

--Solutions to information problems cannot be categorized as right or wrong, they are "good" or "bad" to varying degrees, depending on the viewpoint of the evaluator.

- -The designer of information systems has "no right to be wrong".

In contrast to the scientist who is even encouraged to dare bold hypotheses which are offered to attempts of refutation, tasks of designing information systems are one-shot operations, without the opportunity for experimentation or trial and error.

These and other properties of WPs--and tasks of designing information systems become the more wicked the more they matter--have implications for the approach of attacking them.

Information Science: On the Structure of its Problems 97

4. THE SYSTEMS APPROACH OF THE FIRST GENERATION IS INADEQUATE

Despite great expectations, systems approaches have hardly become a procedural or educational reality. No wonder: What is commonly known as The Systems Approach of the text books is not adequate for dealing with WPs. It assumes that the process of planning can be neatly subdivided into distinct phases like "understand the mission", "gather information", "analyse findings", "synthesize and wait for creative leap", etc. Everybody who tried to design an information system knows that this orderly picture does not work: Understanding the problem relies already on an idea how to solve it; information gathering needs the guidance of a particular solution concept, which, in turn, cannot be developed without being informed about the problem etc. Systems analysis and synthesis are inseparable.

5. SYSTEMS APPROACHES OF THE SECOND GENERATION

Without exaggeration: traditional systems approaches (lst generation) are applied after the essential decisions have already been made. For example OR models for optimizing a library as a queuing system assume that the solution space and the system of constraints have been determined already and--most important of all--that a measure of performance has been defined as a function of design and contextual variables. To provide this information is, however, more difficult and significant than the question the OR model is supposed to answer.

A second generation of systems methods is due dealing with those decisions preceding the application of the models of the 1st generation: with problems of establishing measures of value in conflicting configurations of interests, with problems of setting the appropriate level of the problem, with negotiating problem images, with explicating and displaying basic assumptions of the participants, etc.

6. EVALUATING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

To exemplify this issue: What is a good information system? Much research has been invested to measure the quality of information systems, assuming that some kind of objective effectiveness can be established analogous to economics. These attempts are futile. It depends on the situation of the user and the nature of his problem which aspects and indicators matter and what their relative importance is. What is needed is a procedure to objectify the basis of judgment in the particular case, i.e. to make explicit and communicable the basis of judgment by the users and operators of the system. Indicators like "relevance ratio" or "cost of operation" are not sufficient. It has to be specified which relative weights of importance the various aspects have and, e.g. which relevance ratio is considered sufficient, excellent, unsatisfactory, and which increment of this ratio is worth which increase of costs. "Social technologies" developed in other fields may help to guide this process and to instigate mutual learning among the participants.

7. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

The emphasis of research in information science should not lie on theoretical model knitting remote from real design tasks. It is hopeless to capture the unimaginably rich phenomena by academic research. There is less need for empirical research about existing systems than for methodological research and development.

98 WERNER KUNZ AND HOe.ST W. J. RaTTEL

8. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The information scientist is no expert about the particulars of a specific design project. The expertise is distributed over all those people affected by the system. Even if they may not know very well what the case is and what ought to be accomplished--there are no better experts. Therefore, already for methodological reasons forms of participatory planning are asked for. The role of the systems scientist in this situation is a far cry from the systems engineer of the 1st generation. The information scientist plays the role of a "midwife" for problems and--therefore solutions.

9. IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION

Various kinds of information scientists are needed. Apart from the distinction by function (systems designers, operators, managers, teachers), some areas of emphasis are recognizable which should also be used for organizing education and research:

--Theories and methods of Information Science, - -Information Processes, --Representation and transformation of data, --Technology of Information Systems, --Organization and Management of Information Systems, - -Legal and political aspects of information, - -Educat ion for information.

Every information scientist should be introduced into each of these areas and should concentrate his studies in one of them. Emphasis should be laid upon a continuing design studio dealing with real (and not just realistic) design problems: the typical difficulties of information systems design cannot be simulated by artificial problems.

10. LOSS OF SCIENTIFIC IMMUNITY

Information Science is a forerunner among the problem-oriented disciplines engaged in the production of change. In face of the crisis of the elitarian expert they are loosing their character as sciences in the traditional sense. Organizing the discourse about what ought to be accomplished is an information problem. It is the central issue of information science.

These considerations came up during a study for the Science Ministry of the FRG, published as a report by the authors "Die Informationswissenschaften, Ihre Ans~itze, Probleme, Methoden und ihr Ausbau in der BRD"; Heidelberg, Berkeley, Calif., 1969. The book edition is in print: (Olaenbourg, Miinchen, 1972).