Clarification of scope

Review of Frameworks for the Representation of alternative Conceptual Orderings as Determined by Linguistic and Cultural Contexts (Part #2)

As suggested above the issues can only be effectively explored by examining them within a broader context. This necessitates a broader interpretation of several 'concepts'. However, in the light of the theme of this paper, it is neither possible nor desirable to present definitions.

(a) Language: In this discussion 'language' includes:

spoken or written languages such as English, Chinese or Sanskrit;
languages, which select particular words from written languages, defining them as terms of specialized significance whose use is governed by certain theories or laws; the use of such languages is a prime characteristic of certain discipline or schools of thought;
systems of notation through which logical and mathematical insights into patterns of relationship are clarified and communicated;
computer languages such as COBOL, FORTRAN, ADA, C, PL1, etc; these combine features of mathematical notation and the specialized use of words noted above;
identifiable methods or systems of expression which may not necessarily rely on univocal use of words, but may, as in poetry, playfully explore other patterns of significance;
systems of communciation using non-verbal means, whether, graphics, music, movement or the many symbolic devices favoured by the media and public relations campaign to influence public opinion.

This broader sense may therefore be considered as covering any systems of expression capable of conveying or filtering patterns of significance. It therefore combines the two arenas (whose distinction is lost in English but retained in French) of 'langue' and 'langage'. This broader interpretation is consistent with current recognition that ordinary language, whether written or spoken, is only one member of a class of coherent symbolic communication systems (2, p. xii). Nalimov argues that the broad view of language results from the work of cybernetic linguistics. In addition to mathematics and biology as 'hard' languages, 'soft' languages also need to be recognized:

'The study of art can be regarded as the teaching of a language for communication in the emotional sphere of life. We may speak of the language of abstract painting, of the language of music, and that of rhythm in poetry, and we can carry on quite serious investigations in these directions... In any case, the definitions of language which linguists of the traditional school have been attempting to formulate seem very naive nowadays'. (2, p. xviii)

(b) Culture: The variety of interpretations of 'culture' and itsrelationship to 'language' is a theme of continuing and possibly endless debate. The preparatory report for a Unesco meeting on intercultural studies (Belgrade, 1976) draws attention to culture as: 'A related whole or more or less formalized ways of thinking, feeling and acting which, learnt and shared by a number of people, serve, both objectively and symbolically, to make of those people a special, distinct collectivity' (3, p. 17). Kroeber and Kluckholn conclude a review with the statement that: 'It is evident that culture has been used in two senses, each usually implicit in its context and validated there: culture including language, and culture excluding language. It is also clear that language is the most easily separable part or aspect of total culture... it is obviously easier to abstract linguistics from the remainder of culture and define it separately than the reverse' (4, p. 244). Clearly in seeking a broader interpretation of 'language', language becomes much less distinguishable from culture to the point that, for the purposes of this paper, they may often be considered identical. Thus in considering the consequences of differences in culture, Geert Hofstede states: 'Culture... includes language. Language is the most clearly recognizable part of culture and the part that has lent itself most readily to systematic theory-building' (5, p. 27). The more distinct that cultures become the greater the tendency for this distinction to be embodied in distinct sets of terms or languages.

(c) Information: Information is used in this paper to indicate potential patterns of significance. This includes raw statistical data, for example, only to the extent that the data is interpreted as forming patterns of significance. Patterns of significance may be carried by a wide variety of media or languages and are therefore not limited to verbalized information or graphic images. Considerable information, often of political significance, may be conveyed by ritual, ceremony, music, poetry or body language, for example.

Nalimov reproduces a sample of definitions of the term 'information' and then states that: 'None of the definitions corresponds to our intuitive understanding of the meaning of the word. And any attempt at defining ascribes some new features to this word, features which do not clarify but, on the contrary, make narrow and thus obscure its sense, and indubitably increase the word's polymorphism' (2, p. 103).

(d) Use: The uses of information tend to be conceived in terms of:

learning, broadly understood to include becoming informed (for example in French the news is called 'les informations'). The media is fed with information by governmental bodies with titles such as Office of Public Information (some of which may even be 'disinformation').
action, namely the application of 'know-how' to achieve some policy goal.

The prevalence of these two highly visible uses of information tends to obscure the question as to whether the uses are primarily concerned with:

maintenance of the status quo, adapting to changing circumstances ('maintenance learning'), or whether they are concerned with
formulating innovative responses to such circumstances ('innovative learning').

This distinction was the principal theme of a Club of Rome report (6) and was explored in connection with the limitations on the use of international organization information in an earlier paper, especially in relation to societal learning (7).

Those concerned with information seldom publicly acknowledge two other major uses of information:

the accumulation of power through the accumulation of information. Organizing the transfer and access to information is now, through telecommunications, a major business and a number of bodies are manoenvering to control and profit from such transactions in a manner reminiscent of the early activities of the oil corporations.
the use of information to engender empathy and to entertain. This is a characteristic of many audio-visual presentations and, under certain political circumstances, may well be deliberately designed to divert attention from more substantive issues.

This range of uses moves beyond the concept of use associated with the first two items. Information may indeed be used in a non-innovative manner and may have uses unrelated to the content.

(e) Time: In discussing the uses of information, it is easy to assume that they should be evident soon after the information is produced. From a societal learning perspective however, some types of information only acquire their full significance long after they have been produced. Much of the investment in telecommunications is concerned with short-term information (e.g. share prices, commodity prices, new research, news, meteorological data, military status reports). Such information frequently has a very short 'half-life', possibly measured in hours or days. The media equivalent, as Alvin Toffler indicated, is the brief presentation of unrelated images leading to what he terms a 'blip culture' (8). In contrast the information which is eventually aggregated into the cultural heritage may be much less easily detectable in the short-term. It calls for a much longer exposure time before its significance becomes apparent. Whilst such information is valued in all cultures, it is not valued equally in all cultures (9).

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Clarification of scope