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'''Information ecology''' is the application of [[ecology|ecological]] concepts for modeling the [[information society]]. It considers the dynamics and properties of the increasingly dense, complex and important digital informational environment. "Information ecology" often is used as [[metaphor]], viewing the [[information space]] as an [[ecosystem]], the '''information ecosystem'''.

Information ecology also makes a connection to the concept of [[collective intelligence]] and [[knowledge ecology]] {{Harv|Pór|2000}}.  Eddy et al. (2014) use information ecology for science-policy integration in ecosystems-based management (EBM).

== Networked information economy ==
In ''[[The Wealth of Networks|The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom]]'', a book published in 2006 and available under a [[Creative Commons]] license on its own wikispace,<ref>{{cite book
 | last=Benkler
 | first=Yochai
 | author-link=Yochai Benkler
 | title=The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
 | url=http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page
 | publisher=available under a [[Creative Commons]]
 | access-date=2006-04-29
 | archive-date=2006-04-30
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430084320/http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref> [[Yochai Benkler]] provides an analytic framework for the emergence of the networked [[information economy]] that draws deeply on the language and perspectives of information ecology together with observations and analyses of high-visibility examples of successful [[peer production]] processes, citing Wikipedia as a prime example.

[[Bonnie Nardi]] and [[Vicki O'Day]] in their book "Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart,"  {{Harv|Nardi|O’Day|1999}} apply the ecology metaphor to local environments, such as libraries and schools, in preference to the more common metaphors for technology as tool, text, or system.

== In different domains / disciplines ==

=== Anthropology ===
Nardi and O’Day's book represents the first specific treatment of information ecology by anthropologists. H.E. Kuchka<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kuchka.org/information-ecology|title=Information Ecology}}</ref> situates information within socially-distributed cognition of cultural systems. Casagrande and Peters<ref>Casagrande, D.G., & C. Peters. 2013. Ecomyopia meets the longue durée: An information ecology of the increasingly arid Southwestern United States. Pp. 97-144 in H. Kopnina & E. Shoreman (Eds.), Environmental Anthropology: Future Directions. New York: Routledge.</ref> use information ecology for an anthropological critique of Southwest US water policy. Stepp (1999)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kuchka.org/sites/default/files/stepp.pdf |title=Data |website=kuchka.org }}</ref> published a prospectus for the anthropological study of information ecology.

=== Knowledge management ===
Information ecology was used as book title by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak {{Harv|Davenport|Prusak|1997}}, with a focus on the organization dimensions of information ecology. There was also an academic research project at [[Distributed Systems Technology Centre|DSTC]] called ''Information ecology'', concerned with distributed information systems and online communities.

=== Law ===
Law schools represent another area where the phrase is gaining increasing acceptance, e.g.
NYU Law School Conference Towards a Free Information Ecology<ref>
Conference [http://www1.law.nyu.edu/ili/conferences/freeinfo2000/aboutconf/index.html A Free Information Ecology in the Digital Environment] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329043908/http://www.law.nyu.edu/ili/conferences/freeinfo2000/aboutconf/index.html |date=2009-03-29 }}, New York University School of Law, March 31, 2000 to Sunday, April 2, 2000
</ref>  and a lecture series on Information ecology at Duke University Law School's [[Center for the Study of the Public Domain]].

=== Library science ===
The field of [[library science]] has seen significant adoption of the term and librarians have been described by Nardi and O'Day as a "keystone species in information ecology",<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/archive/nardi.html |title=Reference Service in a Digital Age: An LC Institute |website=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2017-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307005156/http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/archive/nardi.html |archive-date=2006-03-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/sfsla/bulletin/sepoct00/info_ecology.html |access-date=April 2, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040502182859/http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/sfsla/bulletin/sepoct00/info_ecology.html |archive-date=May 2, 2004 |title=Info Ecology Program Notes: "Weirdly Wonderful" - Librarians as Spotted Owls }}</ref>  and references to information ecology range as far afield as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service of the Library of Congress,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/source/CDRS-KB-CNI.PPT |title=Archived copy |website=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2017-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307010141/http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/source/CDRS-KB-CNI.PPT |archive-date=2006-03-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to children's library database administrator in Russia.

=== Science-Policy Integration (SPI) / Ecosystems-Based Management (EBM) ===
Eddy et al. (2014) use principles of information ecology to develop a framework for integrating scientific information in decision-making in ecosystem-based management (EBM).  Using a metaphor of how a species adapts to environmental changes through information processing, they developed a 3-tiered model that differentiates primary, secondary and tertiary levels of information processing, within both the technical and human domains.

==See also==
{{Portal|Environment}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|* [[Biosemiotics]]
* [[Collaborative filtering]] 
* [[Collective intelligence]]
* [[Collective memory]] 
* [[Complex adaptive system]]
* [[Crowd psychology]]
* [[Diffusion of innovations]]
* [[Digital ecosystem]]
* [[Environmental health]]
* [[Information ethics]]
* [[Information pollution]]
* [[Information science]]
* [[Information society]] 
* [[Knowledge commons]]
* [[Knowledge ecosystem]]
* [[Knowledge management]]
* [[Knowledge organization]]
* [[Knowledge tagging]]
* [[Media ecology]]
* [[Sociology of knowledge]]}}

==Notes==
{{Wikibooks}}

* {{cite magazine  | last=Barlow | first=John Perry
 | year=1994
 | title=The Economy of Ideas: Selling Wine Without Bottles on the Global Net
 | magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]
 | volume=1994  | series=March
 | url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.03/economy.ideas_pr.html  }}
* {{Cite book  | last=Capurro | first=Rafael
 | year=1990
 | chapter=Towards an Information Ecology
 | title=Irene Wormell (Ed.): Information and Quality
 | pages=122–139, 288
 | publisher=Taylor Graham | location=London
 | chapter-url=http://www.capurro.de/nordinf.htm}}
* {{cite book |last1        = Davenport
 |first1       = Thomas H.
 |author-link = Thomas H. Davenport
 |last2       = Prusak
 |first2      = Laurence
 |year        = 1997
 |title       = Information Ecology
 |page        = [https://archive.org/details/informationecolo00dave/page/288 288]
 |publisher   = Oxford University Press
 |isbn        = 978-0-19-511168-2
 |url         = https://archive.org/details/informationecolo00dave/page/288
 |url-access  = registration
}}
* Eddy, B. G., B. Hearn, J. E. Luther, M. Van Zyll de Jong, W. Bowers, R. Parsons, D. Piercey, G. Strickland, and B. Wheeler. 2014. [https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss3/art40/ An information ecology approach to science–policy integration in adaptive management of social-ecological systems]. ''Ecology and Society'' '''19'''(3): 40.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06752-190340.
* {{cite journal  | last1=Finin | first1=Tim
 | author-link=Tim Finin
 | last2=Joshi | first2=Anupam
 | last3=Kolari | first3=Pranam 
 | last4=Java | first4= Akshay
 | last5=Kale | first5=Anubav
 | last6=Krandikar | first6=Amit
 | year=2007
 | title=The Information ecology of social media and online communities
 | pages=77–92
 | journal=AI Magazine
 | volume=28 | issue=3
 | url=http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/paper/html/id/371/The-Information-ecology-of-social-media-and-online-communities  }}
* {{cite journal  | last= Malhotra | first=Yogesh
 | year= 1999
 | title=Knowledge Management for Organizational White Waters: An Ecological Framework
 | journal=Knowledge Management
 | volume=2 | issue=6
 | pages=18–21
 | url=http://www.brint.com/papers/ecology.htm  }}
* {{cite book
 | last1=Nardi
 | first1=Bonnie
 | author-link=Bonnie Nardi
 | last2=O’Day
 | first2=Vicki
 | year=1999
 | title=Information Ecology: Using Technology with Heart
 | page=288
 | publisher=MIT Press
 | location=Cambridge
 | url=http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/672/582
 | access-date=2009-09-07
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809130303/http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/672/582
 | archive-date=2010-08-09
 | url-status=dead
 }}
* {{cite journal
 |last         = Pór
 |first        = G.
 |year         = 2000
 |title        = Nurturing Systemic Wisdom through Knowledge Ecology
 |journal      = The Systems Thinker
 |volume       = 11
 |issue        = 8
 |pages        = 1–5
 |url          = http://www.community-intelligence.com/files/KE%20in%20SysThinker.pdf
 |access-date  = 2009-09-07
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111005234313/http://www.community-intelligence.com/files/KE%20in%20SysThinker.pdf
 |archive-date = 2011-10-05
 |url-status     = dead
}}
* {{cite journal  | last1=Soylu | first1=Ahmet
 | last2=De Causmaecker | first2=Patrick
 | last3=Wild | first3=Fridolin 
 | year=2010
 | title=Ubiquitous Web for Ubiquitous Computing Environments: The Role of Embedded Semantics
 | pages=26–48
 | journal=Journal of Mobile Multimedia
 | volume=6 | issue=1
 | url=http://www.rintonpress.com/journals/jmmonline.html  }}
* {{cite book  | last1=Seely Brown | first1= John 
 | author-link=John Seely Brown
 | last2= Duguid | first2=Paul
 | year=2000
 | title=The Social Life of Information
 | publisher=Harvard Business School Press
| title-link=The Social Life of Information }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Information Ecology}}
[[Category:Information]]
[[Category:Systems ecology]]