Information Processing Task

An Information Processing Task is a data-processing task that requires the conversion of latent information into manifest information.

• AKA: IPT, Information Transformation Task, Information Conversion Task.
• Context:
  • Input: Latent Information
    • optional: processing constraints
    • optional: information format
  • Output: Manifest Information
  • Measure: Information Processing Quality Measures
  • ...
  • It can (typically) transform information states
  • It can (typically) reduce uncertainty
  • It can (typically) preserve information content
  • It can (often) require observations
  • It can (often) involve format conversion
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Complex Information-Processing Task to being a Simple Information-Processing Task, depending on its processing complexity
  • It can range from being an Information-Processing Micro-Task to being an Information-Processing Macro-Task, depending on its processing scope
  • It can range from being a Centralized Information Task to being a Distributed Information Task, depending on its processing architecture
  • It can range from being a Sequential Information Task to being a Parallel Information Task, depending on its processing mode
  • ...
  • It can be solved by an Information Processing System (that implements an information processing algorithm)
  • It can maintain Processing State (for tracking)
  • It can produce Processing Output (for validation)
  • It can support Decision Making (through information transformation)
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Computational Processing Tasks, such as:
    • Online Transaction Processing Tasks for data transformation
    • Routing Tasks for network management
    • Data Processing Tasks for information extraction
    • ...
  • Distributed Processing Tasks, such as:
    • Coordinated Decision Making Tasks for collective action
    • Leader Election Tasks for system organization
    • Consensus Formation Tasks for agreement
    • ...
  • Information Enrichment Tasks, such as:
    • Annotation Tasks for content enhancement
    • Classification Tasks for categorization
    • Labeling Tasks for identification
    • ...
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Manual Labor Tasks, which manipulate physical objects rather than information
  • Decision Making Tasks, which select actions rather than process information
  • Physical Process Tasks, which transform matter rather than information
• See: Cognitive Task, Tacit Knowledge, Explicit Representation, Information Theory, Processing System.

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References

2014

• (Navlakha & Bar-Joseph, 2014) ⇒ Saket Navlakha, and Ziv Bar-Joseph. (2014). “Distributed Information Processing in Biological and Computational Systems.” In: Communications of the ACM Journal, 58(1). doi:10.1145/2678280
  • QUOTE: Exploring the similarities and differences between distributed computations in biological and computational systems.
    Biological systems, ranging from the molecular to the cellular to the organism level, are distributed and in most cases operate without central control. Such systems must solve information processing problems that are often very similar to problems faced by computational systems, including coordinated decision making, 29 leader election, 2 routing and navigation, 52 and more.42

2013

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processing
  • Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that describes everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in position) to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system. In the latter case, an information processor is changing the form of presentation of that text file.

    Information processing may more specifically be defined in terms used by Claude E. Shannon as the conversion of latent information into manifest information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2011). Latent and manifest information is defined through the terms of equivocation (remaining uncertainty, what value the sender has actually chosen), dissipation (uncertainty of the sender what the receiver has actually received), and transformation (saved effort of questioning - equivocation minus dissipation) (Denning and Bell, 2012).

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