Frank Hutson Gregory

“ CONCLUSION The problem of mapping information systems on to the real world is not as difficult as explaining mathematics. It is mainly a problem because is not recognized as the logical problem that it is. The tools of systems analysis, such as data flow diagrams and entity-relationship models, have very limited logical power. They are not sufficient to produce a system that will map on to the real world. However, most information system designers think they are adequate. Many designers have come to think like the systems they design. ”

“ INTRODUCTION The real world mapping problem is the problem of explaining how does a system that is an invention of the human mind help us to understand a world that is not? It is self evident that some systems of rules and definition, such as those that constitute the game of chess, do not help use to understand anything beyond themselves, others, such as mathematics, do. The real world mapping problem is the problem of understanding which systems will help us understand the real world and which will not. ”

“ Kafka's world is of nebulous systems populated by hapless individuals; a system which everyone assents to but which nobody, including the officials, can seem to understand. Kafka's works are generally considered to be a disturbing view of life and society. They are not, like Orwell's 1984, considered to be prophetic. Yet it is Kafka that seems to be becoming an appropriate model for modern information systems. The connection between Kafka and work in the area of information systems has already been noted by Probert (1991) who argues that some aspects of Soft Systems Methodology are Kafkaesque. ”

“ The lack of an adequate theory is a more pressing problem for information system design than it is for mathematics. The early systems of arithmetic existed in 9000 BC (Barrow, 1992) , Over millennia people have had the time to learn how to use mathematics even though this process of learning may have been driven by trial and error rather than theory. People have built up a tacit understanding of how, when and where mathematics is useful. ”

“ The viability of the maintenance argument assumes that either a mistake does not matter much or that there is a manual check on the system. In many systems, such as safety critical systems, a mistake is just not acceptable. One might argue that mistakes in official systems such as the poll tax are not acceptable either. If the a manual check on the system is anything other than fortuitous, then the fact that the system might make an error in a certain area will have been anticipated. This will not help to deal with problem that have not been anticipated. ”

“ Statements that are logically true are either full definitions, statement specifying a defining attribute or statements that follow from these by the rules of logic.
It is common sense that we as individuals can define our terms in any way we like. However, if our definitions are going to be part of an information system, that is a system used to communicate with others, then the other people involved will need to know about and accept them. Indeed the amount of communication between individuals could be measured in terms of the definitions they accept. ”

“ A maintenance solution assumes that the rate of change in the environment is slower than the rate of maintenance. Maintenance backlogs are a practical problem because manual maintenance is labour intensive and time consuming. For many systems the rate of environmental change will be faster than the rate of maintenance. ”