A taxonomy is "the division into ordered groups or categories". The important element in developing a taxonomy is to have a consistent basis for the categorization. In the previous article we defined Architecture to be "the underlying design principles upon which construction is based". It would seem that the various types of construction would be a good basis for categorization.
So what types of construction are there?
We could say that we construct buildings, we construct systems, we construct machines. We could then identify 3 types of architecture:
- Building Architecture - An architecture specific to the construction of a physical edifice.
- Systems Architecture - An architecture specific to the construction of an assemblage of components
- Mechanical Architecture - An architecture specific to the construction of devices that transmit or modify force or motion.
Of course what we are interested is systems architecture, specifically Information System Architecture (a branch of architecture that deals specifically with the assemblage of Information). This would be a good point to define what one means by information.
Some common definitions for definition are:
- "Knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction"
- "A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn"
- "Things that are or can be known about a topic"
- "An ordered sequence of symbols"
- "Knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance"
- "Knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction"
Information is a topic worthy of a separate discussion all of it's own. It is interesting to note that the majority of the definitions deal with knowledge in some form or another. For the purpose of this discussion, I propose the following:
Information is "knowledge about a topic".
Now we are ready to continue the discussion on Information System Architecture ...
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