[Sigmetrics] RFC: Science as a Process of Numbers becoming Metrics

[gopal at annauniv.edu]

Dear All,

Presently, the scientific community is confronting a "Data Deluge". Much
before the abstract of a scientific artifact catches the eye of the
reader, a set of "data inputs" have already colored the eyes.

"There is something peculiar, one might even say mysterious, about
numbers. . . .If . . . a group of objects is deprived of every single one
of its properties or characteristics, there still remains, at the end, its
number, which seems to indicate that number is something irreducible. . .
. [something which] helps more than anything else to bring order into the
chaos of appearances. . . . It may well be the most primitive element of
order in the human mind. . . . we [can] define number psychologically as
an archetype of order which has become conscious."
- Carl G Jung, "Synchronicity: an Acausal Connecting Principle",
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1969.

One of Jung's frequent quotes on "Synchronicity" was from "Through the
Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says to Alice:
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."

Because our scientific worldview is built on the concept of cause and
effect, as a culture we tend to doubt and deny aspects of experience that
aren’t measurable and verifiable.

Science always has the challenge of defining a metric that quantifies
exactly the true or intrinsic value of the content [generically what is
being measured].

We may need a process that binds together the "inner and outer" measures 
in a way that is meaningful to the institution for a start.

In other words, a scientometric is a pair <institutional, global>
resulting from a process that binds them.

Binding within the pair of these values is perhaps associated with
Synchronicity that needs a fresh outlook.

Sometimes it is useful to know how large the zero is !!!

Your thoughts...

Sincerely,




Gopal T V
0 9840121302
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Dr. T V Gopal
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
College of Engineering
Anna University
Chennai - 600 025, INDIA
Ph : (Off) 22351723 Extn. 3340
      (Res) 24454753
Home Page : http://www.annauniv.edu/staff/gopal
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