Evaluating Informational Tool Building and Utilization as Applied Research

The advances of technology have altered the research theater and compelled information scientists to develop appropriate criteria for evaluating contemporary research. While classical scientists may not embrace these new research paradigms, they eagerly seek the tools created by information scientists that often enable and extend research to levels not otherwise possible. Informational tools include a broad range of hardware, software, survey instruments and other methodologies which are the object of research or are created to enable research in information and other sciences. The process of building and using informational tools has been presented to the scientific community as valid research in its own right. Rapid technological growth and societal demands for fast solutions to important problems require a progressive view of research and the establishment of criteria by which all scientists will recognize, support, and fund research in informational tools. This paper reviews the role of information science as a creator and user of informational tools. It attempts to rationalize the process of informational tool building and utilization in relation to the strict criteria of the scientific method. Using a model developed for artificial intelligence, criteria are suggested for evaluating applied research in informational tool building and utilization