Information Theory of Decisions and Actions

Dear Colleagues,

Individuals, organizations, corporations and governments are in a continual process of making decisions and taking actions based on those decisions. In practice, it is clear that actions and decisions are not one in the same, with context, bias, perception and other factors separating the two. It is also clear that many decisions, even extremely critical decisions, are made with limited information. Exploring the relationship between information that is gathered, analyzed and presented for critical decision making, as well as the relationship to subsequent actions taken after decisions are made, could provide enormous benefit to all decision makers.

Information Theory, with its mathematical treatment of the generation, storage, transmission and reception of information, has provided a basis of understanding that has transformed telecommunications, physics, optics, computer science, engineering, cryptography, biology and economics. We believe that the application of Information Theory (with concepts such as, e.g., capacity and entropy) may provide greater insights into decision making and action.

Decision Theory studies how, in circumstances with different levels of uncertainty, people combine their values and understanding of their environment to select actions and strategies that are most advantageous. Decision Theory is multidisciplinary, working across the fields of psychology, sociology, and philosophy combined with statistics and mathematics to provide a basis of understanding of how individuals arrive at decisions.

The goal of this Special Issue is to share new and innovative methods, techniques and thought processes around treating and analyzing information surrounding and supporting important, critical and high-risk decisions and actions (D&A) in commercial, charitable and government contexts. Of particular interest are Information Theory approaches to enhance decision making in engineering, science, strategy and systems, including dealing with risk, trades, competing options, policy and governance. The applications of Information Theory in decision making is broad, to say the least. We hope this Special Issue will provide tangible value (techniques, processes, procedures, analyses, etc.) for decision makers and their teams as they work to support critical decisions.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Preparation, evaluation, quality, value or availability of information for D&A;
• Information Theory with respect to risk informed, high risk or critical import D&A;
• Information associated with engineering design evaluation, trades, options and competition;
• Information and strategic D&A in the business, political or management domains;
• Information and tactical D&A for safety, optimization or process improvement;
• Information and D&A for project management or systems engineering;
• How information availability, timing or utilization affects D&A;
• The effect of bias on information and D&A;
• Assurance of D&A and subsequent confidence in future decisions;
• The balance of holism and specialization in D&A.

Dr. Daniel Port
Dr. Rob Hanna
Guest Editors

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