![Eckhard D Falkenberg 1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Eckhard_D_Falkenberg_1989.png)
Eckhard D. Falkenberg (born 1942) is a German
scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
and Professor Emeritus of Information Systems at the
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...
. He is known for his contributions in the fields of
information modelling
An information model in software engineering is a representation of concepts and the relationships, constraints, rules, and Operation (mathematics), operations to specify Semantic data model, data semantics for a chosen domain of discourse. Typical ...
, especially
object-role modeling
Object-role modeling (ORM) is used to model the semantics of a universe of discourse. ORM is often used for data modeling and software engineering.
An object-role model uses graphical symbols that are based on first order predicate logic and se ...
,
Terry Halpin
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
(2001) ''Information Modeling and Relational Databases: From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design''. p. 106Terry Halpin
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
(2010). "Object-Role Modeling: Principles and Benefits." In: ''International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design'' (IJISMD) 1(1). p. 1 and the conceptual foundations of information systems.
Biography
In the early 1960s Falkenberg studied
electrical
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
and
telecommunications engineering
Telecommunications Engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication enginee ...
at the
Technical University of Munich
The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences.
Establis ...
, where he received his engineering degree under
Gert Hauske and
Hans Marko. Later in 1975 he obtained his PhD in
informatics
Informatics is the study of computational systems, especially those for data storage and retrieval. According to ACM ''Europe and'' ''Informatics Europe'', informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which ...
at the
University of Stuttgart
The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...
under the supervision of Hans-Jochen Schneider and
Walter Knödel
Walter Knödel (May 20, 1926 – October 19, 2018) was an Austrian mathematician and computer scientist. He was a computer science professor at the University of Stuttgart.
Born in Vienna, Walter Knödel studied mathematics and physics at the Univ ...
.
In 1967 Falkenberg had started his career as a development engineer at
Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" app ...
in
Konstanz
Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...
, Germany. In 1971 he became Research Assistant at the computer science department of the University of Stuttgart, where he conducted his PhD research. In those days he published his first articles on modelling of
database systems
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases span ...
.
[''Australian Computer Journal'' (1988) Vol 20. p. 104] In 1976 he moved to the Siemens Research Laboratories in Munich, where he became a Research Manager. Here he started working on manipulation and specification languages for information systems, and on the design of architecture of information systems.
In 1982 on invitation by
Sjir Nijssen
Gerardus Maria "Sjir" Nijssen (born 18 October 1938, Schinnen) is a Dutch computer scientist, former professor of computer science at the University of Queensland,''Australian Computer Journal,'' Vol. 19-20, 1987, p. 75. consultant, and author. N ...
he moved to the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
in Australia, where he was appointed Senior Lecturer at its computer science department. In 1986 back in Europe Falkenberg was appointed Professor of Information Systems at the computer science department of the
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...
.
Among his doctoral students were
Sjaak Brinkkemper
Jacobus Nicolaas (Sjaak) Brinkkemper (born Monnickendam, 18 January 1958) is a Dutch computer scientist, and Full Professor of organisation and information at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences of Utrecht University.
Biography
B ...
(1990),
Arthur ter Hofstede (1993),
Erik Proper
Henderik Alex (Erik) Proper (born 22 May 1967) is a Dutch computer scientist, aFNRPEARL Laureate, and a senior research manager within the Computer Science (ITIS) department of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).
He is als ...
(1994) and Patrick van Bommel (1995). Late 1990s Falkenberg retired and moved back to Germany
In 1976 Falkenberg joined the work of the
International Federation for Information Processing
The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a global organisation for researchers and professionals working in the field of computing to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing.
Established in 196 ...
(IFIP), where he participated in the working group on databases, TC2/WG2.6, and the working group on design and evaluation of information systems, TC8/WG8.1. In 1988 that working group started the task group ''Framework of Information System Concepts (FRISCO),'' in which Falkenberg was elected chairman. This task group is particularly known for the 1998 publication of ''The FRISCO Report.''
Work
Falkenberg's early research had focussed on modelling of
database systems
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases span ...
, and moved towards concepts for modelling information, structuring information systems and
information architecture
Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging ...
.
Object-Role Model
In his 1975 PhD thesis Falkenberg came up with the concept of the structuring and representation of information at one specific interaction: the interface between the database user and the database management system. He developed this concept into an information model, which he called the Object-Role Model.
In cooperation with
Sjir Nijssen
Gerardus Maria "Sjir" Nijssen (born 18 October 1938, Schinnen) is a Dutch computer scientist, former professor of computer science at the University of Queensland,''Australian Computer Journal,'' Vol. 19-20, 1987, p. 75. consultant, and author. N ...
, Robert Meersman, Dirk Vermeir,
Terry Halpin
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
and other colleagues, these concepts were further developed. Eventually the Object-Role Model concept became a basic feature for methods and tools for information analysis and for developing information systems, such as ''Fact-oriented Modeling'', ''Natural-language Information Analysis Method'' (NIAM), and
Object-Role Modeling
Object-role modeling (ORM) is used to model the semantics of a universe of discourse. ORM is often used for data modeling and software engineering.
An object-role model uses graphical symbols that are based on first order predicate logic and se ...
(ORM).
FRISCO Task Group and FRISCO Report
In 1988 the IFIP TC8/WG8.1 working group started a task group to develop a more comprehensive framework for information system development. The motivation, aim and scope was described in a first manifesto in IFIP (1988), which stated:
:There is a growing concern within IFIP WG 8.1 about the present situation, where too many fuzzy or ill-defined concepts are used in the information systems area. Scientific as well as practice-related communication is severely distorted and hampered, due to this fuzziness and due to the frequent situation that different communication partners associate different meanings with one and the same term. There is no commonly accepted conceptual reference and terminology, to be applied for defining or explaining existing or new concepts for information systems.
The FRISCO Report (1998) eventually defined over 100 related terms, especially the term
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...
[Boriana Rukanova, ''Business transactions and standards: towards a system of concepts and a method for early problem identification in standard implementation projects.'' University of Twente, 2005. p. 48] and put them in context.
Publications
Falkenberg has authored and co-authored numerous publications in the field.
Books, a selection:
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D. ''Structuring and Representation of Information at the Interface Between Data Base User and Data Base Management System.'' Diss. Univ. Stuttgart (1975).
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D. & Paul Lindgreen (eds.). ''Information System Concepts:'' ''An In-depth Analysis. Proc. IFIP TC8/WG 8.1 Working Conference ISCO 1989.'' North-Holland, 1989.
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D., Wolfgang Hesse & Antoni Olivé (eds.). ''Information System Concepts: Towards a Consolidation of Views. Proc. IFIP TC8/WG 8.1 Working Conference ISCO 1995''. Chapman & Hall, 1995.
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D., Wolfgang Hesse, Paul Lindgreen, Björn E. Nilsson, J.L. Han Oei,
Colette Rolland
Colette Rolland (born 1943, in Dieupentale, Tarn-et-Garonne, France) is a French computer scientist and Professor of Computer Science in the department of Mathematics and Informatics at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, and a leading ...
,
Ronald Stamper, Frans J.M. Van Assche,
Alexander A. Verrijn-Stuart & Klaus Voss.
A Framework of Information System Concepts. The FRISCO Report'' International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), 1998.
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D., Kalle Lyytinen &
Alexander A. Verrijn-Stuart (eds.). ''Information System Concepts: An Integrated Discipline Emerging.'' ''Proc. IFIP TC8/WG 8.1 Working Conference ISCO 1999.'' Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
Articles, a selection:
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D. "Concepts for Modelling Information." in: ''Proc. IFIP TC2/WG2.6 Working Conference on Modelling in Data Base Management Systems.'' North-Holland, 1976. p. 95-109.
* Falkenberg, Eckhard D., J.L. Han Oei &
Henderik Alex Proper
Henderik Alex (Erik) Proper (born 22 May 1967) is a Dutch computer scientist, aFNRPEARL Laureate, and a senior research manager within the Computer Science (ITIS) department of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).
He is als ...
.
Evolving Information Systems: Beyond Temporal Information Systems" in: ''Database and Expert Systems Applications.'' Springer Vienna, 1992. p. 282-287.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkenberg, Eckhard D.
1942 births
Living people
German information theorists
University of Stuttgart alumni
Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen