The Nature of Information
Abstract
To understand the definition of information I look first at the definition of a related term—knowledge, which is that which is known. Recorded knowledge is knowledge that has been recorded in some tangible way. It is a common misperception that what we do in the information field is provide information. Rather, what we do is attempt to comprehend potential human information requirements, and then subsequently collect artifacts from which the correct informational instructions can be extracted, synthesized, and communicated. We provide context, and we filter it through our own expertise. Information is knowledge perceived. In colloquial usage the term “information” is used to refer to documents themselves, or even to simple data. It is crucial to comprehend the fact that information is a dynamic process, which is a crucial aspect of human existence. Finally, information can be culturally cloaked in the subjective experiences of those who experience its process.
Keywords
Ontological Commitment Information Field Musical Work Ontological Pluralism Digital AccessReferences
- Bates, Marcia J. 2006. Fundamental forms of information. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57:1033–1045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bawden, David, and Lyn Robinson. 2013. Introduction to information science. Chicago: Neal-Schuman.Google Scholar
- Bawden, David, and Lyn Robinson. 2014. Mind the gap: Transitions between concepts of information in varied domains. In Theories of information, communication and knowledge: A multidisciplinary approach. Studies in history and philosophy of science, eds. Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan and Thomas M. Dousa., 121–141. 344 vols. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
- Buckland, Michael K. 1988. Library services in theory and context. 2nd ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
- Capurro, Rafael and Birger Hjørland. 2003. The concept of information. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 37:343–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Cole, Charles. 1994. Operationalizing the notion of information as a subjective construct. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 45:475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Day, Ronald. 2000. The ‘conduit metaphor’ and the nature and politics of information studies. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 51:805–811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Fairthorne, R. A. 1961. Towards information retrieval. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
- Floridi, Luciano. 2010. Information: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Furner, Jonathan. 2014. Information without information studies. In Theories of information, communication and knowledge: A multidisciplinary approach. Studies in history and philosophy of science, eds. Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan and Thomas M. Dousa, 143–179. 344 vols. Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gleick, James. 2011. The information: A history, a theory, a flood. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
- Hjørland, Birger. 2007. Information—objective or subjective/situational? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58:1448–1456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Mai, Jens-Erik. 2013. The quality and qualities of information. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 64:675–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Menou, Michel J. 1995. The impact of information—II. concepts of information and its value. Information Processing and Management 31:479–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Zins, Chaim. 2007. Conceptual approaches for defining data, information, and knowledge. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58:479–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar