Three meanings of "information" are distinguished: "Information-as-process"; "information-as-
knowledge"; and "information-as-thing", the attributive use of "information" to denote things regarded as
informative. The nature and characteristics of "information-as-thing" are discussed, using an indirect
approach ("What things are informative?"). Varieties of "information-as-thing" include data, text,
documents, objects, and events. On this view "information" includes but extends beyond communication.
Whatever information storage and retrieval systems store and retrieve is necessarily "information-as-
thing".
These three meanings of "information", along with "information processing", offer a basis for classifying disparate information-related activities (e.g. rhetoric, bibliographic retrieval, statistical analysis) and, thereby, suggest a topography for "information science".
INTANGIBLE TANGIBLE ENTITY 2. Information-as-knowledge 3. Information-as-thing Knowledge Data, document PROCESS 1. Information-as-process 4. Information processing Becoming informed Data processing
The literature on information science has concentrated narrowly on data and documents as information resources.
3. Events can, to some extent, be created or re-created. In experimental sciences, it is regarded as being
of great importance that an experiment -- an event -- be designed and described in such a way that it can
be replicated subsequently by others. Since an event cannot be stored and since accounts of the results are
no more than hearsay evidence, the feasibility of re-enacting the experiment so that the validity of the
evidence, of the information, can be verified is highly desirable.
"Information-as-thing", then, is meaningful in two senses: i) At quite specific situations and points in time an object or event may actually be informative, i.e. constitute evidence that is used in a way that affects someone's beliefs; and (ii) Since the use of evidence is predictable, albeit imperfectly, the term "information" is commonly and reasonably used to denote some population of objects to which some significant probability of being usefully informative in the future has been attributed. It is in this sense that collection development is concerned with collections of information.
Numerous definitions have been proposed for "information". One important use of "information" is to denote knowledge imparted; another is the denote the process of informing. Some leading theorists have dismissed the attributive use of "information" to refer to things that are informative. However, "information-as-thing" deserves careful examination, partly because it is the only form of information with which information systems can deal directly. People are informed not only by intentional communications, but by a wide variety of objects and events. Being "informative" is situational and it would be rash to state of any thing that it might not be informative, hence information, in some conceivable situation. Varieties of "information-as-thing" vary in their physical characteristics and so are not equally suited for storage and retrieval. There is, however, considerable scope for using representations instead.
These three meanings of "information", along with "information processing", offer a basis for classifying disparate information-related activities (e.g. rhetoric, bibliographic retrieval, statistical analysis) and, thereby, suggest a topography for "information science".
INTANGIBLE TANGIBLE ENTITY 2. Information-as-knowledge 3. Information-as-thing Knowledge Data, document PROCESS 1. Information-as-process 4. Information processing Becoming informed Data processing
The literature on information science has concentrated narrowly on data and documents as information resources.
we find the evidence of events is used in three different
ways:
1. Objects, which can be collected or represented, may exist as evidence associated with events: bloodstains on the carpet, perhaps, or a footprint in the sand;
2. There may well be representations of the event itself: photos, newspaper reports, memoirs. Such documents can be stored and retrieved; and, also,
1. Objects, which can be collected or represented, may exist as evidence associated with events: bloodstains on the carpet, perhaps, or a footprint in the sand;
2. There may well be representations of the event itself: photos, newspaper reports, memoirs. Such documents can be stored and retrieved; and, also,
"Information-as-thing", then, is meaningful in two senses: i) At quite specific situations and points in time an object or event may actually be informative, i.e. constitute evidence that is used in a way that affects someone's beliefs; and (ii) Since the use of evidence is predictable, albeit imperfectly, the term "information" is commonly and reasonably used to denote some population of objects to which some significant probability of being usefully informative in the future has been attributed. It is in this sense that collection development is concerned with collections of information.
Numerous definitions have been proposed for "information". One important use of "information" is to denote knowledge imparted; another is the denote the process of informing. Some leading theorists have dismissed the attributive use of "information" to refer to things that are informative. However, "information-as-thing" deserves careful examination, partly because it is the only form of information with which information systems can deal directly. People are informed not only by intentional communications, but by a wide variety of objects and events. Being "informative" is situational and it would be rash to state of any thing that it might not be informative, hence information, in some conceivable situation. Varieties of "information-as-thing" vary in their physical characteristics and so are not equally suited for storage and retrieval. There is, however, considerable scope for using representations instead.
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