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Information

 

 

Definition (Adrian M. McDonough)
Definition (W.W. Spradlin and P. B. Porterfield)
Definition (Walter Buckley)
Definition (Joël De Rosnay)
Characteristics (Richard L. Derr)
Characteristics (N. J. Belkin)
Characteristics (H. Cleveland)
Coding (W.W. Spradlin and P. B. Porterfield)
Information and judgement (M. L. J. Abercrombie)
Information overload (J. G. Miller)
Information and knowledge (Daniel Boorstin)
Variety and change (Jeremy Campbell)
Complexity and redundancy (Jeremy Campbell)
Information as evidence (John Ziman)
Reaction to change (J. Z. Young)

 

 

Definition

[1973] Adrian M. McDonough in Stanford L. Optner (editor), Systems Analysis
"Information is the value of a message to a decision maker in a specific situation.”
(Part Two, p. 175)

[1979] W.W. Spradlin and P. B. Porterfield, Human Biosociology 
“Information, as used in system theories, is not just a message passed from one person to another. Information is contained within an object, such as a pencil, whether it is used or not. Information is the power of organization, for, by it, the entity assumes the relationships that give it form and function.” (p. 5)
“Information must have a matter/energy carrier and any matter/energy carrier contains information.” (p. 5)
“... information is a characteristic of organization, structure, and function.” (p. 6)
“Information may also be defined as any influence that affects relationships within a system or between the system and its environment. Such influences may result in change or stability.” (p. 6)
 
[1967] Walter Buckley, Sociology and Modern Systems Theory
“'Information' is not a substance or concrete entity but rather a relationship between sets or ensembles of structured variety.” (Chapter 3, p. 47)

[1975] Joël De Rosnay, Le Macroscope
"D'un côté, information est comprise comme 'acquisition de connaissance' (c'est l'acte qui consiste à s'informer, en observant un objet ou la nature).
De l'autre, information signifie 'pouvoir d'organisation' ou 'action créatrice' (c'est l'acte qui consiste à informer la matière, à donner forme à un objet)."
"Pour le moment, il suffit simplement de définir l'information come le contenu d'un message capable de déclencher une action." (Part IV, p. 168)

 

Characteristics

[1985] Richard L. Derr in "Information Processing & Management" vol. 21, n. 6
Essential properties:
"1- information be a representation,
2- that the representation be abstract,
3- that the representation be meaningful,
4- that the representation consists of determinations which have been made,
5- that the determinations have been made of certain objects.”
Derivative properties:
“1- Communicability property [capacity of being comprehended by individuals]
2- Informing property [capacity to acquaint individuals with new states of affair]
3- Empowering property [capacity to lead to new courses of action]
4- Quantitative property [capacity to vary in amount].”
(pp. 491-494)

[1993] N. J. Belkin in Robert M. Hayes, Measurement of Information in "Information Processing & Management", vol. 29, n. 1
“Information as
-  part of human cognition
-  something produced by a generator
-  something that affects a user
-  something that is requested or desired
-  the basis for purposeful social communication
-  a commodity
-  a process
-  a state of knowing
-  semantic content.”
(Fig. 2, p. 3)

[1986] H. Cleveland in A. J. Repo, The Dual Approach to the Value of Information in "Information Processing & Management", vol. 22, n. 5
“Cleveland gives an exhaustive list of the characteristics of information as a unique resource among the others :
-  1  Information is human.
-  2  Information is expandable.
-  3  Information is compressible.
-  4  Information is substitutable.
-  5  Information is easily transportable.
-  6  Information is diffuse.
-  7  Information is shareable.”
(p. 374)

 

Coding

[1979] W.W. Spradlin and P. B. Porterfield, Human Biosociology
“We will term the continuous mode of information coding analogical and the interrupted mode digital.” (p. 22)
“In the first category - the analogic system - data are integrated continuously into an operational gestalt, or map like picture, perhaps similar to a hologram. In the second category - the digital system, data are processed into individual units. The information is interrupted or chopped into segments, with each segment or unit containing data.” (p. 25)
“The digital and analogic data-processing operations form a continuum ... there is a continual conversion of the code from digital to analog to digital ...” (p. 25)
Note :
-  analog = concrete, perceptual, synthetic (e.g. facial expressions)
-  digital = abstract, conceptual, analytic (e.g. symbols)

 

Information and judgement

[1979] M. L. J. Abercrombie, The Anatomy of Judgement
"In receiving information from a given stimulus pattern we select from the total amount of information available and from our own store of information. The receipt of information therefore involves making a judgement, but in many cases (as for instance in seeing familiar things) this is done so rapidly and automatically that we are unaware of the extent of our personal involvement in the act, tending to regard the information as given. In such cases we might obtain more valid information if we could consider alternative selections from the information available." (p. 172)

 

Information overload
[1978] J. G. Miller in Daniel Katz and Robert L. Kahn, The Social Psychology of Organizations, First Edition 1966
“The responses to information input overload have been classified by Miller (1960) into the following seven categories:
(1)  omission, failing to process some of the information;
(2)  error, processing information incorrectly;
(3)  queuing, delaying during periods of peak load in the hope of catching up during lulls;
(4)  filtering, neglecting to process certain types of information, according to some scheme of priorities;
(5)  approximation, or cutting categories of discrimination (a blanket and nonprecise way of responding);
(6)  employing multiple channels, using parallel channels, as in decentralization;
(7)  escaping from the task.”
(Chapter 14, p. 451)

 

Information and knowledge

[1993] Daniel Boorstin in Robert M. Hayes in "Information Processing & Management", vol. 29, n. 1
“... Daniel Boorstin commented to the effect that we say ‘one can be informed’, but we do not say ‘one can be acknowledged. The implication is clear: Information is essentially external; it can be received. Knowledge is internal; it cannot be received but must be internally created.” (p. 5)

 

Variety and change

[1982] Jeremy Campbell, Grammatical Man 
“Information ... is closely linked to the notion of variety.” (p. 45)
“Change is the essence of information.” (p. 201)
“... without change there is no information.” (p. 213)

 

Complexity and redundancy

[1982] Jeremy Campbell, Grammatical Man 
“Redundancy makes complexity possible.” (p. 73)
“Without redundancy, complexity cannot persist, because there would be no way to control error.” (p. 256)

 

Information as evidence

[1968] John Ziman, Public Knowledge
“... evidence ... means any information that is relevant to a disputed hypothesis.”
“In Science when the evidence is conflicting, we withhold our assent or dissent, and do the experiment again.”
(Chapter 2, p. 14)

 

Reaction to change

[1951] J. Z. Young, Doubt and Certainty in Science
“Any system, say the body, is said to be able to receive information if when a change occurs the system is capable of reacting in such a way as to maintain its own stability.”
“To speak of a change as giving information implies that there is somewhere a receiver able to react appropriately to the change.” (Comment on the First Lecture, p. 17)

 

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