Information as thing

TLDR

Information is conceptualized in three ways—process, knowledge, and thing—where the latter refers to objects that convey meaning, encompassing data, text, documents, objects, and events. The study aims to examine the nature and characteristics of information-as-thing by exploring what makes objects informative. The authors investigate information-as-thing by posing the question “What things are informative?” and analyzing its properties. They find that information-as-thing extends beyond mere communication and, together with the other two meanings, offers a basis for classifying diverse information activities and mapping the topography of information science.

Abstract

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.” © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.