Broadening the field of information
| Date | 05 January 2023 |
| Pages | 1027-1047 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2022-0193 |
| Published date | 05 January 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Boris Bosancic |
Broadening the field of information
Boris Bosancic
Department of Information Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,
University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Purpose –The paper discusses the notion of information with regard to its carriers, representatives
(or structural carriers) and carried-related processesof transmission, accumulation and processing through the
developmental periods of the inorganic and organic world. In the first period, information is contained in a
representation of the outcome of physical, chemical and other processes in the physical, chemical and other
structures of the non-living world and refers to environmental information. In the second period, information
begins to be used to create the physical and chemical structures of the living world and is contained in
instructions of the genetic code. In the third period, with the evolution of cognitive systems and intelligence of
living beings, in addition to those listed, information isfinally being used to build its own structures, which in
this paper are called knowledge structures.
Design/methodology/approach –In addition to the usual scientific methods in conceptual papers of this
type (analysis, synthesis, etc.), the methodology of the paper also relies on the method of analogy, which was
used to detect the carriers and representatives of information in the processes of transmission, accumulation
and processing of information and the method of classification in order to propose a new taxonomy related to
the concept of information.
Findings –The paper shows that information carriers and information representatives appear in each of the
three mentioned processes - transmission, accumulation and processing of information - and that they need to
be distinguished from the information itself. This insight opened a new perspective in observing this concept
and led to the proposal of a new taxonomy related to the concept of informationin a given context, eliminating
seemingly incommensurable approaches to its study in different scientific fields.
Originality/value –The conducted synthesis results in information being recognized as a transmittable/
transmissible documentation of reality inseparable from its carrier and its representative.
Keywords Information carriers, Information representatives, Data structures, Knowledge structures,
Environmental information, Genetic information
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction
In many fields of science, the understanding of the concept of information as the most
exposed term today differs considerably. For some, information is just another buzzword in a
series that is used for marketing purposes, a “cultural invention”that only came to the fore at
a certain historical moment (Peters, 1988, p. 10). For others, it is the basis of a new science -new
physics, which will henceforth be based on information, not matter and energy (Wheeler,
1989). It is obvious that this is an extremely polysemic and polysemantic concept that tries to
encompass an extremely polymorphic phenomenon (Floridi, 2009, p. 13) that “... every
scientific discipline uses ...within its own context”(Capurro and Hjørland, 2003, p. 356).
It is enough to pay attention to the concept of information taxonomies to be convinced of
the diverse nature of this phenomenon. Thus, L. Floridi differentiates between mathematical,
semantic, physical, biological and economic information, to which he links language and
ethical issues (Floridi, 2010). M. Burgin distinguishes information in nature, information in
society and technical-technological aspects of information (Burgin, 2010). L. Robinson and
D. Bawden distinguish information in relation to the scientific fields in which it is used; there
are information in physics, information in psychology, information in biology, etc. (Robinson
and Bawden, 2014). The same authors distinguish different concepts of information “... in
the physical sciences, in the biological sciences, in computer and communication technology
and in the social sciences”(Bawden and Robinson, 2022, p. 81). It is possible to go on
enumerating the types of information that differ in their purpose, function, area, impact and
Broadening the
field of
information
1027
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 9 September 2022
Revised 21 December 2022
Accepted 23 December 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 4, 2023
pp. 1027-1047
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-09-2022-0193
so on. On the other hand, information is studied from historical (Black, 2007;Weller, 2007),
mathematical-statistical (Shannon, 1948;Shannon and Weaver, 1963), semantic (Bar-Hillel
and Carnap, 1953), algorithmic (Kolmogorov, 1965;Chaitin, 1977), cognitivist (De May, 1977;
Belkin, 1978,1990), constructivist (Luhmann, 1990;Cornelius, 2002;Foerster, 2003;Bosancic
and Matijevic, 2020), anthropological (Capurro, 1996), philosophical (Dretske, 1981;Floridi,
2010,2011), semiotic (Raber and Budd, 2003;Brier, 2008,2014), pan-informationalist (Dodig-
Crnkovi
c, 2014), quantum (Wilde, 2013) and other points of view.
Considering its multiplied meaning, the concept of information often includes some other
concepts or inevitably overlaps with them, as is the case, for example, with the concepts of
data and knowledge. Of course, then, there is neither an unequivocal nor a widely accepted
definition of this term that everyone would agree with (Bates, 2009), nor an information
theory that could be widely used in all scientific fields (Cornelius, 2002;Capurro and Hjørland,
2003). The consequence of this discrepancy is reflected in the fact that the large number of
definitions, taxonomies and theories of information that can be found in the literature today
cannot be reduced to a common denominator. The only thing that is possible at this moment
is to try to give a comprehensive, if not coherent scientific picture of this term, in other words,
to offer a proposal of a new information taxonomy that could be harmonized with other
(above mentioned) taxonomies.
In accordance with the stated purpose, in the second section, at the starting point of our
research, we will use the information history taxonomy from W. Asprey’s paper The Many
Histories of Information (Asprey, 2015) to preliminary indicate the main processes related to
information as well as to consider the insight that every piece of information must have its
own carrier. In the third section, three fundamental processes related to the relationship
between information and its carrier are presented: the processes of accumulating,
transmitting and processing information. In the fourth section, after defining information
as a transmittable/transmissible documentation of reality, the role of the general
communication model by Shannon and Weaver is highlighted. This model analyzes the
creation of key concepts related to the contemporary understanding of this term - data
structure and knowledge structure. As a consequence, the discrepancy between the
fundamentally different meanings of information (as a, in the first place, transmittable
documentation of reality) and in Shannon’s theory (as a statistical phenomenon reflected in a
choice between two equal possibilities) becomes more understandable. In the same section,
knowledge structures are considered as structures composed of interconnected information,
distinguishing between non-changeable and changeable knowledge structures. In the fifth
and sixth part, in addition to considering information in rudimentary form, two separate and
conceptually different types of information will be considered - environmental information
and genetic information. In the seventh part, finally, a new taxonomy of information will be
presented in relation to its carriers, representatives of processes related to carriers and
knowledge structures. Ultimately, the newly proposed information taxonomy in addition to
facilitating the understanding of the differences between different types of information
in theory, also opens a new perspective in research, removing the differences in
incommensurable approaches to the study of this concept in different scientific fields.
2. Many, many histories of information
In the paper The Many Histories of Information W. Aspray discusses information history
through the six well-defined subdisciplines: archival history, book and publishing
history, communication history, computing history, information science history and
library history (Aspray, 2015, p. 1).
If one tries to find common ground in the approach to the concept of information by
the mentioned subdisciplines, it is based on the insightthat every portion of information inthe
JD
79,4
1028
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting