A rudimentary theory of information: Consequences for information science and information systems
Petros A. M. Gelepithis · World Futures · 1997
The key fundamental notions of Information Science and Information Systems are ‘information’ and ‘information system’ respectively, with information the central common notion. Nevertheless, despite the huge literature on both ‘information’ and ‘information system’ their nature remains debatable and their conceptual nexus to each other and related notions like ‘sign’ and ‘meaning’ are, at best, fuzzy or incomplete. The aim of this paper is to briefly review the notions of ‘information’ and ‘information system’ and to outline a theory of information. Specifically, in section one, we provide a brief analysis of ‘information system’ and a summary presentation of the major views on the nature of ‘information’, concluding that: (i) ‘information’ and ‘communication’ constitute the backbone of any theory of information; and (ii) all the relevant studies of information are fragmented, failing to provide a unifying theory and, in particular, to clarify the highly debatable nature of information. In section two, we provide the elements of a rudimentary theory of information and draw some of the consequences of this preliminary body of knowledge for Information Science and Information Systems.