Information as a construction

Bosančić, Boris; Matijević, Marta

doi:10.1177/0961000619841657

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…In the area of humanities and social sciences (HSS), qualitative analyses of the nature of information, without being developed into fuller theories, continue, recent examples being due to Bosancic and Matijevic [41], Capurro [8] and Chapman [42]. Janich, answering the question 'what is information?'…”

Section: Information In Humanities and Social Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Still Minding the Gap? Reflecting on Transitions between Concepts of Information in Varied Domains

Bawden

Robinson

2020

Information

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This conceptual paper, a contribution to the tenth anniversary Special Issue of Information, gives a cross-disciplinary review of general and unified theories of information. A selective literature review is used to update a 2013 article on bridging the gaps between conceptions of information in different domains, including material from the physical and biological sciences, from the humanities and social sciences including library and information science, and from philosophy. A variety of approaches and theories are reviewed, including those of Brenner, Brier, Burgin and Wu, Capurro, Cárdenas-García and Ireland, Hidalgo, Hofkirchner, Kolchinsky and Wolpert, Floridi, Mingers and Standing, Popper, and Stonier. The gaps between disciplinary views of information remain, although there has been progress, and increasing interest, in bridging them. The solution is likely to be either a general theory of sufficient flexibility to cope with multiple meanings of information, or multiple and distinct theories for different domains, but with a complementary nature, and ideally boundary spanning concepts.

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Section: Information In Humanities and Social Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Still Minding the Gap? Reflecting on Transitions between Concepts of Information in Varied Domains

Bawden

Robinson

2020

Information

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“…It is possible to go on enumerating the types of information that differ in their purpose, function, area, impact and 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-Crnković, 2014), quantum (Wilde, 2013) and other points of view.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening the field of information

Bosančić

2023

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PurposeThe paper discusses the notion of information with regard to its carriers, representatives (or structural carriers) and carried-related processes of 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 is finally being used to build its own structures, which in this paper are called knowledge structures.Design/methodology/approachIn 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.FindingsThe 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 information in a given context, eliminating seemingly incommensurable approaches to its study in different scientific fields.Originality/valueThe conducted synthesis results in information being recognized as a transmittable/transmissible documentation of reality inseparable from its carrier and its representative.

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“…We use "data representations," hence, to refer to specific "cognitive entities," always in some way "encoded" to represent each perceived "difference" by the observer [2]. In that specific sense, "encoded" could correspond to the term "constructed" (Bosancic and Matijevic, 2019). This, therefore, allows us to use mainly constructivist concepts and methods to describe the role of information, data, and knowledge in the cognitive domain of the observer.…”

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confidence: 99%

Information, data, and knowledge in the cognitive system of the observer

Bosančić

2020

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PurposeIn line with the cognitive viewpoint on the phenomenon of information, the constructivist tradition based on Maturana and Varela's theory of knowing, and some aspects of Shannon's theory of communication, the purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the role of information, data, and knowledge in the cognitive system (domain) of the observer.Design/methodology/approachIn addition to the literature review, a proposed description of the communication and knowledge acquisition processes within the observer's cognitive system/domain is elaborated.FindingsThe paper recognizes communication and knowledge acquisition as separate processes based on two roles of information within the observer's cognitive system, which are emphasized. The first role is connected with the appropriate communication aspects of Shannon's theory related to encoding cognitive entities in the cognitive domain as data representations for calculating their informativeness. The second role involves establishing relations between cognitive entities encoded as data representations through the knowledge acquisition process in the observer's cognitive domain.Originality/valueIn this way, according to the cognitive viewpoint, communication and knowledge acquisition processes are recognized as important aspects of the cognitive process as a whole. In line with such a theoretical approach, the paper seeks to provide an extension of Shannon's original idea, intending to involve the observer's knowledge structure as an important framework for the deepening of information theory.

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Information as a construction

Cited by 3 publications

References 55 publications

Still Minding the Gap? Reflecting on Transitions between Concepts of Information in Varied Domains

Still Minding the Gap? Reflecting on Transitions between Concepts of Information in Varied Domains

Broadening the field of information

Information, data, and knowledge in the cognitive system of the observer

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