 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Information - Information as a pattern | | Information - Information as a pattern: Encyclopedia II - Information - Information as a pattern | | Information is any represented pattern. This view assumes neither accuracy nor directly communicating parties, but instead assumes a separation between an object and its representation, as well as the involvement of someone capable of understanding this relationship. This view seems therefore to require a conscious mind. Consider the following example: economic statistics represent an economy, however inaccurately. What are commonly referred to as data in computing, statistics, and other fields, are forms of information in this sense. The el ...
See also:Information, Information - Information as a pattern, Information - Information as sensory input, Information - Information as an influence which leads to a transformation, Information - Information as a property in physics, Information - Etymology, Information - Information is Not data | | | Information, Information - Etymology, Information - Information as a pattern, Information - Information as a property in physics, Information - Information as an influence which leads to a transformation, Information - Information as sensory input, Information - Information is Not data, Algorithmic information theory, Classified information, Fisher information, Freedom of information, Information entropy, Propaganda model, Free Information Infrastructure, Information theory, Information overload, Information processing, Information processor, Information mapping, Information technology, Library and Information Science, Medium, Observation, Physical information, Prediction, Receiver operating characteristic, Systems theory and cybernetics, Satisficing, The Information highway - A nickname of the Internet, dubbed the greatest source of information. | | |
| | | Information: Encyclopedia II - Information - Information as a pattern
Information - Information as a pattern
Information is any represented pattern. This view assumes neither accuracy nor directly communicating parties, but instead assumes a separation between an object and its representation, as well as the involvement of someone capable of understanding this relationship. This view seems therefore to require a conscious mind. Consider the following example: economic statistics represent an economy, however inaccurately. What are commonly referred to as data in computing, statistics, and other fields, are forms of information in this sense. The electro-magnetic patterns in a computer network and connected devices are related to something other than the pattern itself, such as text to be displayed and keyboard input. Signals, signs, and symbols are also in this category. On the other hand, according to semiotics, data is symbols with certain syntax and information is data with a certain semantic. Painting and drawing contain information to the extent that they represent something such as an assortment of objects on a table, a profile, or a landscape. In other words, when a pattern of something is transposed to a pattern of something else, the latter is information. This type of information still assumes some involvement of conscious mind, of either the entity constructing the representation, or the entity interpreting it.
When one constructs a representation of an object, one can selectively extract from the object (sampling) or use a system of signs to replace (encoding), or both. The sampling and encoding result in representation. An example of the former is a "sample" of a product; an example of the latter is "verbal description" of a product. Both contain information of the product, however inaccurate. When one interprets representation, one can predict a broader pattern from a limited number of observations (inference) or understand the relation between patterns of two different things (decoding). One example of the former is to sip a soup to know if it is spoiled; an example of the latter is examining footprints to determine the animal and its condition. In both cases, information sources are not constructed or presented by some "sender" of information. To repeat, information in this sense does not assume direct communication, but it assumes involvement of some conscious mind.
Regardless, information is dependent upon, but usually unrelated to and separate from, the medium or media used to express it. In other words, the position of a theoretical series of bits, or even the output once interpreted by a computer or similar device, is unimportant, except when someone or something is present to interpret the information. Therefore, a quantity of information is totally distinct from its medium.
Other related archivesAlgorithmic information theory, Classified information, DNA, English, Entertainment, Fisher information, Free Information Infrastructure, Freedom of information, Gregory Bateson, Information entropy, Information highway, Information mapping, Information overload, Information processing, Information processor, Information technology, Information theory, Library and Information Science, Marshall McLuhan, Maxwell's demon, Medium, Music, Observation, Oxford English Dictionary, Painting, Physical information, Plato, Prediction, Propaganda model, Receiver operating characteristic, Satisficing, Signals, Systems theory, The Forms, abstract painting, amusement parks, communication, computer network, computing, cybernetics, data, decoding, device, devices, drawing, economic statistics, economy, electro-magnetic, encoding, energy, entropy, feedback, fiction, input, instruction, keyboard, knowledge, landscape, logic gates, meaning, media, mental stimulus, message, mind, nervous system, nucleotides, organism, pattern, performing arts, pheromones, physics, profile, quantum computers, quantum entanglement, receiver, representation, sampling, semiotics, sender, signs, soup, statistics, symbols, system, text
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Information as a pattern", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
|
|
|
More material related to Information can be found here:
|
|
|
« Back
|
Search the Global Oneness web site |
|
|
|
|
|
|
