What is Information?

According to the University of California’s Michael K. Buckland, “Three meanings of information are distinguished [as] information-as-process; information-as-knowledge; and information-as-thing…”

As Buckland pointed out, the fact that information has something to do with “becoming informed” is ironic in a sense that the term itself is very ambiguous and widely accepted to mean various ideas. To ease the confusion, he organized ideas of information into three separate, yet overlapping, categories.

Information-as-Process

In a broad sense, information is “the act of informing.” As students in this generation, we actively seek information. Every day, what we know is changing — always updating. We open our phones and read the news to learn about the current state of the country or the number of bodies found after an earthquake in Indonesia. Even then, information-as-process doesn’t stop there. We communicate what we learned to those around us through dialogues and discussions. We inform others as much as we are being informed and the process continues.

Information-as-Knowledge

Information is “that which is perceived.” The information we process in our daily lives shape and influence the way we perceive the world. Information-as-knowledge is subjective, intangible and conceptual. Ironically, information can increase uncertainty. For instance, astrophysicists continue to gather information, knowledge, about our universe. It is ever-expanding and is doing so rather quickly. With this discovery, our knowledge of our universe’s future becomes more of a blur to us. It poses new questions, such as why this is the case or what this means for future inhabitants of our universe. This is similar to me watching the news to be more informed about what’s happening in our country but instead becoming more uncertain of what these all means in the next few years.

Information-as-Thing

Lastly, information is data, documents, and numbers. It is tangible, measurable, and “[have] the quality of imparting the knowledge or communicating information…” We look at stock prices to check how our investments are doing. We check Seattle housing prices and realize that it is becoming more and more expensive every single day. I look at my bank account and realize I probably should not be buying another pair of shoes. I check my grades and figure out that I probably should have studied for another hour. Information dictates how I handle my everyday life decisions — big or small. That is the power of information.