What is Information? What are its uses?
“Information” is one of the most broadly defined terms. It is perceived and used by people in a lot of ways. In the Journal of The American Society for Information Science, Michael K. Buckland attempts to explain what information is and its different uses.
Buckland explains that this difficulty to define information is encountered due to the ambiguity of the term. It is also used in a variety of ways in which it is often used by people. He identifies its three principal uses as Information-as-process, Information-as-knowledge, and Information-as-thing.
Information-as-process is the act of informing. It is when a person communicates their own thoughts or knowledge to exchange information. This communication act is what defines information-as-process. I have often seen this in classrooms when a professor shares facts and stories in my classes. My conversation with my professors here is certainly a use of information-as-process.
Information-as-knowledge is the increase or decrease in uncertainty due to the knowledge imparted as a part of “information-as-process.” This is the knowledge communicated about some fact, subject, or event. I see this in the information I gain through everyday conversations, written texts, and even audio sources through the process of talking to people, newspapers, and podcasts respectively. This information that I gain from these sources imparts a lot of knowledge to me.
Information-as-thing is used to refer to the objects that may impart information such as data and documents. These objects possess the quality of being informative and impart knowledge. I can easily relate this to the lecture notes I get in all my classes, or the assignments I get in sections which imparts knowledge to me. These notes or assignments that I get help to me to get the information I want.
Despite having individual meanings, these three uses cross with each other in a lot of ways. They are further defined as tangible and intangible. This is based on whether the property can be touched in a direct way or not.
Information-as-knowledge varies greatly from information-as-thing in this aspect. The knowledge that we gain cannot be touched or physically held and is thus intangible. While information-as-thing is tangible. It is something that people can touch, just like my own experience with lecture slides and notes. However, this does not mean that we can measure the knowledge we gain. It is just about whether we can physically feel it or not.
Information-as-thing, by itself, does not hold a lot of importance. Just pure data is of no use unless it is processed. Evidence by itself implies “passiveness,” according to Buckland. Thus, without information-as-process, the evidence we gain as information-as-thing is rendered useless by itself.
All in all, there are numerous definitions and uses of information. These uses need careful examinations as to how they differ from each other and are defined. To understand information-as-thing you also need to understand that it is the only form of information with which information systems can deal directly. There are conflicting opinions as to what qualifies as information-as-thing, but the larger meaning stays the same: it is anything that imparts information. These uses depend on each other to function as intended and to represent information correctly.