Information

Information is an idea that helps us learn about something else. It is about how we understand what we see, hear, or sense in the world. Anything that follows a pattern or is not completely random can carry information. This can be in many forms, like digital signals with clear signs, or things like poems, pictures, music, and even electric currents.

Information is not the same as knowledge. It is the meaning we get when we understand something. For example, each letter in a book gives us clues about the word it is part of, and each word helps us understand the sentence. Information can also be organized into data.

We can send information through time by storing it, or across distances using communication and telecommunication. The study of how information works is called information theory. The bit is the basic unit of information, measuring how much uncertainty it can remove.

Etymology and history of the concept

The word "information" comes from old French and Latin words that meant teaching or shaping ideas. Over time, its meaning changed from shaping ideas to sharing messages or facts with others.

In modern times, ideas about information were greatly influenced by a theory created by Claude Shannon. This theory talks about information in two ways: as something you can measure, like water, and as a choice someone makes. These different ways of thinking about information can cause confusion because they are not always the same. Some experts believe that information is really about what people understand and share with each other, not just signals or messages. This means that the same object, like a stone, can mean different things to different people depending on their knowledge or job.

Information theory

Information theory is a science that looks at how we can measure, store, and send information. It started with important work by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, with earlier ideas from Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley in the 1920s. This field connects many areas like probability theory, statistics, computer science, and engineering.

One key idea in information theory is called entropy. Entropy measures how much we don’t know about something before we get information about it. For example, flipping a fair coin has less uncertainty than rolling a die, because there are fewer possible outcomes. Information theory also helps us compress data, like making ZIP files, and correct errors in data, like in DSL connections. It has been important for many inventions and explorations, from the Voyager space missions to the creation of the compact disc and the development of mobile phones and the Internet.

As sensory input

Information helps an organism or system know what is happening around it. There are two kinds of inputs. Some inputs, like food or energy, are important by themselves. Others, called information, help predict when or where something important might happen later.

For example, light helps plants grow. But for animals, light gives information. Bees can see the color of a flower. This is too weak to help the plant, but this information helps the bee find nectar or pollen, which are important for the bee.

As an influence that leads to transformation

Information is any pattern that can change or shape other patterns. This can happen without needing a thinking mind to notice it. For example, the order of tiny building blocks in DNA helps shape and grow a living organism all on its own.

Some ideas about systems say that information can move through a system because of feedback. This means the information might be noticed as a sign or signal, but it wasn’t made to be seen that way. When a thinking mind sees and understands this information, it can turn into knowledge. This idea is important in studying how businesses manage knowledge. Tools and steps help people look at information, find meaning, and make smart choices based on what they learn.

Technologically mediated information

These sections talk about measuring data, not information itself, because information cannot be measured directly.

As of 2007

In 2007, the world’s ability to store information grew a lot. It went from about 2.6 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007. That’s like having almost 61 CD-ROMs for every person by 2007.

The world’s ability to receive information through broadcasts was like getting 174 newspapers each day for every person in 2007.

And the ability to share information through two-way telecommunication networks was like sharing 6 newspapers each day for every person in 2007.

By 2007, about 90% of all new information was digital, mostly stored on computer hard drives.

As of 2020

The amount of data created, captured, copied, and used around the world was expected to grow quickly, reaching 64.2 zettabytes in 2020. Over the next five years, up to 2025, this was projected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes.

As records

Records are special kinds of information. They are made during work or deals and kept because they are important. They show what the group did, but might also have helpful details.

Good records management helps keep records safe and correct for as long as they are needed. Records can help a group remember its past or follow rules it must use. Caring for records helps follow rules, laws, and keep information safe.

Semiotics

Information can be understood in different ways. It can be a process, knowledge, or a thing.

We can also look at information through signs and signals. There are four important parts to this: pragmatics, semantics, syntax, and empirics. Pragmatics looks at why we communicate. Semantics studies what our words mean. Syntax looks at the rules of language. Empirics deals with how messages are sent and received.

All of these parts help us share ideas and understand each other.

Physics and determinacy

Information helps us understand how things will behave in the future. In classical physics, if we know everything about a system now, we can predict what will happen later. This idea is called determinism.

In quantum physics, information is described using something called a wave function. This helps us figure out the chances of different outcomes when we measure something. Unlike classical physics, quantum physics deals with probabilities rather than certainties. This was a big change in how scientists think about the universe.

The application of information study

The information cycle is very important for information technology, information systems, and information science. These areas study how information is collected, created, changed, sent, shown, and stored. They use tools like sensors, computation, and telecommunication to work with information.

Information visualization, often called InfoVis, helps people see patterns and notice unusual things in data. It uses computers to turn data into pictures that are easy to understand.

Information security, or InfoSec, works to keep information safe from people who shouldn’t see or change it. This is done by watching for problems and fixing them when they happen.

Information analysis looks at information to turn raw data into useful knowledge that helps people make decisions.

Information quality, or InfoQ, is about how good a set of data is for a certain job or study.

Information communication brings together different ways of sharing information, like using computers, phones, and media.