The Nature of Information

          Information is hard to define. It is not a specific area or particular discipline or field. Information is the basis of communication. Informatics is the study of Information which pertains to many disciplines: from Science to Philosophy. The structure of information is a relation among signs, objects, and things. An agent (or person) is informed by a sign, and a sign is a representation that is a symbol for something, and the thing is some form of information. Semiotics is the discipline that studies sign systems. There are three types of signs: Icons, Indices, Symbols. Icons are direct representations of objects. Indices are indirect representations of objects, but necessarily related. Symbols are arbitrary representations of objects, which require exclusively a social convention to be understood. There are different languages which creates difficulty sharing information between people. Information is stored in binary code or bits. This code only uses two characters, 0's and 1's. Binary code is digital. Digital refers to things we can count. Analogue information is transmitted using electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, and sound signals.




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