Information

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Information Types of Information
A presentation for L SC 311, New Mexico State
University Fall Semester 2004 Created by Kate Ma
nuel (kmanuel_at_lib.nmsu.edu). Modified by Angela
Murrell (amurrell_at_lib.nmsu.edu).
You are welcome to link to this site, or to print
out a copy for personal use. Please do not make
an electronic copy and load it locally with or
without modifications.
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John Perry Barlow on information

• What is information?
• How does information differ from physical goods?
• What gives information value?
• Whats different about digital information?

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What is information?

• Two basic schools of information
• Information-as-process
• Information is something which happens in the
  field of interaction between minds or objects or
  other pieces of information

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Information-as-Thing

• Focuses on content AND container as a unit
• Tied to the common understandings of information
  as physical (having the necessary information)
  and quantifiable
  
• Is the only approach to information with which
  current technologies (can) deal
  

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What is information?

• Information is always
• about something
• produced by someone
• dependent upon its means of communication
• Information is what current computer systems are
  designed to handle
  
• Not knowledge or wisdom

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Container v. Content

• holds information
• Book
• Web page
• Article

• actual information
• GDP of China
• Definition of a word

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Types of Information

• Information is commonly divided into types
• fact v. opinion/analytic
• objective v. subjective
• primary v. secondary
• popular v. scholarly v. trade

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Types of Information

• Content
• Nature of the information itself
• the distinction between fact opinion, objective
  subjective, and primary secondary is largely
  a matter of informations content
  
• Audience
• Who the information is produced for
• the distinction between popular, scholarly
  trade is one of audience as much as of content
  

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Types of information

• These types are not exclusive
• Information can be
• primary opinion/analytic
• subjective popular
• secondary scholarly
• etc.

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Fact v. Opinion

• A fact is the statement of a thing done or
  existing.
  
• E.g., Toni Morrisons book Song of Solomon was
  published in 1977.
  
• E.g., The New York Yankees won the 1999 World
  Series.

• An opinion/analytic information is a personal
  view or judgement based on what seems to be true,
  or an interpretation of fact.
  
• E.g., Song of Solomon is the best book Toni
  Morrison has written.
  
• E.g., The 1999 Yankees were as good as the
  Yankees of Babe Ruth or Joe DiMaggio.

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Objective v. Subjective

• Objective information presents all sides of a
  topic.
  
• E.g., AIDS is transmitted in several ways.
  Heterosexual intercourse accounts for 70 of HIV
  infections worldwide. Homosexual intercourse and
  intravenous drug users sharing contaminated
  needles also spread the HIV virus. The virus also
  can spread from mother to child by transfer
  across the placenta or through breast milk. A
  number of hemophiliacs were infected from
  contaminated blood and blood products before
  screening procedures were introduced in the late
  1980s.

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Objective v. Subjective

• Subjective information provides
  opinions/evaluative information on a topic.
  
• Subjective information commonly does not provide
  all sides of a topic.
  
• E.g., AIDS is transmitted in several ways,
  including via homosexual activity. AIDS can thus
  be seen as a punishment from God resulting from
  homosexuals ungodly activities.

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Opinion, Or Subjective Information?

• If subjective information sounds like opinion, it
  is.
  
• The basic difference is that
• an opinion is often a brief statement based on
  what seems true to a person (e.g., Blue is the
  best color for cars), while
  
• subjective information often involves a lengthier
  presentation of information which combines
  opinion with an incomplete (not multi-sided)
  presentation of a topic.

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Primary v. Secondary

• Primary information
• is information in its original form.
• has not been published elsewhere, put into
  context, interpreted, or translated.

• Secondary information
• Is removed in some way from its original form.
• may include restatements, examinations,
  interpretations, or translations.

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Primary Information

• What exactly constitutes primary information can
  vary by discipline.
  
• In the sciences, primary information means the
  original study and its data.
  
• E.g., counting the number of Florida panthers and
  detailing their age health conditions.
  
• In the foreign languages, primary information
  means information in the language, not translated
  into English.
  
• E.g., Crime Punishment in Russian is a primary
  resource.

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Primary Information

• In the social sciences humanities, primary
  information can mean information from the time
  period/place in question.
  
• newspaper articles from 1945 are primary sources
  for information about WWII.
  
• Primary information is also information from the
  source, or which has not been commented upon.
  
• a persons diary (unedited) is a primary source.
• The lyrics and notes to a song are primary
  information.
  

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Secondary information

• Is basically primary information that has been
  put into context, interpreted, or translated.
  
• a book which discusses how highways impact
  populations of large carnivores and uses the data
  from the Florida panther study in justifying its
  conclusions,
• an English translation of Crime and Punishment,
• a 1995 article which shows what 1945 newspaper
  articles can reveal about WWII and quotes from
  some of them,
  
• a web page commenting on a the text of a persons
  diary, or
  
• a DJs comments on air about the meaning and
  significance of a particular song.
  

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Types of Information

• An in-class activity to practice identifying
  types of information and their sources.

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Why do this?

• Knowing what type of information you need can
  help you find information more effectively
  
• certain types of information sources are more
  likely to contain certain types of information.

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Print v. Electronic

• Format of container
• Is not a type of information
• All types of information might come as print or
  electronic
  
• NOT ALL information is electronic!

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Facts

• Look for factual information in reference sources
  (print or electronic) such as
  
• dictionaries
• atlases
• handbooks
• directories
• Books, articles, and web sites are not efficient
  ways to find out, e.g., the number of Vietnamese
  speakers in the U.S.

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Opinions, Other Subjective Information

• Books, articles, and Web pages are all likely
  sources of opinions subjective information.
  
• Review articles and op-ed pieces in newspapers
  and other publications are especially good
  sources.
  
• There are even special series like Opposing
  Viewpoints which bring together various opinions
  on controversial topics.

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Objective Information

• Sources for objective information may include
  reference sources (print or electronic) such as
  encyclopedias or handbooks.
  
• Can be in books, articles, or web pages - but the
  source should be considered carefully.
  
• Avoid opinion-only sources, like reviews and
  op-ed pieces.

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Primary Secondary Information

• Primary information may be found in an article or
  report, an un-translated book, and/or any
  resource from the time/place studied.
  
• Secondary sources may include articles, books, or
  web pages.