Information

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Information

• William Hugh Murray
• October 15, 2001

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He said that there was one only good, namely,
knowledge and one only evil,namely, ignorance.

• -- attributed by Diogenes to Socrates

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Definitions

• Information is knowledge about something, esp.
  facts and news.
• Information retrieval is the process of finding
  stored information on a computer.
• Information technology (abbreviation IT) is the
  science and activity of storing and sending out
  information by using computers.

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Information

• the (recording) communication or reception of
  knowledge or intelligence
• a (1) knowledge obtained from investigation,
  study, or instruction (2) INTELLIGENCE, NEWS
  (3) FACTS, DATA
• b the attribute inherent in and communicated by
  one of two or more alternative sequences or
  arrangements of something (as nucleotides in DNA
  or binary digits in a computer program) that
  produce specific effects
• c (1) a signal or character (as in a
  communication system or computer) representing
  data (2) something (as a message, experimental
  data, or a picture) which justifies change in a
  construct (as a plan or theory) that represents
  physical or mental experience or another
  construct
• d a quantitative measure of the content of
  information specifically a numerical quantity
  that measures the uncertainty in the outcome of
  an experiment to be performed

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From Information Theory

• Information that quality or property of a record
  or message that reduces the uncertainty in the
  communication
• Bit that quantity of information that reduces
  uncertainty by half

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Examples

• A medical record
• A database of medical records
• An expression of an idea
• An image
• Encoded sound
• A movie
• A model
• Encapsulation of work
• Encapsulation of special knowledge
• An expression of a design
• DNA
• A robot personality

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• The automation of a process results in data that
  would not have existed otherwise.
• In the future, work will consist of organizing
  the data into knowledge and converting the
  knowledge to value.
• Shoshanna Zuboff, Harvard Business School

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Contrast Information to

• Data
• Noise
• Code
• Methaphor
• Myth

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DoD Hierarchy of Sensitivity to Disclosure

• Raw data
• Organized and analyzed data
• Conclusions
• Plans of action

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Information Ethics

• Study of right behavior with regard to the
  creation,