Information Science

Published 11 March 2009

Nature of information

Emilia Curras
University Professor
AHDI. Honorary Member 2003. IIS Fellow
Medalla de Oro. Foundation Prof. Kaula
SEI, Honorary Professor

Information is something about which a great deal can be said. It is of such importance within the context of the development of the human being and his situation in this complex and fascinating universe that one can always find new aspect of it.

Many authors have studied information, and come up with various theories. Among the most important theorists are Martín Leupolt, Silveira Saragoca, Shannon and his information theory, A.I. Kikhailov, Morcillo Corvetto, Brian Vickery, Michael Hill, H. Arntz, Manuel Carrión, G. Wersig, D. J. Foskett and many others.

Most of this authors consider information to be a “process, a consequence of the elaboration and processing of documents, that consciously condition the activities of the human intellect with repercussions in the development of mankind, either scientifically, technically or humanistically”.

It should be noted, however, that information is something more than this. It is a “phenomenon” caused by the environment of the noosphere, which surrounds us and forms the development of our daily activities. It is inherent to the human being.

This double aspect of information as a process and a phenomenon provides it with a generalizing and ambipotent character. Due to its influence, man modifies his form of behaviour and his state of knowledge. Information constitutes the essence and presence of any human activity. It is subtle as the breeze (as a phenomenon), as persistent as the rain (as a process), as loose as the sand on the beach and as elusive as lost happiness… For these reason man, innocent, tenacious, and optimistic, pursues and attempts to dominate information. He tries to dominate it through science.

The difference between the so called European theories and those maintained by Anglo-Saxon authors, consist in that Europeans think information originates in and is elaborated from certain documents for their subsequent use. In other words, it is considered almost exclusively as a process. From here, we get the expression “documentation and information” and simply “documentation”. The author of this paper studies information within the context of “ciencias de la documentación” as synonym for “information science”, which includes bibliotechnology, archivology and documentation itself.

Author of the Anglo-Saxon school have a broadest concept of information, admitting its holistic character, and use the term “information science”. Documentation and Bibliotechnology are two of its components. This idea of information includes the two aspects of phenomenon and process, without differentiating between the two.

Many of the qualities and attributes of information can be applied to these two forms. At times this prevents them from being distinguished and studied individually. Our aim in this paper is to concentrate on the study of information as a specific process, as we shall refer to scientific information.

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