Forwarded to lis-libhist (especially Alistair Black and others working on
the history of information). The article referred to - follow the links -
is by Ted Byfield of New York ands strikes me as an interesting though
perhaps minor example of how disciplines interact.
_______________________________________________________
Peter Hoare, 21 Oundle Drive, Wollaton Park, Nottingham NG8 1BN
Tel/fax 0115 978 5297 E-mail [log in to unmask]
________________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: " Mark Perkins lists" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 11:30 AM
Subject: [IFLA-L] Article: A Brief History of Information
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> An interesting piece detailing the development of the concept
> 'information';
> perhaps someone should do the same for the concept 'knowledge'?
>
> "Early on, in 1953, Shannon acknowledged that -
>
> [t]he word 'information' has been given different meanings by various
> writers in the general field of information theory. It is likely that at
> least a number of these will prove sufficiently useful in certain
> applications to deserve further study and permanent recognition. It is
> hardly to be expected that a single concept of information would
> satisfactorily account for the numerous possible applications of this
> general field."
>
> "Phrases like "information age" are bandied about with such numbing
> frequency that we can be sure that Shannon's subtly counterintuitive
> specification of information hasn't been reproduced with any accuracy at
> all. And those phrases are too often invoked as justifications for some
> sort
> of action or reaction - often "radical" adapting, moving, hiring, firing,
> restructuring, or replacing, for example - so we can be equally sure that
> the ways in which specific information is translated into specific
> consequences haven't, in the main, been guided by much science or art. On
> the contrary: it doesn't require much discipline at all to see that,
> empirically speaking, most uses of the word "information" are puffery."
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/02/wtf_is_information_part1/
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/06/wtf_is_information_part2/
>
> Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
> www.markperkins.info
>
> https://keyserver.pgp.com/
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