Information

Information can be anticipation of as the resolution of uncertainty; it is that which answers the catechism of "What an article is" and appropriately defines both its aspect and attributes of its characteristics. The abstraction of advice has altered meanings in altered contexts.[1] Appropriately the abstraction becomes accompanying to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, education, knowledge, meaning, understanding, brainy stimuli, pattern, perception, representation, and entropy.

Information is associated with data, as abstracts represent ethics attributed to parameters, and advice is abstracts in ambience and with acceptation attached. Advice additionally relates to knowledge, as ability signifies compassionate of an abstruse or accurate concept.[2][better antecedent needed]

In agreement of communication, advice is bidding either as the agreeable of a bulletin or through absolute or aberrant observation. That which is perceived can be construed as a bulletin in its own right, and in that sense, advice is consistently conveyed as the agreeable of a message.

Information can be encoded into assorted forms for manual and estimation (for example, advice may be encoded into a arrangement of signs, or transmitted via a signal). It can additionally be encrypted for safe accumulator and communication.

The ambiguity of an accident is abstinent by its anticipation of accident and is inversely proportional to that. The added ambiguous an event, the added advice is appropriate to boldness ambiguity of that event. The bit is a archetypal assemblage of information, but added units such as the nat may be used. For example, the advice encoded in one "fair" bread cast is log2(2/1) = 1 bit, and in two fair bread flips is log2(4/1) = 2 bits.
Etymology
See also: History of the chat and abstraction "information"

The English chat "Information" allegedly derives from the Latin axis (information-) of the nominative (informatio): this noun derives from the verb informare (to inform) in the faculty of "to accord anatomy to the mind", "to discipline", "instruct", "teach". Acquaint itself comes (via French informer) from the Latin verb informare, which agency to accord form, or to anatomy an abstraction of. Furthermore, Latin itself already independent the chat informatio acceptation abstraction or idea, but the admeasurement to which this may accept afflicted the development of the chat advice in English is not clear.

The age-old Greek chat for anatomy was μορφή (morphe; cf. morph) and additionally εἶδος (eidos) "kind, idea, shape, set", the closing chat was abundantly acclimated in a abstruse abstruse faculty by Plato (and after Aristotle) to denote the ideal character or aspect of article (see Approach of Forms). 'Eidos' can additionally be associated with thought, proposition, or alike concept.

The age-old Greek chat for advice is πληροφορία, which transliterates (plērophoria) from πλήρης (plērēs) "fully" and φέρω (phorein) frequentative of (pherein) to backpack through. It actually agency "bears fully" or "conveys fully". In avant-garde Greek the chat Πληροφορία is still in circadian use and has the aforementioned acceptation as the chat advice in English. In accession to its primary meaning, the chat Πληροφορία as a attribute has abysmal roots in Aristotle's semiotic triangle. In this attention it can be interpreted to acquaint advice to the one adaptation that specific blazon of sign. This is article that occurs frequently with the ancestry of abounding words in age-old and avant-garde Greek breadth there is a actual able allegorical accord amid the signifier, e.g. the chat attribute that conveys a specific encoded interpretation, and the signified, e.g. a abstraction whose acceptation the analyst attempts to decode.

In English, "information" is an endless accumulation noun.
Information approach approach
Main article: Advice theory

In advice theory, advice is taken as an ordered arrangement of symbols from an alphabet, say an ascribe alphabet χ, and an achievement alphabet ϒ. Advice processing consists of an input-output activity that maps any ascribe arrangement from χ into an achievement arrangement from ϒ. The mapping may be probabilistic or deterministic. It may accept anamnesis or be memoryless.[3]
As acoustic input

Often advice can be beheld as a blazon of ascribe to an animal or system. Inputs are of two kinds; some inputs are important to the activity of the animal (for example, food) or arrangement (energy) by themselves. In his book Acoustic Ecology[4] biophysicist David B. Dusenbery alleged these causal inputs. Added inputs (information) are important alone because they are associated with causal inputs and can be acclimated to adumbrate the accident of a causal ascribe at a after time (and conceivably addition place). Some advice is important because of affiliation with added advice but eventually there charge be a affiliation to a causal input.

In practice, advice is usually agitated by anemic stimuli that charge be detected by specialized acoustic systems and amplified by activity inputs afore they can be anatomic to the animal or system. For example, ablaze is mainly (but not only, e.g. plants can abound in the administration of the lightsource) a causal ascribe to plants but for animals it alone provides information. The black ablaze reflected from a annual is too anemic for photosynthesis but the beheld arrangement of the bee detects it and the bee's afraid arrangement uses the advice to adviser the bee to the flower, breadth the bee generally finds ambrosia or pollen, which are causal inputs, confined a comestible function.
As representation and complexity

The cerebral scientist and activated mathematician Ronaldo Vigo argues that advice is a abstraction that requires at atomic two accompanying entities to accomplish quantitative sense. These are, any dimensionally authentic class of altar S, and any of its subsets R. R, in essence, is a representation of S, or, in added words, conveys representational (and hence, conceptual) advice about S. Vigo again defines the bulk of advice that R conveys about S as the amount of change in the complication of S whenever the altar in R are removed from S. Beneath "Vigo information", pattern, invariance, complexity, representation, and information—five axiological constructs of accepted science—are unified beneath a atypical algebraic framework.[5][6][7] Among added things, the framework aims to affected the limitations of Shannon-Weaver advice back attempting to characterize and admeasurement abstruse information.
As an admission that leads to transformation

Information is any blazon of arrangement that influences the accumulation or transformation of added patterns.[8][9] In this sense, there is no charge for a acquainted apperception to perceive, abundant beneath appreciate, the pattern.[citation needed] Consider, for example, DNA. The arrangement of nucleotides is a arrangement that influences the accumulation and development of an animal after any charge for a acquainted mind. One ability altercate admitting that for a animal to carefully ascertain a pattern, for archetype a nucleotide, artlessly involves acquainted advice processing.

Systems approach at times seems to accredit to advice in this sense, bold advice does not necessarily absorb any acquainted mind, and patterns circulating (due to feedback) in the arrangement can be alleged information. In added words, it can be said that advice in this faculty is article potentially perceived as representation, admitting not created or presented for that purpose. For example, Gregory Bateson defines "information" as a "difference that makes a difference".[10]

If, however, the apriorism of "influence" implies that advice has been perceived by a acquainted apperception and additionally interpreted by it, the specific ambience associated with this estimation may account the transformation of the advice into knowledge. Complex definitions of both "information" and "knowledge" accomplish such semantic and analytic assay difficult, but the activity of "transformation" is an important point in the abstraction of advice as it relates to knowledge, abnormally in the business conduct of ability management. In this practice, accoutrement and processes are acclimated to abetment a ability artisan in assuming assay and authoritative decisions, including accomplish such as:

    Review advice to finer acquire amount and meaning
    Advertence metadata if available
    Establish accordant context, generally from abounding accessible contexts
    Acquire new ability from the information
    Accomplish decisions or recommendations from the consistent knowledge

Stewart (2001) argues that transformation of advice into ability is critical, lying at the amount of amount conception and aggressive advantage for the avant-garde enterprise.

The Danish Concordance of Advice Terms[11] argues that advice alone provides an acknowledgment to a airish question. Whether the acknowledgment provides ability depends on the abreast person. So a ambiguous analogue of the abstraction should be: "Information" = An acknowledgment to a specific question".

When Marshall McLuhan speaks of media and their furnishings on animal cultures, he refers to the anatomy of artifacts that in about-face appearance our behaviors and mindsets. Also, pheromones are generally said to be "information" in this sense.
As a acreage in physics
Main article: Concrete information

Information has a categorical acceptation in physics. In 2003 J. D. Bekenstein claimed that a growing trend in physics was to ascertain the concrete apple as actuality fabricated up of advice itself (and appropriately advice is authentic in this way) (see Agenda physics). Examples of this accommodate the abnormality of breakthrough entanglement, breadth particles can collaborate after advertence to their breach or the acceleration of light. Actual advice itself cannot biking faster than ablaze alike if that advice is transmitted indirectly. This could advance to all attempts at physically celebratory a atom with an "entangled" accord to addition actuality slowed, alike admitting the particles are not affiliated in any added way added than by the advice they carry.

The algebraic cosmos antecedent suggests a new paradigm, in which around everything, from particles and fields, through biological entities and consciousness, to the multiverse itself, could be declared by algebraic patterns of information. By the aforementioned token, the catholic abandoned can be conceived of as the absence of actual advice in amplitude (setting abreast the basic particles that pop in and out of actuality due to breakthrough fluctuations, as able-bodied as the gravitational acreage and the aphotic energy). Nothingness can be accepted again as that aural which no matter, energy, space, time, or any added blazon of advice could exist, which would be accessible if agreement and anatomy breach aural the assorted of the multiverse (i.e. the assorted would accept tears or holes). Concrete advice exists above accident horizons, back ample observations appearance that, due to the amplification of the universe, abroad altar abide to canyon the cosmological horizon, as apparent from a present time, bounded eyewitness point of view.

Another articulation is approved by the Maxwell's demon anticipation experiment. In this experiment, a absolute accord amid advice and addition concrete property, entropy, is demonstrated. A aftereffect is that it is absurd to abort advice after accretion the anarchy of a system; in applied agreement this generally agency breeding heat. Addition added abstruse aftereffect is that advice could be anticipation of as changeable with energy. Toyabe et al. experimentally showed in attributes that advice can be adapted into work.[12] Thus, in the abstraction of argumentation gates, the abstruse lower apprenticed of thermal activity appear by an AND aboideau is college than for the NOT aboideau (because advice is destroyed in an AND aboideau and artlessly adapted in a NOT gate). Concrete advice is of accurate accent in the approach of breakthrough computers.

In thermodynamics, advice is any affectionate of accident that affects the accompaniment of a activating arrangement that can adapt the information.
The appliance of advice study

The advice aeon (addressed as a accomplished or in its audible components) is of abundant affair to advice technology, advice systems, as able-bodied as advice science. These fields accord with those processes and techniques pertaining to advice abduction (through sensors) and bearing (through computation, conception or composition), processing (including encoding, encryption, compression, packaging), manual (including all telecommunication methods), presentation (including decision / affectation methods), accumulator (such as alluring or optical, including holographic methods), etc.

Information decision (shortened as InfoVis) depends on the ciphering and agenda representation of data, and assists users in arrangement acceptance and aberration detection.

    Partial map of the Internet, with nodes apery IP addresses

    Galactic (including dark) amount administration in a cubic breadth of the Universe

    Advice anchored in an abstruse algebraic article with agreement breaking nucleus

    Beheld representation of a aberrant attractor, with adapted abstracts of its fractal structure

Information aegis (shortened as InfoSec) is the advancing activity of appliance due activity to assure information, and advice systems, from crooked access, use, disclosure, destruction, modification, disruption or distribution, through algorithms and procedures focused on ecology and detection, as able-bodied as adventure acknowledgment and repair.

Information assay is the activity of inspecting, transforming, and modelling information, by converting raw abstracts into actionable knowledge, in abutment of the controlling process.

Information affection (shortened as InfoQ) is the abeyant of a dataset to accomplish a specific (scientific or practical) ambition application a accustomed empiric assay method.

Information advice represents the aggregation of informatics, telecommunication and acoustic media & content.
Technologically advised information
Further information: Advice Age

It is estimated that the world's abstruse accommodation to abundance advice grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986 – which is the advisory agnate to beneath than one 730-MB CD-ROM per actuality (539 MB per person) – to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007.[13] This is the advisory agnate of about 61 CD-ROM per actuality in 2007.[14]

The world's accumulated abstruse accommodation to accept advice through one-way advertisement networks was the advisory agnate of 174 newspapers per actuality per day in 2007.[13]

The world's accumulated able accommodation to barter advice through two-way telecommunication networks was the advisory agnate of 6 newspapers per actuality per day in 2007.[14]

As of 2007, an estimated 90% of all new advice is digital, mostly stored on adamantine drives.[15]
As records

Records are specialized forms of information. Essentially, annal are advice produced carefully or as by-products of business activities or affairs and retained because of their value. Primarily, their amount is as affirmation of the activities of the alignment but they may additionally be retained for their advisory value. Complete annal administration ensures that the candor of annal is preserved for as continued as they are required.

The all-embracing accepted on annal management, ISO 15489, defines annal as "information created, received, and maintained as affirmation and advice by an alignment or person, in aftereffect of acknowledged obligations or in the transaction of business".[16] The All-embracing Committee on Archives (ICA) Committee on cyberbanking annal authentic a almanac as, "recorded advice produced or accustomed in the initiation, conduct or achievement of an institutional or alone activity and that comprises content, ambience and anatomy acceptable to accommodate affirmation of the activity".[17]

Records may be maintained to absorb accumulated anamnesis of the alignment or to accommodated legal, budgetary or accountability requirements imposed on the organization. Willis bidding the appearance that complete administration of business annal and advice delivered "...six key requirements for acceptable accumulated governance...transparency; accountability; due process; compliance; affair approved and accepted law requirements; and aegis of claimed and accumulated information."[18]
Semiotics

Michael Buckland has classified "information" in agreement of its uses: "information as process", "information as knowledge", and "information as thing".[19]

Beynon-Davies[20][21] explains the multi-faceted abstraction of advice in agreement of signs and signal-sign systems. Signs themselves can be advised in agreement of four inter-dependent levels, layers or branches of semiotics: pragmatics, semantics, syntax, and empirics. These four layers serve to affix the amusing apple on the one duke with the concrete or abstruse apple on the other.

Pragmatics is anxious with the purpose of communication. Pragmatics links the affair of signs with the ambience aural which signs are used. The focus of pragmatics is on the intentions of active agents basal candid behaviour. In added words, pragmatics articulation accent to action.

Semantics is anxious with the acceptation of a bulletin conveyed in a candid act. Semantics considers the agreeable of communication. Semantics is the abstraction of the acceptation of signs - the affiliation amid signs and behaviour. Semantics can be advised as the abstraction of the articulation amid symbols and their referents or concepts – decidedly the way that signs chronicle to animal behavior.

Syntax is anxious with the ceremonial acclimated to represent a message. Syntax as an breadth studies the anatomy of advice in agreement of the argumentation and grammar of assurance systems. Syntax is adherent to the abstraction of the anatomy rather than the agreeable of signs and sign-systems.

Nielsen (2008) discusses the accord amid semiotics and advice in affiliation to dictionaries. He introduces the abstraction of lexicographic advice costs and refers to the accomplishment a user of a concordance charge accomplish to aboriginal find, and again accept abstracts so that they can accomplish information.

Communication commonly exists aural the ambience of some amusing situation. The amusing bearings sets the ambience for the intentions conveyed (pragmatics) and the anatomy of communication. In a candid bearings intentions are bidding through letters that comprise collections of inter-related signs taken from a accent mutually accepted by the agents complex in the communication. Mutual compassionate implies that agents complex accept the called accent in agreement of its agreed syntax (syntactics) and semantics. The sender codes the bulletin in the accent and sends the bulletin as signals forth some advice approach (empirics). The called advice approach has inherent backdrop that actuate outcomes such as the acceleration at which advice can booty place, and over what distance.