What is Information?

Information is the acquisition of new knowledge from any source such as facts, data, learning, and folk lore (Webster, 1983, p.940).  Information can be defined as news of a difference (Tolaas, 1986, p.49).  Faber states that in the book Re-examination of Bateson's Rule, Bateson defines information as any difference which makes a difference in some later event (Faber, 1983, p.242).

Information can raise the consciousness of individuals and societies by its vast influence and availability.  Some social orders have attempted to control information, since information is power, however, with improved technology it is becoming difficult to for governments to censor what individuals learn.  Silva & Sjögren (1990) comment, "Television, radio, computers, fax machines, satellite dishes, and improved overseas telephone service combine with travel beyond national borders to raise awareness of life outside one's "motherland."  Country by country, consumers are clamoring to their governments for greater access to the goods and services that the information invasion has brought into their offices and living rooms" (p.46).

Data and information are distinctly different.  Data are elements or pieces of information that individually have little or no value.  Information is the organization and interpretation of the data into a format that provides the user with new insight.  According to Krippner (1988), cybernetic information theory suggests that intelligence is a feature of any feedback system of information that provides a capacity for learning.  A distributed network of communication and information storage may produce a process of deliberation, learning, setting of goals, and the accomplishment of the goals (p.48-49).

Information is directly associated with learning.  Learning a subject appears to involve three simultaneous processes.  First, the acquisition of new information.  This information may run counter to or replace information that the individual may already know.  Transformation is the second process of learning.  This is the process of manipulating knowledge to make it fit new tasks.  The third learning process is the evaluation of the information to be sure that it is adequate to the task (Bruner, 1973, p. 421-422).

Information, therefore, is the acquisition of new knowledge from various sources and data elements, that when internalized by the individual, can effect a difference in his/her previous thoughts, knowledge, or actions.

How is Information related to Society & Consciousness?

Information is intricately related to society and human consciousness.  Beginning in the late 1950s society has been changing from an industrial society to an information society (Naisbitt, 1984; Naisbitt & Aburdene, 1990).  With this change, humans and society are having to change the way they create, process, and distribute information.

The restructuring of America from an industrial to an information society will easily be as profound as the shift from an agricultural society to an industrial society.  However, the shift from the agricultural society to and industrial society took 100 years.  The shift from an industrial society to an information society has taken only several decades.  Change is occurring so fast that there is little time for society to react, instead, it must anticipate the future.  In our new information society, the time orientation is to the future (Naisbitt, 1984, p.9).

Information is used by the individual to develop personal behaviors and beliefs.  Individuals use information about group behavior and beliefs to determine reality.  As the individual matures, there are two sources of information from which reality and appropriate behaviors are learned.  First, through personal experience and secondly, through social information provided by other individuals or groups (Worchel & Cooper, 1973, p.323).
 In business, according to Peters (1987), business management's number one enemy is information distortion, particularly when it is professionally prepared.  In order to avoid erroneous information, the information user must use a variety of sources to match the complexity of the problem (pp. 513-514).  This need for a variety of sources has resulted in an explosion in the job market for information workers.  As the information economy expands, jobs and pay will be better.  The information economy is equally helping both blacks and whites.  Two thirds of all new jobs in the information economy are being filled by women (Naisbitt & Aburdene, 1990, p. 41, 45, 47).

According to Naisbitt (1984), the most important things to remember about the shift from an industrial to an information society are:

 1. The information society is an economic reality, not an intellectual abstraction.

 2. Innovations in communications and computer technology will accelerate the pace of change by collapsing the information float.

 3. New information technologies will at first be applied to industrial tasks, then, gradually, give birth to new activities, processes, and products.

 4. In this literacy-intensive society, when we need basic reading and writing skills more than ever before, our education system is turning out an increasingly inferior product.

 5. The technology of the new information age is not absolute.  It will succeed or fail according to principle of high tech/high touch (Naisbitt, 1984, p.11).

Information creation, processing, distribution is directly  related to the "high tech/high touch" principle.  This principle is related to the ability for the workforce to "balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human nature."  According to Naisbitt (1984),  whenever a new technology is introduced to society, there must be a counterbalancing human response - high touch - or the technology is rejected (pp. 35-36).  In order for information to be effectively communicated and received individuals are going to have to become comfortable with the use of the available information technology such as radios, televisions, computers, VCRs, and other communication devices.

Information's intimate relationship with all parts of human life will necessitate the education of individuals and societies.  According to Toffler (1990), "Social justice and freedom both now increasingly depend on how each society deals with three issues: education; information technology (including the media); and the freedom of expression."  In order to be prepared for the 21st century, it is essential for nations to universalize access to computers, information technology, and the advanced media.  This will require the education of the population to be as familiar with the "informational infrastructure as it is with cars, roads, highways, trains, and the transportation infrastructure" (pp. 360-361).

The Appropriateness of Information Control:

Data and information are bombarding technically advancing societies.  The vast amount of information is creating a need for people to learn how to deal with "information overload."  Information overload is a by-product of the information age.  As a result of the potential for information overload, interpretation of data is more important than the collection of data (Toffler, 1990, p.282).  Author Richard Bach, in his book Bridge Across Forever (1984), describes a typical information overload scenario in his fight to save the forests of Oregon:

On our desks, on the kitchen counter, piled on the bed were thousands of pages about forest management, sustained-yield practices, erodible soils, fragile-lands regeneration, watershed protection, climatic evolution, endangered species, the socioeconomics of timber management versus the benefits of anadromous fisheries on marginal sites, riparian-zone protection, heat-transfer coefficients in granitic soils, and laws, laws, laws.  Books of laws.  The national Environmental Protection Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, The Endangered Species Act, NHPA, FWPCA, AA, CWA, DOI, 516M," (Bach, 1983, p.321).

Information users must be selective and specific in their data collection or they will be immersed in data which may or may not be useful to their end purpose.  As an example, the results of polls may lead an individual into a false sense of knowledge and possible alter an individuals awareness of actual facts.  According to Lutz (1989), statistical doublespeak, such as polls, are an effective form of doublespeak (p.43).  Doublespeak is language that is "designed not to lead but mislead," (Lutz, 1989, p.19).  It is important, therefore, for individuals to maintain an awareness of the source of their information and discriminate what information is useful and reliable, by the data source.

Information can be distorted as individuals interpret the data and prepare the information for the user.  The news media can effect the information the population receives by the way the new is reported.  As previously stated, in business, according to Peters (1987), business management's number one enemy is information distortion, especially when it is professionally prepared.  To avoid erroneous information, the information user must use a variety of sources to match the complexity of the problem (pp. 513-514).  As the information society expands, "info-tactics" will be used to create, process, and distribute information.  These tactics can be used to deceive people into believing and/or acting on erroneous information.  Some of these tactics are: guided leaks, masked source, back-stabbers and back-channels, double-channel play, need-to-know, need-not-to-know, and massaging the message (Toffler, 1990, pp.259-269).

President Lyndon Johnson, when he signed the Freedom of Information Act in 1967 stated, "Freedom of information is so vital that only national security, not the desire of public officials or private citizens, should determine when it should be restricted," (Toffler, p. 260).  However, Toffler states, "Total freedom of information would mean total lack of individual privacy.  Absolute freedom of expression is, therefore, no more possible than absolute anything else," (Toffler, p. 362).  Freedom of information can be a social problem when it has a negative impact on an individual or national safety and security.  With the use of credit cards and/or social security numbers, information researchers can keep track of the spending trends of individuals, locations of travel, and even reading and music preferences (Toffler, 1990; Naisbitt, 1984; Naisbitt & Aburdene, 1990).  It is my opinion that this type of information should be protected as an individual right of privacy unless there is some proof that individual or national security is in jeopardy.

The automation of libraries and research facilities is providing enhanced access to information.  According to Hodges (1992), library science is becoming an essence of computer science.  Card catalogs are going on-line, librarians are using data bases for answering reference questions, and patrons are accessing academic libraries via personal computers and modems, without leaving home.  More people will be able to connect to libraries, using computers, and more and more information in libraries will be on computers.  High-tech U.S. libraries will be connected by computers to other high-tech libraries across the world. As an example, the On-line Computer Library Center in Dublin, Ohio has merged the card catalogs of 3,500 libraries allowing an individual access to libraries throughout the United States (pp. E-1, E-5).

Proper use of information can be a motivator for personal, social, and business growth and change.  As an example of a personal and social change, the information regarding the hazards of smoking has resulted in a reduced rate of smoking in the United States.  In business, information can be a motivator to workers.  According to Peters (1987), information motivates workers in several ways:

 1. It provides critical confirmation that the firm sees the worker as a partner and problem solver.
 

 2. The widespread availability of information is the only basis for effective day-to-day problem solving.

 3. Sharing information on the front line inhibits the upper-level power game playing that is the prime enemy of flexibility and moving fast.

 4. Visible posting of information radically speeds problem solving and action taking.

 5. Information sharing stirs the competitive juices.

 6. (Useful) information begets more (useful) information.

 7. Information abets flattening the organizational pyramid (pp. 611-612).

When and how information is appropriately controlled, in individual and social life, is directly associated with the privacy and security of the information and its purposes.  In my opinion, if information is going to be used for personal or social gain, at the expense of the individual or groups, it use should be restricted.  If the security of an individual or group is in peril, then under the Freedom of Information Act, pertinent information should be used to protect the person or person.

Conclusion:

The United States, and much of the technologically advanced world, are passing from the industrial age into the information age.  This transition has effected all aspects of individual and social lives.  According to Goldstein & Goldstein (1978), "One must be not only an observer but also an informed and interested observer," (p. 22).

Methods of communication have changed.  Information is transferred from one location to another in seconds.  What used to take hours, days, or weeks to reach another part of the world, now only takes seconds.  The world has become smaller and more intimate.  As an example, the war in the Persian Gulf came right into the living rooms of television viewers - as it was happening.

The increase in the speed of communication has resulted in speeding up the work force and creating the need for a more skilled, sophisticated workers.  According to Naisbitt (1984), almost all professional workers and the majority of service workers are information workers.  Their jobs consist of the creating, processing, and distribution of information (pp. 4-5).

In business, in order for workers to feel involved, Peters (1987) recommends that businesses share, publicly and visibly, virtually all information about the operating results, with everyone.  Businesses should also provide training in order for workers to know what to do with the new availability of information (pp. 513-514).  Companies that have good formal and informal communication networks are usually successful (Peters & Waterman, 1987, p.122).

In the new information society, Naisbitt (1984) states, "The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few but information in the hands of many."  In an information economy, value is increased by knowledge not by labor (pp. 7-8).  This will require an improvement in the national education system in order to prepare individuals for the "literacy intense society" of the information age and to put the "power of knowledge" in their grasp.

References:

Bach, R.  (1984).  The bridge across forever.  New York: Dell.

Bruner, J.S.  (1973).  Beyond the information given.  New York: Norton & Co.

Faber, M.D. (1981).  Culture and Consciousness - The Social Meaning of Altered Awareness.  Chapter 5.  "Karl Marx and the pathology of capitalism."  (pp.125-153).  New York: Human Sciences Press.

Faber, M.D. (1981).  Culture and Consciousness - The Social Meaning of Altered Awareness.  Chapter 9.  "Evolution, psychoanalysis, and the problem of perception."  (pp.240-252).  New York: Human Sciences Press.

Gazzaniga, M. (1985).  The Social Brain - Discovering the Networks of the Mind.  New York: Basic Books.

Goldstein, M. & Goldstein, I.F.  (1978).  How we know - An exploration of the scientific process.  New York: De Capo Press.

Hodges, S. (1992, August 6).  Libraries check out high-tech.  Orlando Sentinel.  p. E1,5.

Krippner, S. & Flygt, C.  (1988).  A Learning Guide for Consciousness and Society.  San Francisco, CA: Saybrook Institute.

Lutz, W.  (1989).  Doublespeak.  New York: Harper & Row.

Malerstein, A.J.  (1986).  The Conscious Mind - A developmental theory.  New York: Human Science Press.

Naisbett, J.  (1984).  Megatrends.  New York: Warner Books.

Naisbett, J. & Aburdene, P.  (1990).  Megatrends 2000.  New York:  William Morrow & Co.

Peters, T. (1987).  Thriving on chaos.  New York: Harper & Row.

Peters, T. & Waterman, R.H.  (1982).  In search of excellence.  New York: Harper & Row.

Silva, M. & Sjögren, B.  (1990).  Europe 1992 & The new world power game.  New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Springer, S., & Deutsch, G.  (1989).  Left brain, right brain. (3rd Edition)  New York: W.H. Freeman.

Toffler, A.  (1990).  Powershift.  New York: Bantam Books.
 
 

Tolaas, J.  (1986).  Transformatory framework: Pictorial to verbal.  In B. Wolman & M. Ullman (Eds.),  Handbook of states of consciousness.  (pp. 31-67).  New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (2nd ed.). (1983). New York: Simon and Schuster.

Worchel, S. & Cooper, J.  (1976).  Understanding Social Psychology.  Homewood, Illinois: The Dorsey Press.