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UNIT 2 THE INFORMATION
ATTRIBUTES
Structure
2.0 Introduction 2.1 Objectives 2.2 Types of In formation 2.2.1 By Source 2.2.2 By Channel 2.2.3 By, Media 2.2.4 By Recipient 2.2.5 By Information Needs 2.3 Properties of Information 2.3.1 General 2.3.2 Scientific and Technical Information 2.3.3 Technological and Economic Information 2.4 Resistance to Information Flow 2.5 Scope of Information 2.6 Information Economics 2.7 Information Services 2.8 Summary 2.9 Model Answers
2.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit we have been discussing about the nature, concept and definition of information in general and with reference to disciplines 'that have information as their central them. We have also discussed about the terms such as data and knowledge. But these discussions also have to be seen along with the different types of information to get a view of it in all its dimensions. We shall examine in this unit, the fuller dimensions of information with reference to its different manifestations. We will also be discussing about the properties of information, barriers to its scope arid economics of information.
2.1 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- define the types of information
- define the properties of information
- identify resistance to information
- identify scope of information
- explain about information economics
- identify the information service providers
2.2 TYPES OF INFORMATION
Just as we have seen that the word 'information' has no single universally accepted definition, there is no one single way we can group or classify information. In fact, the types of information could be grouped using different characteristics depending upon the purpose of such a classifications. Keeping this in view, let us choose a set of characteristics on the basis of the modified Shannon/Weaver Model of Information Transfer with an added one viz. information needs. These are:
Source Recipients
Channel Information Needs
Media
Source is the mode of communicating messages through signs, symbols texts or graphics.
Channel refers to the established carriers that disseminate information or knowledge or any type of their surrogates.
Media is the physical media that carry messages or contents of information.
Recipient is the ultimate receiver of information who may also generate or create information.
Information Needs indicate the type of information that are ' normally communicated to those who seek the different types of information relevant to their needs. The scope is to divide information in this way, however, is almost unlimited.
2.2.1 By Source
Using Source as a characteristics, information can be grouped as follows:
Signals , Message in the form of Signs, Symbols, Words and Numbers e.g., Mathematical formulae, Statistical and Factual data, etc.
Text Matter, carrying larger amount of messages or information.
e.g. News, Research papers, Reports, etc.
Graphics of Various kinds
e.g., Photographs, Pictures, Graphs, etc.
Electronic
In the above two categories, we distinguish audio from other types of textual matter, irrespective* of the physical media. Oral information refers to voice information with or without any corresponding textual information.
2.2.4 By Recipient
Using Recipients as a characteristic for grouping information, we have the following who receive and use information and knowledge for various requirements:
Individuals
Groups
Organisations and
Institutions
2.2.5 BY Information Needs
Using Information Needs as a characteristic for grouping information we have Information Needs:
BY Standard By Type
Popular Know - why
Scientific Know - how
Technical Show - how
Know-why information: more scientifically oriented information, readily accessible in the numerous secondary tools, available in the libraries and information centres and also easily transferable.
Know-how information: more technically oriented. not noticed in the tools and more difficult to locate and obtain; less easy to transfer.
Show-how information: operational skills, maintenance and control capabilities, seldom recorded in communicable form, and, therefore, never gets recorded in any primacy or secondary tools. Transferable, only through personal contacts and interaction. Depending very much upon the willingness of the person who has the skills to share them.
Recipients and information needs, as characteristics for grouping while producing different sets or classes of information, are in fact closely interwined. As B. C. Vickery puts it, the social position of recipients, their activities, knowledge generation and information input, knowledge
Structure, ability to assimilate, communication behaviour, etc. may all be a series of influences that will determine the information needs of' individuals or groups. Information systems and services must respond to these kinds of requirements.
2.3 PROPERTIES OF INFORMATION
Information can be examined from the point of view of its inherent properties. We are studying them here with reference to those that apply to (i) Information in General, (ii) Scientific and Technical Information, and (iii) Information pertaining to Technology and Economics.
2.3.1 General
- Information is not consumed in use. This is an extremely important property of information Many other raw materials such as sulphur for sulphuric acid production gets consumed oil going through production process but this is not the case with information.
- It can be shared by many and can be used simultaneously, without any loss to anyone.
- It is the most democratic resource in that it can be consumed by poor and rich alike dependings upon the intake capability.
- Knowledge is dynamic. ever growing and continuing and no final word is said or will ever be said on any aspect of it.
2.3.2 Scientific and Technical Information
- Universal, Particularly in the Physical, Chemical and Biological Sciences.
- Open and available to all who seek them, through a well organised communication system operating.
- A system of peer review and mode of communication operates in its dissemination.
- Peer Group review ensures quality to a large measure.
- Healthy competitions results on account of peer review and speedy communication.
- Becomes obsolete in fast developing disciplines and the obsolescence factor is quiet high in some of them.
- Exponential growth in scientific publications has been causing concern in accessibility and availability.
2.3.3 Technological and Economic Information
- Restricted because of time and geographical space bound.
- Competitive because of business interests, sometimes for reasons of security of nations.
Primary papers
Rehash
Abstracts. Digests etc.
Propaganda
Redundant Data
Error
Publication
Postal Transit
Translation
Processing
Searching
Accessing
Document Delivery
Feedback
In this group, the problem posed are volume, mis-information and delays in publication due to various reasons. 0
Economic Political Regulatory Direct Cost Overheads
Instability War
Foreign Exchange Customs
This group of resistance indicate the problem of costs, political situation in a country and other regulatory measures of a country.
Some of these constraints can possibly be overcome with the instrument of information policies of national levels and the establishment of the International information and Communication Order
Check Your Progress 1
State True or False
Question 1: The Information can he classified on the basis of the place where it was generated
True [ ] False
Question 2: The information is orgranised by channel call be grouped as text matter, graphical, signal True [ ] False Question 3: Information can be recorded or oral if classified by media True [ ] False
Question 4: Know how information is scientifically oriented information True [ ] False
Question 5: Information cannot be consumed and cannot be shared by many simultaneously
True [ ]False
Question 6: Information obsolescence factor is quite high ill a discipline like computer science
True [ ] False Question 7: One of the resistance to information flow can be because of media
True [ ] False
2.5 SCOPE OF INFORMATION
Information has value and utility only if it is communicated, which makes information and communication inseparable, sometimes even indistinguishable.
It is necessary, therefore, to discuss the scope of information in relation to the communication process of information transfer which has been studied in some detail in the earlier sections of' this Unit. Source, Channel, Media, Recipient constitute the elements that form an Information Transfer Chain.
Vickery (1983) succinctly summarises the scope of Information Science which includes among others:
- the behaviour of people as generators, sources, and users of information, all of whom are partners
- in the information transfer process;
- the quantitative study of messages: its size, growth rate, distribution, patterns of production and
- use;
- the semantic organisation of messages and of channels that facilitates the identification by sources and recipients;
- problems particularly associated with the functions of information storage, analysis and retrieval;
- the overall organisation of information systems and their performance in transfer;
- the social context of information transfer, in particular its economic and politics.
Information has a value a vital component ill every human activity. In an Information Society. As has evolved, information is viewed as are source, a commodity and a basic input to all human growth and development.
An information services should he entirely oriented towards users needs. User studies, therefore, are crucial to objectivity in service. Such a service includes among others:
- Behaviour patterns of information gathering by different categories of users in different contexts;
- Use and users of different types of information; and
iii) Conversion Costs: This is a sunk cost and includes any kind of change from one method of data processing to another.
iv) Cost for Space and Environmental Control Factors: This his cost is semi-variable. Examples of this cost are floor space, air-conditions and dehumidifier systems, power control units, standby generator, security and so on. The size of the computers has shrunk considerably from the first generation down to the fifth generation computers- Size have shrunk whereas power and capabilities have increased manifold. Many mini-and-microcomputers of today are rugged enough and do not even require an air-conditioned room (like the 13BC Micro's etc. which have been introduced in schools both in rural and urban settings in India). 1 v) Operation Costs: This is basically a variable cost and includes a variety of personnel, facilities and systems maintenance, supplies. utilities and support facilities costs,
These costs are often classified as either variable or non-variable costs.
Value of information
Let us now discuss what we understand by the term 'value' of information To he of value there are certain desirable characteristics or attributes of information, quantitative and descriptive.
Information must primarily possess attributes of relevance, availability and timeliness, to have value and thus to qualify as information. Objectivity, sensitivity, comparability, consciousness, and completeness are desirable and necessary only in comparability. No doubt quantifiability is desired to the maximum extent possible. The quality attribute refers to the presence or absence of ambiguities in information. No doubt all information should preferably possess -quality'. Measures of quality arc validity, accuracy and precision. These measures of quality are especially important and applicable to quantified information.
Quality is defined as excellence or fitness. It is not an absolute concept; it is defined within a context. An application has quality relative to its primary and secondary users, operations personnel, control personnel, maintenance personnel etc. Perfect quality is very costly and perhaps impossible. Since information is a critical organisational resource, low quality information has an adverse effect on organisational performance.
Even if information is presented in such a way as to he transmitted efficiently and interpreted correctly, it may not be used effectively. The quality of information is determined by how it motivates human action and contributes to effective decision-making. Information may be evaluated in terms of 'utilities' which may facilitate or retard its use. These 'utilities' are explained below:
i) Form Utility: As the form of information more closely matches the requirements of the decision-maker, its value increases. If the manager is looking for a graph depicting the sales history, he appreciates receiving the data in the graphical form rather than in a tabular form.
ii) Time Utility: Information has greater value to the decision-maker if it is available when needed. If you make it available well ahead of time, he might forget about it. Obviously any availability after the due time might have no relevance. Therefore, greatest value is at the
appropriate time when the decision-maker needs it. The difficulty is that sometimes the appropriate time is not known to the decision-maker himself.
iii) Place Utility (Accessibility): Information has greater value if it can be accessed or delivered easily. On line systems maximise both time and place utility. It is very important to have the information available at the place desired.
iv) Possession Utility (Organisational Location): The possessor of information strongly affects its value by controlling its dissemination to others. Information is power or rather one who has information has the power.
Though it is difficult to quantify the contribution of the utility of information, one surrogate worth considering is information satisfication viz. the degree to which the decision-maker is satisfied with the output of the formal information system.
Bias and Error
Managers or in fact anyone, would have strong bias towards quality rather than quantity of information. It is possible to estimate the biases of the decision-makers and provide him suitably adjusted information.
Here we would like to introduce the notion of errors in contrast to bias. Errors, a more serious problem, may result from:
a) Incorrect data measurement and collection methods
b) Failure to follow correct processing procedures
c) Loss or non-processing of d
d) Wrong recording data
e) Incorrect history (master) file (or use of wrong history file)
f) Mistake in processing procedure
g) Deliberate falsification.
Normally, the receiver of information might have no knowledge of either bias or errors that may effect its quality. The difficulties with errors may be overcome by internal controls to detect errors, and external auditing, addition of 'confidence limits' to data and user instruction in measurement and processing procedures so that users can evaluate possible errors. The first two methods an attempt to reduct the uncertainty about the data and therefore increase the information content. The last two remedies provide the user with confidence limits.
Value of Perfect Information
In the decision theoretic framework, there could be decision-making under certainty where we assume existence of' perfect information regarding outcomes. In decision-making under uncertainty, we assume only a knowledge of possible outcomes but no information as to
Question 2: An information professional today should not be geared up for good user relations as information is electronically available
True [ ] False Question 3: Cost of information system includes the cost of space and environmental control factors
True [ ] False Question 4: Quality of information refers to the ambiguities of information True [ ] False
Question 5: Form utility refers to the availability of information of the right place True [ ] False
2.8 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have mainly, focussed our attention on the information attributes. We have explained about the types of information, the properties of information/the resistance to information, the scope of information, the information economies and the information service provider. Since, the Internet is a major information source today this will he the topic of discussion of our next unit.
2.9 MODEL ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
False
False
True
False
False
True
True
Cheek Your Progress 2
True
False
True
True
False
