Untangling the Web of Technical Knowledge. A Model of Information Content and Structure

摘要

This is the information age, but what is information. Several years ago, while working on an information system design problem, I realized that there is no scientific definition of 'information content', as that term is ordinarily used. Traditional information theory does not provide one; because information theory does not take into account that information has content. It accepts random strings of letters as information. So I set out to do what in mathematical logic is called a 'rational reconstruction'. This means to develop a formal scientific definition of an ordinary language concept. In fact, I have found not one, but 3 definitions of information content, nested one within another. These 3 definitions turn out to be quite powerful. They provide the basis for a new model of information content and structure, one that is applicable to any information design activity. In fact, the model supports several new design methods, including actually measuring and optimizing content in various interesting ways. In my vision people cruise through the structure of their information as one would fly a starship. They visit strange and beautiful worlds, worlds that are in a sense already real. We just can't see them yet. Some aspects of this model are merely conjectural at present. A research program will be required to test and refine its many facets. However, because the model grows out of 37 years of study and visualization of the structure of complex situations, some of its applications have already been demonstrated.