Information: Objective or subjective-situational?

  • Authors:

  • Birger Hjørland

  • Affiliations:

  • Royal School of Library and Information Science, 6 Birketinger, DK–2300, Copenhagen S, Denmark

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

This article contrasts Bates' understanding of information as an observer–independent phenomenon with an understanding of information as situational, put forward by, among others, Bateson, Yovits, Spang-Hanssen, Brier, Buckland, Goguen, and Hjørland. The conflict between objective and subjective ways of understanding information corresponds to the conflict between an understanding of information as a thing or a substance versus an understanding of it as a sign. It is a fundamental distinction that involves a whole theory of knowledge, and it has roots back to different metaphors applied in Shannon's information theory. It is argued that a subject-dependent-situation specific understanding of information is best suited to fulfill the needs in information science and that it is urgent for us to base Information Science (IS; or Library and Information Science, LIS) on this alternative theoretical frame. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.