Information as Verb: Re-conceptualizing Information for Cognitive and Ecological Models

Abstract

Introduction The term "information" has been used to describe a variety of organizational forms from genetic structure to culture. Attempts to include information in ecological models have, however, mostly relied on vague or enigmatic notions of feedback. In cognitive models, information is considered to be all raw data available for processing. But it is unclear how information is screened or organized. This paper addresses the need for revision of current notions of information within ecology and the cognitive sciences. It is particularly important to bridge the gaps that exist between the scales of intrapersonal communication, interpersonal communication , and cultural consensus. Current notions of information, and in particular attempts to quantify information, can be traced to the work of Claude Shannon (Mingers 1997). In this paper, I will focus on the work of Klir and Folger (1988), which represents the most rigorous and recent attempt to model information