Information is an important concept that is studied extensively across a
range of disciplines, from the physical sciences to genetics to
psychology to epistemology. Information continues to increase in
importance, and the present age has been referred to as the "Information
Age."
One may understand information in a variety of ways. For some,
information is found in facts that were previously unknown. For others,
a fact must have some economic value to be considered information. Other
people emphasize the movement through a communication channel from one
location to another when describing information. In all of these
instances, information is the set of characteristics of the output of a
process. Yet Information has seldom been studied in a consistent way
across different disciplines.
Information from Processes provides a discipline-independent and
precise presentation of both information and computing processes.
Information concepts and phenomena are examined in an effort to
understand them, given a hierarchy of information processes, where one
process uses others. Research about processes and computing is applied
to answer the question of what information can and cannot be produced,
and to determine the nature of this information (theoretical information
science). The book also presents some of the basic processes that are
used in specific domains (applied information science), such as those
that generate information in areas like reasoning, the evolution of
informative systems, cryptography, knowledge, natural language, and the
economic value of information.
Written for researchers and graduate students in information science and
related fields, Information from Processes details a unique
information model independent from other concepts in computer or
archival science, which is thus applicable to a wide range of domains.
Combining theoretical and empirical methods as well as psychological,
mathematical, philosophical, and economic techniques, Losee's book
delivers a solid basis and starting point for future discussions and
research about the creation and use of information.
