Notions of Information: A Review of Literature

For IS researchers it is important to know and understand the different notions of information, their assumptions and the consequences of using them. The goal of this paper is to inform the reader which notions exist in literature of various disciplines. An overview is given of different information notions and approaches to information. On the basis of this overview four basic notions are proposed, which I consider to be the most important notions used in literature. These notions are information-asthing (information is treated as if it is a thing), information-as-process (a mental process of informing/altering), information-as-social construction (the shared, constructed information base of social systems) and information-as-probability (the probability of a message being sent). Traditionally information management is only concerned with information-as-thing. I argue that information management must consider information in all its perceptions.