What Information Means Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

What Information Means - Essay Example Without access to information (inputs), development (output) will suffer. (Wagner, 2005) Thus, the critics emphasize the existence of â€Å"open† information (information not subject to proprietary rights, offering anyone access, anytime, for low or no cost) as a critical source of the informational inputs necessary for creative and technological progress which literally promotes the growth of humanity. The notion of Information helps us to answer some of the biggest questions which will be discussed in the later part of the dissertation. History of Information? Information is not only collection of knowledge but its organisation for efficient storage and retrieval. The impetus for development of information science can be traced to an article almost half a century ago by Vannevar Bush, one of the most influential scientists of the era (Bush, 1945). In this historic article Bush did two things: (l) succinctly defined a critical problem that was on the minds of many for a long time, and (2) proposed a solution that was a â€Å"technological fix,† in tune with time and strategically attractive. The problem was (and in its basic form still is) â€Å"the massive task of making more accessible a bewildering store of knowledge.† (Saracevic, 1995) This is the problem of â€Å"information explosion,† coupled with necessity to provide availability of and accessibility to relevant information, acute to this day. The reason for evolution of digital libraries was to use emerging information technology to combat the problem. But he went even further: he proposed a machine named "Memex", incorporating in his words "association of ideas", that will duplicate "mental processes artificially. "Ideas that will govern information science and artificial intelligence are quite evident. Memex never became a reality, but to this day R&D efforts in a number of fields have similar goals, to address the same problem of "bewildering store of knowledge." Information explosion is a social problem that started in science, and now has spread to every human endeavor. Justification for engaging massive efforts and resources to the problem was and still is strategic importance of information, first for work and progress in science, and now for everything else in modern human society, nationally and globally. Information Retrieval Information retrieval embraces the intellectual aspects of the description of information and its specification for search and also whatever systems, techniques or machines that are employed to carry out the operation (Mooers, 1951). Technology has skyrocketing abilities to get the job done but information storage has a background in this. Unless information is stored well it cannot be retrieved and is equal to restricting the information. Of the many changes and improvements probably the most significant is that Information Retrieval systems now provide for a high degree of interaction, with all the accompanying implications and problems of human-computer interaction. The basic problem of understanding information and communication,