One of the basic concepts in computer science is information. To date, there is no single definition of this concept. But on the other hand, the main properties of information are clearly identified - reliability, completeness, relevance, usefulness, objectivity, and others. They determine the quality of information and characterize it. All the properties we have listed are purely subjective and depend on the requirements of a person for this or that information.
What is information
Information is a rather abstract concept that does not have a precise, fixed definition. The term comes from the Latin informatio, which translates into Russian as information or explanation.
The concept of "computer science" has many meanings that appear in the context. To date, scientists have not developed a single definition for this term. Thus, V. Schneiderov notes that more than 400 definitions are known that function in various fields of knowledge.
The concept of computer science can be narrowed down by giving the following definitions - information or data presented in any form - oral, written, electronic,iconic; a set of data recorded on a material carrier; stored and shared data.
The concept of information is used by various sciences, such as information theory, cybernetics, semiotics, mass communication theory, informatics, economics. Each of them chooses exactly the wording that most accurately describes the application of information in this field of knowledge.
Next, we will consider not only the types of information and operations on it, but also its main qualitative characteristics. The properties of information, completeness, will be considered in great detail. Examples for each of the characteristics will be very simple and clear, which will help to understand the essence of each of them.
Types of information
Depending on the criteria, information can be classified according to the way of perception, area of occurrence and form of presentation, purpose.
Depending on the way of perception, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory information is distinguished.
According to the field of origin - elementary, biological and social.
According to the form of representation and fixation - textual, numerical, graphic, sound, machine.
By purpose - mass, special, personal, social, statistical.
This is not a complete list of classifications, in fact there are many more. We have given only the main ones.
Operations on information
Above information, regardless of its type, you can perform various operations. Consider the main ones:
- The collection or accumulation of information in order to ensure its completeness, reliability and relevance.
- Filtering - filtering out unnecessary information. For example, the reliability and completeness of information is one of its main properties. If the information received does not match them, it may be considered redundant and destroyed.
- Information protection - prevention of loss, modification, unauthorized use of received data.
- Transformation - changing the way data is provided. For example, the text is presented in the form of a table or diagram, voiced.
Basic properties of information
Like any other object, information has its own characteristics and properties. So, the main properties are reliability, adequacy, objectivity, accessibility, accuracy, completeness of information. They indicate the quality of the data received, the degree to which they meet the needs of a particular group of people.
Next, we will analyze each of them in more detail and give accessible and understandable examples.
Objectivity
Objectivity of information is the independence of data from someone's opinion or consciousness, methods of obtaining. The more objective it is, the more reliable it is.
For example, graphic information captured with a snapshot is more objective than that drawn by an artist. Or updating the weather outside. So, the information that it is warm outside is subjective, but the data that the thermometer shows 24 degrees of heat are already objective.
For thisthe property is influenced by the fact whether the data was passed through the subjective perception of a person or not, whether these were facts or assumptions.
Completeness
Completeness of information is an indicator that indicates the degree of sufficiency of the received data for solving a particular problem. It is very relative, as it is evaluated by how much this information can help in solving a particular problem. If there is enough information to make the right decision, it is complete. If not, then using it will not bring the expected effect.
The more complete the data obtained, the more methods available to a person to solve a problem, the faster he will be able to choose the right one and solve his problem. Incomplete information can lead to erroneous decisions and conclusions.
Let's consider in what situation completeness of information can be important. Examples may be as follows. They showed the weather forecast on TV, but they only said that the temperature outside during the day would be +25. At the same time, the announcer did not say whether it would be sunny or cloudy, or whether it would rain. Such information is inaccurate. Based on it, the viewer may decide not to take an umbrella with them and end up getting caught in the rain.
Second example: students were told that there would be an exam on Tuesday, but the subject was not named. Such data is also not enough to solve the problem.
In order to complete the information, you need to collect as much data as possible and, filtering it, get as a result the most complete information that can be used to solveassigned tasks.
Reliability
Reliability of information - its fidelity, correspondence to reality, facts.
Reliable information is based on facts, objective information. The completeness and reliability of information are interconnected, since incomplete information may be unreliable. For example, if some facts are kept silent, the information does not correspond to reality. This is due to the reliability criteria:
- absence of distorted, false and incomplete data.
- speech intelligibility (method of fixation).
The reasons for the unreliability of information, which can be identified as the most common: distortion, both deliberate (initially misinterpretation, distortion due to interference), and intentional - misinformation, errors in data recording, withholding important details.
Relevance
Relevance of information - the degree of correspondence of the information received to the given time, information received on time.
For example, let's take the same weather forecast. For tomorrow or next week, it will be relevant for us, as it will help us choose the right clothes, perhaps adjust our plans. At the same time, yesterday's or a week's forecast is irrelevant for us, since it does not carry any value, since this information was received out of time, does not correspond to the time we are interested in.
But it should also be remembered that, depending on the goals, information that is irrelevant for some people may be relevant for others. So, when solving a crime in some situations, the state of the weather on the day of the theft or murder can be of key importance.
Thus, the properties of information - completeness, relevance and reliability - are important in solving the problem.
Novelty
Information should bring something new to the understanding of an entity or object. It is believed that it should mean only those data that can benefit a person, give information about something new.
In general, not all scientists recognize this property as mandatory for information. Information acquires the property of novelty if it is data about any new research, phenomena, events that have taken place in the world. For example, information about election results is new, but only for a short period of time.
Utility
The usefulness or value of information is assessed in relation to the needs of one or another of its consumers, tasks that can be solved with its help. Useful information is the most valuable.
For example, for people with allergies, data on the composition of a product is valuable. For a broker or banker, the state of the economy at a given point in time. Reliability, relevance, completeness of information is a guarantee of its usefulness, a guarantee that with its help a person can solve the task assigned to him as quickly as possible.
Adequate
Adequacy - compliance of information with the expected content, compliance with the displayed object or phenomenon. In general, adequacy is a conceptsimilar to the objectivity of information and its reliability.
The following example of the adequacy of information can be given. When asked what color the leaves are, the person answers - green. If the answer is blue, black, the leaves are round, etc., then the information received cannot be considered adequate. Thus, the adequacy of information is its correct, reliable answer to the question posed.
Accessibility
Accessibility - the ability to receive this or that information, perform a number of operations on it, which include reading it, changing and copying it, using it to solve problems, obtaining new data.
Main examples of accessibility of information with the completeness of its content are scientific monographs, studies, data presented in books, information about the state of the environment.
To some extent, we can talk about the availability of political and economic information for society as a whole, but talking about its completeness is far from always reasonable.
Another striking example of the availability of information can be a book written in a person's native language. But if it is printed in a foreign language, unfamiliar to a person, then it is no longer possible to talk about the availability of the information contained in it.
Conclusions
There is still no single definition for the term information. Each field of knowledge, each scientist develops his own concept for this term. Generally speaking, information is any information that has a number of specificproperties.
And the completeness of information is one of its main properties. Along with it, they also distinguish relevance, reliability, accessibility, objectivity, usefulness. These properties are highly subjective, in some cases even conditional.
