Information cycle: information and the communicating process

Abstract

This article presents a revision of the literature in search of an appropriated definition for the concept of information to be considered the object of study of Information Science. It correlates authors in the fields of Information Science, of Communications, of Linguistics, of Semiotics, tracing an historical reconstitution illustrated with diagrams from the Mathematical Theory of Communication through contemporary definitions. If, in the beginning, the information is presented as belonging to the process of communicating, with the evolution of the theories presented we come to the conclusion that information, understood as the process of attributing a meaning to the reality absorbed by the human being can exist even without the intentionality of the communicating process. In this sense, the information is presented as an integral part of the process that relates global culture (objective) to individual culture (subjective). Finally, we think the cycle is completed when information is converted in knowledge, capable of promoting development and being communicated, thus generating news informative stocks and feedbacking the cycle.