And to reiterate again. We are talking about information as a concept, or as
a variable? If we talk variable, we should be aware of the above listed
limitations. If we talk concept, than Shannon-Boltzmann is a
misunderstanding, in the same way, as the object as a whole and the mass of
an object (in kilograms) are not the same.
We can consider a concept as a variable which is measured at the nominal
level, that is, in terms of descriptors. The advantage of Shannon's (not
Boltzmann's) definition seems to me that it formalizes information as a
variable. It can be provided with meaning, namely: uncertainty. However,
this meaning is not yet substantive like the information impact of a
meaningful information on the stock exchange. Meaning can only be provided
to the Shannon-type information by a system.
With best wishes,
Loet
_____
Loet Leydesdorff
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31-20- 525 6598; fax: +31-20- 525 3681
<mailto:loet@leydesdorff.net> loet@leydesdorff.net ;
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net/
Now available:
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581129378>
The Knowledge-Based Economy: Modeled, Measured, Simulated. 385 pp.; US$
18.95
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581126956>
The Self-Organization of the Knowledge-Based Society;
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581126816>
The Challenge of Scientometrics
_______________________________________________
fis mailing list
fis@listas.unizar.es
http://webmail.unizar.es/mailman/listinfo/fis
Received on Fri Oct 27 19:19:19 2006
