What Do We Mean by Information? Seeing the bigger picture behind what we call information

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We use the word information every day, yet it means different things in different contexts. From everyday language and Knowledge Management to communication theory and physics, there are many ways of understanding information. Seeing these different perspectives helps us think and communicate with greater clarity.

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Introduction

Information is one of those words that seems obvious until we try to define it. We use it every day, yet different disciplines understand it in very different ways. Sometimes it refers to facts or content, sometimes to signals, uncertainty, or physical states, and sometimes to something that emerges through interpretation.

These perspectives are not necessarily competing. Each reflects a different way of thinking about information and the role it plays. Understanding these different perspectives helps explain why discussions about information can sometimes become confusing, even when everyone is using the same word.

Here are some of the main ways information is understood.

Everyday Language

In everyday life, we use the word “information” quite casually. A book, a database, or a podcast is often described as “full of information.” This reflects a common understanding: information as content. Something that can be stored, shared, or used.

Information is often seen as facts, knowledge, or data that can be communicated or passed from one person to another.

The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow.

This kind of information is practical. It helps with decisions, such as whether to carry an umbrella.

It may seem simple, but even in this case, interpretation and context play a role. What is considered useful or relevant information can vary depending on the person and the situation.

Information Management

In Information Management and computing, there is a distinction between data and information. Data consists of raw figures or symbols. Information becomes apparent when data is placed into a context or used for a specific purpose.

“101101” on its own is just a sequence of digits.

When understood as binary code that maps to a letter or command, it becomes information.

This difference is central to how computers process input, store content, and perform tasks.

Batesonian Information

Gregory Bateson offered a different approach, describing information as “a difference that makes a difference.” In other words, something becomes information only if it leads to a change, whether in perception, behavior, or understanding.

What is a difference, that makes a difference? It is an elementary idea, a basic unit of information. The unit of information is a difference, which makes a difference.

But what does that really mean? Think of a book written in Japanese. If you don’t read Japanese, the page is just filled with marks, shapes without meaning. It doesn’t inform you. For someone who can read Japanese, those same marks may convey a story, a warning, a joke.

The difference lies not in the marks themselves, but in the ability to recognize and respond to them. In Bateson’s terms, writing becomes information only when it makes a difference to the knower.

This perspective highlights that information is not a fixed or objective thing. It depends on relationships, roles, and interpretations.

Consider a temperature reading:

“22°C” might mean very little without knowing what it’s measuring, what is normal, or what actions it might trigger.

Information matters when it influences what happens next. So the unit of information is not a thing; it is a difference that makes a difference. And that difference only exists within context.

Information Theory

Claude Shannon, a key figure in the development of modern communication theory, defined information in terms of uncertainty. The more surprising a message is, the more information it contains.

“The sun will rise tomorrow” provides little information because it’s expected.

“There will be a solar eclipse tomorrow” contains more, because it changes what you thought you knew.

Shannon’s work focused on transmitting signals efficiently and reliably, not on meaning or interpretation. It laid the groundwork for much of today’s digital communication.

Scientific Information

The concept of information also appears in modern physics, but with a very different meaning from everyday language or knowledge management.

One of the best-known examples is the black hole information paradox. If matter falls into a black hole, does the information describing its physical state disappear forever? Most physicists believe the answer is no. While exactly how information is preserved remains an open question, modern physics generally assumes that physical information cannot simply be destroyed.

Here, information does not mean meaning, knowledge, or a message. It refers to the complete physical description of a system, the information needed, in principle, to distinguish one physical state from another.

This scientific use of the word is closely related to Shannon’s mathematical notion of distinguishable states, but it addresses very different questions about the fundamental nature of physical reality.

It from Bit

The physicist John Archibald Wheeler took the idea a step further with his famous phrase it from bit. Rather than treating information as merely a description of the physical world, Wheeler suggested that the physical world itself may ultimately arise from information.

This remains a speculative but influential idea. It has inspired research in quantum physics, information theory, and the foundations of reality, although there is no consensus that the universe is literally built from information.

A relational perspective

One perspective that brings together several of the ideas discussed above is that information does not exist independently in books, databases, or the world around us. Instead, the world contains patterns, signals, and structures that become information only when they are perceived and interpreted by a person, another living organism, or any system capable of making sense of them.

This relational view builds on ideas such as Gregory Bateson’s a difference that makes a difference and helps explain why the same pattern can be informative to one observer but meaningless to another. I explore this perspective in more detail in Information Is Not a Thing.

Philosophically

These different perspectives show that there is no single universally accepted definition of information.

In everyday life, information is something that informs us. In computing, it emerges from data placed in context. For Bateson, it is a difference that makes a difference. Shannon defined it mathematically in terms of uncertainty. Physics uses it to describe the state of physical systems, while Wheeler suggested it might lie at the foundation of reality itself.

Rather than asking which definition is correct, it may be more useful to ask which one is appropriate for the question we are trying to answer. They are not competing definitions so much as different lenses through which to view the same remarkably rich concept.

Why This Matters

In working with knowledge or information, we are already working with these different meanings, even if we don’t name them that way. Data, documents, communications, and interpretations all involve various ways in which information is understood and used.

Becoming more aware of these perspectives is not just theoretical. It helps prepare for a shift:

From seeing information as something to store and transmit, to seeing it as something that arises through use, context, and understanding.

This change in focus affects how we work with information every day.

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We can start by paying attention to how information works in our daily tasks. We can notice when something becomes useful, and why. We can ask what difference it makes, and for whom. When we treat information as something that gains meaning through use, we change how we think and work.

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