What is information?

What is information?

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We think we know what information is; it's all around us, we interact with it on a daily basis. But how do you actually define information?

What words would you use to describe information?

  • Knowledge
  • Investigation
  • Study
  • Instruction

These words begin to suggest how we “deal” with information.

Information needs to be found and interacted with, in order to become knowledge.

Essentially, information is other people’s understanding of a subject or topic which they communicate to others in either a verbal or visual format.

When we undertake research, we are searching and interacting with information to develop our own knowledge and understanding.

We can then add to the information available by communicating our own ideas and theories based on our prior knowledge and the new knowledge we have acquired.

Bedfordshire University

Invisible Library» Unit 4: Understanding information» What is information?

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