Lesson 3. Properties of Information
“He who owns the information, owns the world”. This is a legendary saying of Nathan Rothschild, a British financier and businessman. When he received information he timely used it in the London exchange and acquired meager-value shares multiplying thus his account [2].
Actually, such properties of information as authenticity, objectivity, novelty, completeness, accuracy, currency, and usefulness are essential for those able to estimate them and make use for their purposes.
Authenticity — information should reflect real state of affairs and not contradict to earlier existing data. Authenticity of information should be confirmed “by no less than three valid independent sources” [1].
Objectivity — information should not depend on the methods of its fixation, someone’s opinion, and reflect different points of view.
Novelty — “the content of information should differ from that of earlier existing information”.
Completeness — information should be sufficient for understanding a problem, making decision, and achieving a goal. Complete information may be redundant if only a part of it suffices for achieving a goal [1].
Accuracy — information should be precise, maximally close to a true state of an object, process, phenomenon, etc.
Currency — “information should be timely available and make influence on a purposeful activity just at the current moment” [1].
Usefulness (value) — the goals set should be achieved on the basis of obtained information.
IT IS IMPORTANT: since information tends to quickly get obsolete or to lose some of its properties, it is necessary to consider the information change factor. Moreover, correlation of an information source to its properties would allow avoiding incorrect information liable to lead to erroneous judgments and conclusions.
1. Bibliotechnaya entsiclopediya / Ros. gos. b-ka. – Moscow : Pashkov dom Publ., 2007. –1300 p. – ISBN 5-7510-0290-3.
2. Lysak I. V. Vliyaniye informatsionno-lommunikatsionnykh tekhnologiy na osobennosti kognitivnykh protsessov / I. V. Lysak, D. P. Belov // Izvestiya YuFU. Tekhnicheskiye nauki. – 2013. – № 5 (142). – P. 256-264. – URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vliyanie-informatsionno-kommunikatsionnyh-tehnologiy-na-osobennosti-kognitivnyh-protsessov (accessed: 18.09.2019).
3. Parshukova G. B. Metodika poiska professional'noi informatsii : ucheb.-metod. posobie dlya studentov vuzov / G. B. Parshukova. – Sankt-Peterburg : Professiya Publ., 2006. – 224 p. – ISBN 5-93913111-5.
4. Spravochnik bibliografa / nauch. red.: A. N. Vaneev, V. A. Minkina. – Izd. 3-e, pererab. i dop. – Sankt-Peterburg : Professiya Publ., 2006. – 592 p. – ISBN 5-93913-094-1.
5. Data Age 2025: The Digitization of the World – From Edge to Core : [otchet IDC] / by David Reinsel, John Gantz, John Rydning // Seagate : [sajt]. – URL: https://www.seagate.com/ru/ru/our-story/data-age-2025 (accessed: 18.09.2019).
Material prepared by Asya Kosenko, translated by Natalia Krasnogor