A Revisit to Units of Information

Abstract

Abstract:

This paper reviews the endeavor of library and information science in search for information units to be used in information organization and retrieval. It then adopts Yu’s recent definition of information as basis and examines the possibility of dividing information into various units. It shows that there exist at least three levels of units for information: work, chapter, thematic section; it argues that although work is the most commonly used unit in nearly all professional activities, it is possible to use other units in at least some of the activities. It then takes Yu’s Back to the Fundamentals Again paper as an example and
demonstrates that these three levels indeed exist and that each level enables a different depth of information organization. This paper contends that future research is needed to test the universality and utility of these three levels of information units through large scale empirical research and to develop a typology of formats (e.g., concept based, fact based, graph based, formula based, etc.) for the lowest level of information unit.

Key words: Information, Information concept, Information unit

Yu Liangzhi, Fan Zhenjia, Cheng Letian. A Revisit to Units of Information[J]. LIBRARY JOURNAL.

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