Information systems are a strong and ever-growing discipline of enormous relevance to today’s informated world, and yet, as recent reviews have shown, there is still not an agreed and explicit conceptualization or definition of information. After an evaluative review of a range of theories of information, this paper develops and defends a particular theory, one that sees information as both objective and veridical. By objective, we mean that the information carried by signs and messages exists independently of its receivers or observers. The information carried by a sign exists even if the sign is not actually observed. By veridical, we mean that information must be true or correct in order to be information – information is truth-constituted. False information is not information, but misinformation or disinformation. The paper develops this theory and then discusses four contentious issues – information as objective rather than subjective; information as true or correct; information and knowledge; and information and the ambiguity of meaning. It concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of the theory.

中文翻译：

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什么是信息？走向将信息作为客观和真实的理论

信息系统是一门强大且不断发展的学科，与当今的信息化世界有着极大的相关性，然而，正如最近的评论所表明的那样，仍然没有一个商定的、明确的信息概念化或定义。在对一系列信息理论进行评估性回顾之后，本文发展并捍卫了一种特定的理论，该理论将信息视为客观和真实的。通过客观，我们的意思是符号和信息所携带的信息独立于其接收者或观察者而存在。即使实际上没有观察到标志，标志所携带的信息也存在。通过真实，我们的意思是信息必须真实或正确才能成为信息——信息是由真理构成的。虚假信息不是信息，而是错误信息或虚假信息。本文发展了这一理论，然后讨论了四个有争议的问题——信息是客观的而不是主观的；信息真实或正确；信息和知识；以及信息和意义的歧义。最后讨论了该理论的实际意义。