The Word Information Is Suspect

摘要

Every statement in the form "Information is ..." should be considered suspect because of the widespread failure to distinguish between things and words. The character string in for mation forms an English word used to refer to many different things. English words ending in -ation are normally ambiguous, referring variously to a process, an event, an object, or an outcome, for example, communication, foundation, and regulation. So a simple statement in the form "information is ..." has little meaning and encourages confusion unless it has previously been made clear which of the several meanings is intended. Differences in the use of language in different disciplines make the situation worse.