Oxford, United Kingdom

Information, Communication and the Social Science

Language: English Studies in English
Subject area: journalism and information
University website: www.ox.ac.uk
Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Communication
Communication (from Latin commūnicāre, meaning "to share") is the act of conveying intended meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs and semiotic rules.
Information
Information is any entity or form that provides the answer to a question of some kind or resolves uncertainty. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. As it regards data, the information's existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer (it exists beyond an event horizon, for example), while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive observer.
Science
Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Social
Living organisms including humans are social when they live collectively in interacting populations, whether they are aware of it, and whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.
Social Science
Social science is a major category of academic disciplines, concerned with society and the relationships among individuals within a society. Social science as a whole has many branches, each of which is considered a social science. The social sciences include, but are not limited to: anthropology, archaeology, economics, history, human geography, jurisprudence, linguistics, political science, psychology, public health, and sociology. The term is also sometimes used to refer specifically to the field of sociology, the original "science of society", established in the 19th century. For a more detailed list of sub-disciplines within the social sciences see: Outline of social science.
Information
The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (6 January 1816) ME 14:384.
Science
The men in the laboratory... cannot be said to observe the actual objects of their curiosity at all. ...The sense data on which the propositions of modern science rest are, for the most part, little photographic spots and blurs, or inky curved lines on paper. ... What is directly observable is only a sign of the "physical fact"; it requires interpretation to yield scientific propositions.
Susanne Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (1942)
Information
When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.
Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929), American Science Fiction author. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ch. 3 (1969).
Keeping large jets in flight while traversing thousands of miles at high speed consumes quite a bit of fuel. Novel technology to reduce drag while reducing weight promises a significant reduction in fuel usage and associated costs and emissions.
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