“Knowledge is power” is an old German proverb. But power, as every student knows, always has negative and positive sides. Information exhibits the same duality: Properly provided, it is a positive force of unparalleled power. Widespread and misrepresented, it is nothing but destructive. Therefore, managing the structure, content, delivery, and dissemination of information is very important for a nation, especially when it is still in its infancy (as an independent state).
Information has four dimensions and five axes of distribution, some vertical and some horizontal.
The four dimensions are:
Structure – Information can come in many physical forms and be transmitted to different types of ships and carriers. It can be continuous or segmented, cyclic (periodic) or interspersed, repeated or new, etc. The structure often determines what (if any) information is stored and how. It includes not only modes of representation, but also modules and rules of interaction between them (principles of hermeneutics, and rules of structural interpretation that are the result of spatial, syntactic, and grammatical conjunctions).
Content – It combines ontological and epistemological elements. In other words: both “hard” data, which should in principle be verifiable through the use of objective, scientific methods, and “soft” data, the interpretation of which is offered with hard data. Soft data is a derivative of “message” in the broader sense of the term. A message consists of a worldview (theory) and elements of action and direction.
Delivery – The intentional inputting of structured content into information channels. The timing of that action, the amount of data fed into the channel, and the quality—all are part of the delivery equation.
Distribution – Better known as a media or information channel. Channels form a bridge between information providers and information consumers. Some channels are just technical and then the relevant things that need to be discussed are technical: bandwidth, noise-to-signal ratio, and the like. Other channels are metaphorical and a relevant determining factor is their effectiveness in conveying content to target consumers.
There are five important application axes in economics:
From Government to Markets – The market here becomes the ‘hidden hand’, a mechanism that allocates resources according to market signals (ie according to prices). Governments intervene to correct market failures or to influence the allocation of resources for or against the interests of certain groups of people. The more transparent and accountable government actions are the fewer distortions in resource allocation and the fewer inefficiencies that result. Governments should, if possible, state their intentions and actions in advance and then act through public, open bidding, reporting regularly to regulators, legislators, and the public, and so on. The more information provided by these major economic players (which are the most dominant in most countries), the smoother and more effectively the market will function. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. The less open the government, the more latent its intentions, the more secretive its operations – the more confused the bureaucracy, the worse the market works.
“Knowledge is Power” goes the old German adage. But power, as any schoolboy knows, always has negative and positive sides to it.
From government to business – The same principles apply here that apply to the desired interaction between the government and the market. The government must share information accurately, consistently, and quickly with businesses within (and outside) its jurisdiction. Any delay or distortion of information, or favoring one recipient over another – will undermine the efficient allocation of economic resources.
From Governments to the World – “The World” as used herein means multilateral agencies, foreign governments, foreign investors, foreign competitors, and economic actors generally, so long as they are outside the jurisdiction of the government providing information. Again, any delay or omission in the dissemination of information and its distortions (disinformation and misinformation) leads to an inferior economic outcome that can be achieved through the free, rapid, appropriate, and fair (=widely available) dissemination of information. Information. This also applies when it comes to trade secrets! It has been proven time and time again that when business information is kept secret, the companies (or governments) that hide it lose. The most prominent examples are Apple (which keeps its operating systems private) and IBM (which doesn’t), Microsoft (which keeps its operating systems open to software developers), and other software companies (which don’t). Recently, Netscape decided to make its source code (the most important trade secret of any software company) freely available to application developers. Synergies based on openness seem to have triumphed over old habits. The free, unimpeded, and impartial flow of information is a major draw for foreign investors and a strength like the IMF and World Bank. For example, the former is more likely to lend money to countries that maintain fairly reliable national statistical outflows.
From the company to the world – The virtue of company transparency and the properly disclosed application of International Accounting Standards (IAS, GAAP, or other) does not require proof. Today, it is almost impossible to raise money, export, import, form joint ventures, obtain credit, or collaborate internationally without full and unbiased disclosure. Modern businesses (if they want to interact globally) must fully disclose themselves and provide timely, complete, and accurate information to all. This is a legal requirement for public and registered businesses around the world (although standards vary). Transparent accounting practices, clear ownership structures, available track records, and historical performance records – are essential in today’s financing world.
Enterprise-to-Enterprise – This is part of the delivery axis so far. The difference is that the former deals with multilateral international interactions, but this axis is more inward-looking and deals with events between companies in the same region. Here the desire for full disclosure is even stronger. A company that fails to provide information about itself to companies in its territory is likely to become a victim of malicious rumors and information manipulation by its competitors.
Positive information is characterized by four qualities:
Transparency – knowing the source of the information, and the methods used to obtain it, confirming that no information is being unnecessarily suppressed (some would argue that no “suppression is necessary”) – are important building blocks of transparency. Data or information may be correct, but if not considered transparent it is not considered reliable. Think of anonymous (=non-transparent) letters versus signed letters – the latter is more reliable (depending on the reliability of the writer, of course).
Reliability – is a direct result of transparency. Knowledge of the sources of information (including their history) and the methods of their provision and dissemination determines the level of reliability we attribute. How balanced is it? Is the source biased or in any way biased toward interested parties? Was the information “force-fed” by the government, was the media forced to publish it by big advertisers, and were journalists arrested after publication? The circumstances of the data are as important as its content. The context of information is no less important than the information it contains. To be judged reliable, information must above all “reflect” reality. I don’t mean reflection in the true sense: a one-to-one mapping of reflections. Rather, I mean resonance, a vibration in harmony with the real world to which it is connected. People say, “That sounds right” and the word “sounds” should be emphasized.
Completeness – Information is not considered transparent or reliable if it is incomplete. It must include all pertinent aspects of the world, or state explicitly what has been left out and why (which is tantamount to including it at all). Information is embedded in a context and constantly interacts with it. In addition, the various modules and their content elements interact with each other consistently and continuously. Missing parts imply ignorance of interactions and side effects, which can decisively change the interpretation of the information. Partiality renders information worthless. Needless to say, I am talking about the RELEVANT information. Many other parts of it were left out because their influence was ignored (a process of idealization) or because they were so big that they became common knowledge.
Organization – This is arguably the most important aspect of information. This makes information understandable. The spatial and temporal (historical) context of information, its interaction with its context, its inner interaction, as we have already explained, its structure, decision rules (grammar and syntax), and rules of interpretation (semantics, etc.) are to be applied. The worldview is given, and the theory corresponds to the information. Embedded in this theory, it allows predictions to falsify (or prove) the theory. Without such a worldview, information cannot be understood. Such a worldview can be scientific or religious – but it can also be ideological (capitalism, socialism) or related to the image the entity wishes to project. Image is a theory about a person or a group of people. Both are backed up by information – and support it. This is an abridged version of all related data, reverse stereotypes.
There is no difference in the application of these rules to information and interpretation (which is information related to other information and not to the world). Both categories can be formal and informal. Formal information is information that declares itself as such (with the sign: “I am information”). This includes official publications from various bodies (accountants, companies, statistical offices, news bulletins, all media, the Internet, and various databases, either in digital form or in paper form).
Informal information is information that is not collected permanently or without the intention of producing formal information (= without pretense: “I am information”). Any verbal communication is included here (rumors, gossip, common knowledge, inactive background data, etc.).
The modern world is full of information, formal and informal, partial and comprehensive, out of context and with interpretation. There is no strict conceptual, mental, or philosophical distinction today between information and what it represents or what it stands for. Actors are often mistaken for their roles, wars are fought on television, and fictional TV celebrities become real. What has no informational presence cannot have a real life. Entities – people, groups of people, nations – not involved in the structuring, delivery, and dissemination of content – are actively involved and therefore disappear on their own. Learn more information in mercosur digital.