Information, Information Science and Information Society
What it is
Unit I builds the conceptual base: how information differs from data, knowledge and wisdom, how it flows from creator to user, why it drives development, and how communication, scholarly publishing and the information industry carry it. It ends with the legal frame of library work: intellectual property, plagiarism, the RTI and IT Acts, NKC and NML. Most questions match a model to its author, a treaty to its year or a section to its rule. Statutory rules are stated as of 2026-10.
Core concepts
Data, information, knowledge and wisdom. In the DIKW hierarchy popularised by Russell Ackoff (1989), data are raw symbols; information is data processed and put in context (who, what, where, when); knowledge is information applied (how); wisdom is judgement (why). Ackoff placed understanding between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is tacit (Polanyi's term: personal, hard to articulate) or explicit (codified); Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model (1995) converts it by socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation. For Shannon, information reduces uncertainty and is measured in bits.
Information life cycle and the role of information. The cycle runs generation, collection, processing and storage, dissemination and use, and use generates new information. Harlan Cleveland (1982) called information expandable, compressible, substitutable, transportable, diffusive and shareable: sharing does not deplete it. It serves planning (census data), management (MIS), socio-economic, cultural and educational growth, and technology, where patents and R&D reports prevent duplicated research.
Information science and its relations. Harold Borko (1968) defined it as the discipline that studies how information behaves, what governs its flow, and how to process it so it is as accessible and usable as possible. The American Documentation Institute (1937) became the American Society for Information Science in 1968. Tefko Saracevic (1999) called the field interdisciplinary, tied to information technology and a participant in the information society. It draws on computer science, statistics, linguistics, psychology and communication; Shera and Egan proposed social epistemology (1952) as librarianship's foundation.
Information society and knowledge society. Fritz Machlup (1962) measured the knowledge industry in five classes: education, R&D, media of communication, information machines and information services. Marc Porat (1977) split the information economy into primary and secondary sectors. Daniel Bell (The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, 1973) centred theoretical knowledge; Manuel Castells described the network society (1996); Peter Drucker coined "knowledge worker" (1959). An information society is defined by ICT and information work; a knowledge society, in UNESCO's Towards Knowledge Societies (2005), by the capacity to create and use knowledge with plurality and inclusion. The World Summit on the Information Society met at Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005).
Communication: concept, types and models. Communication transfers meaning from source to receiver through a channel. Types: intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, mass; verbal and non-verbal; formal and informal. Models: Aristotle (speaker, speech, audience); Lasswell (1948: communicator, message, channel, audience, effect); Shannon and Weaver (1949: linear, with noise); Schramm (1954: overlapping fields of experience); Westley and MacLean (1957: gatekeepers); Berlo's SMCR (1960: source, message, channel, receiver); Dance's helix (1967). The two-step flow theory (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955) routes media influence through opinion leaders.
Channels, barriers and scholarly communication. Formal channels are journals, books, proceedings, reports and patents; informal ones are conversations, conferences and preprints. Derek de Solla Price (1963) and Diana Crane (1972) studied invisible colleges; Thomas Allen found technological gatekeepers in R&D labs. Barriers: physical, semantic, psychological, cultural, organisational, technological, economic, and overload. Trends: the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002); green (self-archiving), gold (OA journals, often with APCs), diamond (no fee either side) and hybrid OA; arXiv (1991); Plan S (2018); open peer review, DOI, ORCID and altmetrics.
Information industry. Generators create primary information (researchers, R&D bodies, universities, government). Providers package and sell it (publishers, database producers, aggregators, vendors). Intermediaries link users to it (libraries, information analysis centres, brokers, consultants, subscription agents). The shift is to e-content, licensing and disintermediation.
IPR: categories, treaties and laws. IPR covers copyright and related rights, and industrial property (patents, trademarks, designs, geographical indications, layout-designs, trade secrets). Treaties: Paris 1883 (industrial property); Berne 1886 (no formalities, minimum life plus 50 years); Universal Copyright Convention 1952; Rome 1961 (performers, phonograms, broadcasts); WIPO Convention 1967; TRIPS 1994; WCT and WPPT 1996; Marrakesh 2013 (print-disabled persons; India ratified first). India: Copyright Act 1957 (life plus 60 years), Patents Act 1970 (20 years), Trade Marks Act 1999, GI Act 1999. Section 52(1)(o) lets a non-commercial public library make up to three copies of a book not on sale in India.
Plagiarism. Passing off another's words, ideas or data as one's own without acknowledgement. Types: verbatim, mosaic (patchwriting), uncredited paraphrase, self-plagiarism (duplicate publication), source-based (false or unread citations), complete, idea and accidental. The UGC Regulations 2018 on academic integrity grade students' similarity into Levels 0 to 3 (see the worked example).
RTI Act and IT Act. The RTI Act 2005, fully in force from 12 October 2005, replaced the Freedom of Information Act 2002. Section 4 mandates suo motu disclosure; a PIO replies within 30 days, or 48 hours for life or liberty (s.7); s.8 lists exemptions; appeals go to a senior officer, then the Information Commission (s.19); a defaulting PIO pays ₹250 a day up to ₹25,000 (s.20). The IT Act 2000, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law (1996), came into force on 17 October 2000 and recognised electronic records and digital signatures; the 2008 amendment added electronic signatures and offences such as identity theft (s.66C) and cyber terrorism (s.66F). Shreya Singhal (2015) struck down s.66A.
NKC and NML. The National Knowledge Commission (13 June 2005, chaired by Sam Pitroda) advised the Prime Minister on five focus areas: access, concepts, creation, application and delivery of services. It urged a National Commission on Libraries, a census of libraries and revamped LIS education. The National Mission on Libraries (Ministry of Culture, 2012; nodal agency RRRLF) has four components: National Virtual Library of India, model libraries, a survey of libraries, and capacity building.
Worked example
Grading a thesis under the UGC Regulations 2018 (as of 2026-10). Overall similarity is 38%: references 12%, attributed quotations 7%, generic terms and equations 3%, front matter 2%, unattributed matches 14%.
Step 1, remove excluded matter: 12 + 7 + 3 + 2 = 24%.
Step 2, net similarity: 38 − 24 = 14%. Check: 24 + 14 = 38.
Step 3, read the band.
| Net similarity | Level | Consequence for a student |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 10% | Level 0 | No penalty |
| Above 10% to 40% | Level 1 | Revised script within 6 months |
| Above 40% to 60% | Level 2 | No revised script for 1 year |
| Above 60% | Level 3 | Registration cancelled |
Step 4: 14% is above 10% and not above 40%, so Level 1. Boundaries: exactly 10% is Level 0, 40% is Level 1, 60% is Level 2.
Common traps
- DIKW rungs: information answers who, what, where, when; knowledge answers how; wisdom judges why.
- Models: Shannon–Weaver is linear with noise; Schramm adds fields of experience; Berlo's SMCR lacks feedback; Westley–MacLean adds gatekeepers.
- Information society (ICT and economy: Machlup, Porat, Bell) is not knowledge society (human capacity: UNESCO 2005).
- RTI reply limits (30 days, 48 hours) are not appeal limits; the penalty is ₹250 a day capped at ₹25,000.
- Berne's minimum is life plus 50 years; India grants life plus 60. Paris is industrial property, Berne literary works.
Speed technique
- Treaty ladder: Paris 1883, Berne 1886, UCC 1952, Rome 1961, WIPO 1967, TRIPS 1994, WCT 1996, Marrakesh 2013.
- Model ladder: Lasswell 1948, Shannon–Weaver 1949, Schramm 1954, Westley–MacLean 1957, Berlo 1960, Dance 1967.
- Thinker keywords: Machlup measured, Porat sectors, Bell post-industrial, Castells network, Drucker knowledge worker.
- Plagiarism: subtract exclusions, then read bands 10, 40, 60; a boundary value takes the lower level.
Check yourself
- A student's net similarity is exactly 40%. Which level applies under the UGC Regulations 2018?
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Level 1 — Level 1 runs above 10% up to 40%; Level 2 begins only above 40%. - Who grouped the knowledge industry into education, R&D, communication media, information machines and information services?
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Fritz Machlup — in his 1962 measurement of the US knowledge industry. - Within what time must a PIO supply information concerning a person's life or liberty?
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48 hours — proviso to s.7(1) of the RTI Act 2005; the normal limit is 30 days. - Which model introduced overlapping fields of experience between sender and receiver?
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Schramm's model (1954) — meaning is shared where the fields of experience overlap. - Which treaty eases access to published works for print-disabled persons, and which country ratified it first?
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Marrakesh Treaty 2013; India — India was the first state to ratify it.
Try it: Information, Information Science and Information Society questions
Real questions from the NET Library Sci. bank on exactly this skill. Pick an answer to see the full solution — the intuition, the worked steps, the faster methods and the traps.
A discipline that investigates the properties and behaviour of information, the forces governing its flow and the means of processing it for optimum accessibility and usability: this 1968 definition was given by:
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Answer: option A
Harold Borko's 1968 paper 'Information Science: What Is It?' defined the field by what it studies: the behaviour of information, the forces governing its flow, and its processing for accessibility and usability.
Saracevic's later account (1999) stressed interdisciplinarity and links to information technology, Shera worked on social epistemology, and Machlup measured the knowledge industry.
So the 1968 definition is Harold Borko's, option A.
The Marrakesh Treaty (2013), which India was the first country to ratify, facilitates access to published works for:
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Answer: option D
The Marrakesh Treaty, administered by WIPO, requires copyright exceptions so that accessible-format copies of published works can be made and shared across borders.
Its beneficiaries are persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, and India was the first state to ratify it.
So the treaty serves blind, visually impaired and print-disabled persons, option D.
Match the thinkers in List – I with the ideas associated with them in List – II and choose the correct answer from the options. List – I (Thinker) | List – II (Associated idea) --- | --- (a) Fritz Machlup | (i) The network society (b) Daniel Bell | (ii) The knowledge worker (c) Manuel Castells | (iii) Measurement of the knowledge industry (d) Peter Drucker | (iv) The post-industrial society
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Answer: option B
Machlup measured the US knowledge industry in 1962 (a – iii), and Bell's The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973) put theoretical knowledge at the centre (b – iv).
Castells described the network society in 1996 (c – i), and Drucker coined the term 'knowledge worker' in 1959 (d – ii).
So matching List I, from "Fritz Machlup", gives a – iii, b – iv, c – i, d – ii, option B.
Match the communication models in List – I with their distinctive features in List – II and choose the correct answer from the options. List – I (Model) | List – II (Distinctive feature) --- | --- (a) Shannon and Weaver | (i) A linear transmission model with a noise source (b) Wilbur Schramm | (ii) Gatekeepers who select and shape messages (c) Westley and MacLean | (iii) Speaker, speech and audience (d) Aristotle | (iv) Overlapping fields of experience of sender and receiver
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Answer: option C
Shannon and Weaver's 1949 model is linear and adds noise in the channel (a – i), and Schramm (1954) placed meaning in the overlap of sender's and receiver's fields of experience (b – iv).
Westley and MacLean (1957) added gatekeepers who filter messages for mass audiences (c – ii), and Aristotle's model has speaker, speech and audience (d – iii).
So matching List I, from "Shannon and Weaver", gives a – i, b – iv, c – ii, d – iii, option C.
Answer above — every one shows its working.