International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

A set of "elementary semantically meaningful statements (or interpretable structures) together with specific relations between these elements"(D. GERNERT, 2000, p. 253)

GERNERT observes (like in different terms McKAY before him) that "the so-called "information theory"created mainly by SHANNON and WEAVER, was originally intended as a theory of information transmission. The floppy and misleading terms "theory of information" and "information theory"emerged only later and do not at all reflect the real capacities of that theory. SHANNON himself advanced a passionate pleading against the overestimation of the theory essentially originated by himself"(Ibid.)

GERNERT's definition contains terms like "semantically meaningful" and "interpretable" that clearly show that any "information space" is shaped by what could be called "meaning creators", who construct through conversation a common code of meaning. This is the real prerequisite for any explicit information.

The common code has at least two levels. The first is a shared language, as for example English, or French.

Thereafter, and within the selected language, more specific codes can be constructed as for ex. the basic definitions of topology or MENDELEIEV's table in chemistry.

Of course, these last codes can be expressed in any spoken or written language (more or less easily)

However, any information space can become distorted, and particularly so the fuzzy and unstable set of terms related to human sciences and beliefs. The numerous interpretations given to terms like "democracy", "freedom", "development", "unconscious", etc., clearly show the unreliable character of these kinds of "information".

GERNERT also observes that in an information space: "both the elements and the relations may vary in the course of time"

In fact, any instantaneous "snapshot"of the set is a provisional structural state of the information space.

"Time" is introducing a dynamics, i.e. produces a series of transformed such structural states.

GERNERT states moreover: "The mathematical structure of an information space, which is given by the relations existing between the elements, may also depend on the interpretant, and furthermore, vary with time"(Ibid)

GERNERT proceeds next by developing that mathematical structure along the concepts of links, clusters and similarity metrics.

→ Grammar-Infon-Logon; Metron