Library and Information Science

In this paper, the process of forming information into media is assumed to be the condensation of information. As all the existing scientific publications are compiled from the condensation of various information, it follows that some share the same root of information.

In the first chapter, the author defines information as “the increase of knowledge” and illustrates that information is transmitted by very the media into which the information is condensed. In order to study the relationship between information and an individual's knowledge, it is useful to compare different types of media produced from one particular information source. Among these media, there are three kinds of interrelationships; (1) transmitting the exact same information, (2) transmitting information with some new information, and (3) transmitting a combination of a plural number of information.

The second chapter deals with proving that “media, produced at the point at which information becomes knowledge, have the same root of information” The author chose the term TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR as an example, and examined the various media dealing with the term. As a means of manifesting the information transmitted by each medium, the description of the term TRANSFORMATION GENERATIVE GRAMMAR in an encyclopedia. was substituted for “knowledge” concerning with it. Then, by coding one sentence in the description to one unit of information, 90 units were obtained. The information transmitted by each medium was identified with these units under a certain standard. In conclusion, the common units of information in each medium verified that many types of media, from articles of scholary journals to encyclopedias, have the same root of information if the information concerning one particular term is condensed into such media.

Because of the difference of the viewpoints and levels of the condensation, this condensation of information causes a variety of media. Reconsidering the present condition with the idea of “the condensation of information” users and providers of information should construct their own “knowledge system” which would cover various media being used with various methods.