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"Knowledge is Power" goes the old German adage. But power, as any
schoolboy knows, always has negative and positive sides to it.
Information exhibits the same duality: properly provided, it is a
positive power of unequalled strength. Improperly disseminated and
presented, it is nothing short of destructive. The management of the
structure, content, provision and dissemination of information is,
therefore, of paramount importance to a nation, especially if it is in
its infancy (as an independent state).
Information has four dimensions and five axes of dissemination, some vertical and some horizontal.
The four dimensions are:
Structure – information can come in various physical forms and poured
into different kinds of vessels and carriers. It can be continuous or
segmented, cyclical (periodic) or punctuated, repetitive or new, etc.
The structure often determines what of the information (if at all) will
be remembered and how. It encompasses not only the mode of
presentation, but also the modules and the rules of interaction between
them (the hermeneutic principles, the rules of structural
interpretation, which is the result of spatial, syntactic and
grammatical conjunction).
Content – This incorporates both ontological and epistemological
elements. In other words: both "hard" data, which should, in principle,
be verifiable through the employment of objective, scientific, methods
– and "soft" data, the interpretation offered with the hard data. The
soft data is a derivative of a "message", in the broader sense of the
term. A message comprises both world-view (theory) and an action and
direction-inducing element.
Provision – The intentional input of structured content into
information channels. The timing of this action, the quantities of data
fed into the channels, their qualities – all are part of the equation
of provision.
Dissemination – More commonly known as media or information channels.
The channels which bridge between the information providers and the
information consumers. Some channels are merely technical and then the
relevant things to discuss would be technical: bandwidth, noise to
signal ratios and the like. Other channels are metaphorical and then
the relevant determinants would be their effectiveness in conveying
content to targeted consumers.
In the economic realm, there are five important axes of dissemination:
From Government to the Market – the Market here being the "Hidden
Hand", the mechanism which allocates resources in adherence to market
signals (for instance, in accordance with prices). The Government
intervenes to correct market failures, or to influence the allocation
of resources in favour or against the interests of a defined group of
people. The more transparent and accountable the actions of the
Government, the less distortion in the allocation of resources and the
less resulting inefficiency. The Government should declare its
intentions and actions in advance whenever possible, then it should act
through public, open tenders, report often to regulatory and
legislative bodies and to the public and so on. The more information
provided by this major economic player (the most dominant in most
countries) – the more smoothly and efficaciously the Market will
operate. The converse, unfortunately, is also true. The less open the
government, the more latent its intents, the more shadowy its
operations – the more cumbersome the bureaucracy, the less functioning
the market.
From Government to the Firms – The same principles that apply to the
desirable interaction between Government and Market, apply here. The
Government should disseminate information to firms in its territory
(and out of it) accurately, equitably and speedily. Any delay or
distortion in the information, or preference of one recipient over
another – will thwart the efficient allocation of economic resources.
From Government to the World – The "World" here being multilateral
institutions, foreign governments, foreign investors, foreign
competitors and the economic players in general providing that they are
outside the territory of the information disseminating Government.
Again, any delay, or abstention in the dissemination of information as
well as its distortion (disinformation and misinformation) will result
in economic outcomes worse that could have been achieved by a free,
prompt, precise and equitable (=equally available) dissemination of
said information. This is true even where commercial secrets are
involved! It has been proven time and again that when commercial
information is kept secret – the firm (or Government) that keeps it
hidden is HARMED. The most famous examples are Apple (which kept its
operating system a well-guarded secret) and IBM (which did not),
Microsoft (which kept its operating system open to developers of
software) and other software companies (which did not). Recently,
Netscape has decided to provide its source code (the most important
commercial secret of any software company) free of charge to
application developers. Synergy based on openness seemed to have won
over old habits. A free, unhampered, unbiased flow of information is a
major point of attraction to foreign investors and a brawny point with
the likes of the IMF and the World Bank. The former, for instance,
lends money more easily to countries, which maintain a reasonably
reliable outflow of national statistics.
From Firms to the World – The virtues of corporate transparency and of
the application of the properly revealing International Accounting
Standards (IAS, GAAP, or others) need no evidencing. Today, it is
virtually impossible to raise money, to export, to import, to form
joint ventures, to obtain credits, or to otherwise collaborate
internationally without the existence of full, unmitigated disclosure.
The modern firm (if it wishes to interact globally) must open itself up
completely and provide timely, full and accurate information to all.
This is a legal must for public and listed firms the world over (though
standards vary). Transparent accounting practices, clear ownership
structure, available track record and historical performance records –
are sine qua non in today's financing world.
From Firms to Firms – This is really a subset of the previous axis of
dissemination. Its distinction is that while the former is concerned
with multilateral, international interactions – this axis is more
inwardly oriented and deals with the goings-on between firms in the
same territory. Here, the desirability of full disclosure is even
stronger. A firm that fails to provide information about itself to
firms on its turf, will likely fall prey to vicious rumours and
informative manipulations by its competitors.
Positive information is characterized by four qualities:
Transparency – Knowing the sources of the information, the methods by
which it was obtained, the confirmation that none of it was
unnecessarily suppressed (some would argue that there is no "necessary
suppression") – constitutes the main edifice of transparency. The datum
or information can be true, but if it is not perceived to be
transparent – it will not be considered reliable. Think about an
anonymous (=non-transparent) letter versus a signed letter – the latter
will be more readily relied upon (subject to the reliability of the
author, of course).
Reliability – is the direct result of transparency. Acquaintance with
the source of information (including its history) and with the methods
of its provision and dissemination will determine the level of
reliability that we will attach to it. How balanced is it? Is the
source prejudiced or in any way an interested, biased, party? Was the
information "force-fed" by the Government, was the media coerced to
publish it by a major advertiser, was the journalist arrested after the
publication? The circumstances surrounding the datum are as important
as its content. The context of a piece of information is of no less
consequence that the information contained in it. Above all, to be
judged reliable, the information must "reflect" reality. I mean
reflection not in the basic sense: a one to one mapping of the
reflected. I intend it more as a resonance, a vibration in tune with
the piece of the real world that it relates to. People say: "This
sounds true" and the word "sounds" should be emphasized.
Comprehensiveness – Information will not be considered transparent, nor
will it be judged reliable if it is partial. It must incorporate all
the aspects of the world to which it relates, or else state explicitly
what has been omitted and why (which is tantamount to including it, in
the first place). A bit of information is embedded in a context and
constantly interacts with it. Additionally, its various modules and
content elements consistently and constantly interact with each other.
A missing part implies ignorance of interactions and epiphenomena,
which might crucially alter the interpretation of the information.
Partiality renders information valueless. Needless to say, that I am
talking about RELEVANT parts of the information. There are many other
segments of it, which are omitted because their influence is negligible
(the idealization process), or because it is so great that they are
common knowledge.
Organization – This, arguably, is the most important aspect of
information. It is what makes information comprehensible. It includes
the spatial and temporal (historic) context of the information, its
interactions with its context, its inner interactions, as we described
earlier, its structure, the rules of decision (grammar and syntax) and
the rules of interpretation (semantics, etc.) to be applied. A
worldview is provided, a theory into which the information fits.
Embedded in this theory, it allows for predictions to be made in order
to falsify the theory (or to prove it). Information cannot be
understood in the absence of such a worldview. Such a worldview can be
scientific, or religious – but it can also be ideological (Capitalism,
Socialism), or related to an image which an entity wishes to project.
An image is a theory about a person or a group of people. It is both
supported by information – and supports it. It is a shorthand version
of all the pertinent data, a stereotype in reverse.
There is no difference in the application of these rules to information
and to interpretation (which is really information that relates to
other information instead of relating to the World). Both categories
can be formal and informal. Formal information is information that
designates itself as such (carries a sign: "I am information"). It
includes official publications by various bodies (accountants,
corporations, The Bureau of Statistics, news bulletins, all the media,
the Internet, various databases, whether in digitized format or in hard
copy).
Informal information is information, which is not permanently captured
or is captured without the intention of generating formal information
(=without the pretence: "I am information"). Any verbal communication
belongs here (rumours, gossip, general knowledge, background dormant
data, etc.).
The modern world is glutted by information, formal and informal,
partial and comprehensive, out of context and with interpretation.
There are no conceptual, mental, or philosophically rigorous
distinctions today between information and what it denotes or stands
for. Actors are often mistaken for their roles, wars are fought on
television, fictitious TV celebrities become real. That which has no
information presence might as well have no real life existence. An
entity – person, group of people, a nation – which does not engage in
structuring content, providing and disseminating it – actively engages,
therefore, in its own, slow, disappearance.
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