Communication Defined as
Complementary Informative Processes¹

Robert M. Losee
School of Information and Library Sci.
U. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
U.S.A.
losee@ils.unc.edu


Journal of Information, Communication and Library Science
5 (3) 1999, pp 1-15.

Abstract:

Given a set of requirements for a definition of communication, we can define a communication as information that enters a process and eventually leaves its inverse process. For example, information is transmitted by speaking and received after processing by its inverse, hearing. This definition can be used to precisely describe and explain communication phenomena in an inclusive and exact manner. The nature of processes and their development is considered. Communication processes may support other processes, including non-communicative, evolutionarily adaptive processes supporting survival and reproduction. Communication is expected to develop in self-organizing systems, given certain assumptions. Receiving processes may be understood as information filters and their performance described, predicted, and understood. These precise definitions of communication and information can serve as the basis for a science of librarianship.

(pdf of full article.)