SIGN, SIGNAL, INFORMATION: the relations between the construction and transference of meaning

Abstract

The definition of the object of study of Information Science was, for a long time, based on the mathematical theory of the transmission of information, as a result of its pragmatic origin. However, on the basis of further studies, there was also a broadening of the concept of information which allowed for a confrontation and/or relation with concepts from other fields or disciplines. Thus, we seek to discuss the correlation between some aspects and concepts which intervene in the question of the nature of the communication process to which information is intimately linked, aiming at a better treatment and delimitation of the object. To that end, we use the Semiotic Theory of Pierce and, in particular, the notions of sign and signal and, finally, the relation between these two and the concept of information, comprehending the sign as that which presents the possibility of meaning, the signal without the least possibility and information as being a socially accepted and disseminated product of an artefact nature. The process of communication is seen here from the viewpoint of the ‘symbolic exchanges’ of Bourdieu.