Information, cyberspace and consciousness

• Autor(a) principal: Ribeiro Gonçalves da SILVA, Rubens
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Transinformação (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/transinfo/article/view/6341
• topic: Ciência da Informação; ciberespaço; consciência; digitalização; epistemologia; informação; Information Science; cyberspace; consciousness; digitalization; epistemology; information

This article presents a theoretic-philosophical conception based on a dialectical methodological approach. Departing from the Platonic ‘cave allegory’, it elaborates a reflection about the changes brought about by the use and dissemination of computers connected to the cyberspace.. It also proposes that the concept of information adopted in Information Science be primarily defined as a process, not as a product. Based on the Marxian thesis of consciousness, the author suggests linking the categories of ‘knowledge’ and ‘action’ to the proposedconcept. The adopted point of view is neither focused on the product, nor on the phenomenon or the object: it is rather oriented to the purposes, in such extent that the concept itself is defined according to the social needs that must be attended to. In the conclusion, the author argues that, at the digital universe, the expression‘information representation’ should not be adopted as a substitute to the term ‘information. Two new categories are presented to support the argument: the ‘dimension’, related to digital informational contents, and the ‘instance’, related to technologies of digital remote access.