1.3 Information

What is information

Information is processed, organized and structured data. It provides context for data and enables decision making.

• → Data, Information, knowledge, understanding, insight, wisdom

Interconnections in systems operate through the flow of information. Donnella

information is always biased because of it being delivered wrapped up in a certain context and stored based on personal established patterns of sense making

information is perceived, processed against established (baysian curves) patterns and (providing model evidence or not) and helps creating patterns for future recognitions (Friston)

Source, message, receiver (Shannon)

• 12 leverage points: information flow transparency

How does information propagate through the network? High traffic hubs, small world network (LIMITED RESOURCES)

• Dopamine is a chemical that makes people seek… food, sex, information. Learning is dopaminergic—we can't help but want more information. Curiosity is existential feature of inteligence, cognition, active inference,

Learning is agent’s key activity that helps with the creation of value and the conservation of resources over long periods of time and with multiple agents at the same time. Learning can be seen as an acquisition and continual evidencing of a world model according to which the agent can acquire certain outcomes with minimum amount of uncertainty or errors, as proposed by prof. Karl Friston in Active Inference model. These learnings include individual and group norms of behaviour. In the social setting, we’d call them cultural norms and shared narratives.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Mark Twain

1.3.1 Carriers of Information

Agent in the world receives information through multiple channels: language, images, physical objects, symbols, metaphors, music, aestethics, body motions, behaviours, emotions, etc. and process it within the current context and previously formed cognitive patterns (world model) which allows agent to extract meaning from the newly received information (In the same manner the information can also be stored in those channels for the later retrieval?)

The Gestalt psychologists’ profound insight was that our perception is grounded in wholes, and that the parts of perception are often results of “filling in” by virtue of the form of the whole.

1.3.2 Relevance of Information (Attention issue)

Agents in a system are continuously exposed to massive amount of information (also known as salience landscape) of which some is relevant (signal) and many more not (noise). Relevance of information for the agent does not always correspond to intensity of the cognitive or emotional reception of the information by the agent, which can lead to pollution of the agent’s information space.

Since the agent has limited bandwidth for information digestion and sometimes low discernment of information relevance, your designs should strive to present only information relevant to the agent in certain context and organize it so that the core of the information can be digested easily and quickly.

anti - Disrespect agent’s limited information processing bandwidth and their purpose in the larger systems and offer plenty of non-relevant information that hijacks their attention and give them short term satisfaction.

What is the bandwith of human perception? 2/3 of that is just to processes someone speaking, 1/3 is left for others. So multitasking is none existent in reality. Again, where is your attention?

This is the core of designer’s skills communication or UX /UI

steering attention to relevant info, to value creation and away from losing energy from non-relevant info

Problem of salience (landscape) what is salient vs what is relevant

First Understanding what is relevant for an agent in the context, then using Information Carriers to communicate the relevant information

1.3.3 Timing

Kairos is a concept from ancient Greek philosophy that refers to the opportune moment. In this context we’ll discuss opportune moment to deliver or to receive information or taking action. It is often contrasted with chronos, which refers to linear or chronological time.

Jokes, punchline

Kairos is considered to be important for delivering information because it involves understanding the context and timing of the information, and ensuring that it is delivered at the right moment in order to have the maximum impact and effectiveness. This can involve a number of different factors, such as the audience's needs, interests, and attention span, as well as the relevance and timeliness of the information.

Especially important in habit forming

Setting affordances in environment for when the extrinsic or intrinsic triggers appear

Kronos combined with ease of use/consume info leads to better engagement

To deliver information effectively using kairos, the presenter or communicator must have a deep understanding of the audience and the context in which the information will be delivered. This can involve conducting research, gathering feedback, and using other forms of assessment to determine the audience's needs, interests, and preferences.

Additionally, the presenter must be skilled at using various techniques to engage the audience and to make the information more relevant and meaningful. This can involve using storytelling, examples, and other engaging techniques to capture and hold the audience's attention, and to make the information more memorable and applicable.

Progressive Disclosure

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It is existentially important for an agent to continue learning and to be curious, examining new information and comparing it to an existing model she might have, as well as to be humble in her confidence about that model. Models are just representations of aspects of reality, they are all false (including this one), but some are useful. Sometimes.