The word “information” has become a watered-down cliché that is being used in a vast array of contexts and forms. Information makes most people think of education, openness and guidance, but it is also frequently confused with knowledge. Information is something we can analyze or compute, but it’s only when information is assimilated or absorbed that it becomes knowledge.
                   Information is one of the most used – and misunderstood – words of our time. In order to make something sound new and trendy, countless words are made up which are derived from, or combined with, the word “information”: Information society, -analysis, -age, -technology, -consultant, -bearing, -sign, -campaign, -package, -delivery, - material or information system.
                   But how does one explain the concept of information? In some scientific circles everything that can be registered by our senses or by instruments of measurement is considered information. Eating a slice of freshly baked bread can be a sensuous and intuitive experience, while the recipe for the bread might be regarded as information. Dancing can be transformed into information describing a particular type of dance. A beautiful sunset can be converted into a description of the color of the sun and its position on the horizon. A picture can be broken down into a series of colored spots, arranged according to different sets of coordinates.
                   Information, in other words, can be seen as formalization of a phenomenon and also as a possible way of reconstructing the phenomenon.
                   The first time you cook, you might need a cookbook. As your skills improve, you begin to know the nature of the ingredients. Then you can put the cookbook back on the shelf and rely on your intuition. Once you’re using your intuition, you can make extraordinary things happen, just like when a well-trained musician begins adding his own style and soul to the music – something that is not written down, but found between the notes. So information can lead us to a certain level in our lives, but it won’t make us reach the peak.
Information can help us have an experience, but it can also be used as a substitute for an experience. Some years ago I attended a class in interpersonal communication. The teacher started by writing some numbers on the blackboard. One number quantified the importance of body language, one the importance of articulation, and one the importance of the actual words uttered. The students wrote down the numbers and made sounds of surprise about the great importance of body language as opposed to that of words. The teacher had provided the students with information. Then he proceeded to the next subject. There was no roll playing or exercises dealing with dialogue, rhetoric or body language. Thus it was practically impossible to gain insight into what communication actually is all about. If a teaching concept is based on showing a series of numbers to a group of students, it will never be more than an exercise in memorization – while maintaining the illusion that the teacher has taught and the students have learned. In this way, information can be given and received without anyone having any understanding regarding its validity. Modern teaching is too often based on filling the pupils’ heads with meaningless information, simply so they can recall it at an examination. In that way, information can all too easily end up becoming misinformation.