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When a person interprets something-- like a picture, music, or conversation-- new significant information is created. Assume that the meaning of a thing, like a fashion picture in Vogue magazine, incorporates particular significant interpretations of that thing into a generalized significance. For instance, the meaning of a fashion picture could be "this (the information presented by this picture) is fashionable this season". This generalized significance is shared by and accessible to every interpreter familiar with fashion magazines. If a person interprets a selection of information, and that interpretation conforms or contributes to the selection's general significance, then the interpretation is meaningful.
The information produced as the picture and its viewer interact has unique characteristics; however, there are also characteristics it shares with all other information. If information, significance, and meaning are clearly and generally defined, a person can discuss individual manifestations of each term in ways that can be commonly understood, differentiated, and compared by anyone who understands and agrees to the terms of the general definitions. In other words, a physicist, an artist, and a doctor would use the same general standards
to decide what was informative, significant, or meaningful.
I'm curious to know how significance and meaning come to exist, and how a particular interpretation can be meaningful.
If I can come up with reasonable, general explanations for what significance and meaning are, I might be able to say how meaning can be described for a specific situation. For instance, I might be able to say how an individual interpretation of a fashion picture, or another source of information, is meaningful.
In this webpage, I'll examine the information and communications that engender significance and meaning. I'll provide a definition of information from the Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems, define information myself, and discuss the circumstances under which it can exist and be described. Then I'll speculate about the natures of significance and meaning. My goal is to create descriptions of information, significance, and meaning that can be used to define, discuss and compare the individual products of any particular interpretation. next page | " how information exists " |