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A representation is a particular area of information that stands or substitutes for another area of information (or for an area of matter and/or energy) in function or thought or both. A representation can substitute for another representation of completely different substance. It can facillitate information processing activities like recognition and interpretation even if the person or mechanism involved in those activities is not aware of its existence. For instance: this webpage is represented by different codes that allow you to see the page as you do, even though you don't see the codes displayed on your computer screen. The coded information stands for the ideas that provide the content for the webpage. Its function is to instruct the computer's internal circuitry to produce an arrangement of differently colored light-emitting pixels on your computer screen. The image you see when you look at a photograph of an orchid can be a representation of visual features of that orchid, and also a representation in thought because the image exists in your mind. represent -- 1a. To stand for; symbolize: The bald eagle represents the United States. b.To indicate or communicate by signs or symbols: Letters of the alphabet represent sounds. 2a. To depict in art, portray. b. To describe or present in words; set forth. 3. To present clearly to the mind. 4. To draw attention to by way of remonstrance or protest: Our parents represented to us the need for greater caution. 5. To describe or put forward (a person or thing) as an embodiment of a specified quality. 6a. To serve as the official and authorized delegate or agent for. b. To act as a spokesperson for. 7. To serve as an example of: The museum had several paintings representing the artist's early style.8. To be the equivalent of. 9a. To stage (a play, for example); produce. b. to act the part or role of. http://www.bartleby.com/61/36/R0163600.html representation 1. The act of representing or the state of being represented. 2. Something that represents; as: a. An image or likeness of something. b. An account or statement, as of facts, allegations, or arguments. c. An expostulation; a protest d. A presentation or production, as of a play...7. Mathematics A homomorphism from an algebraic system to a similar system of matrices. http://www.bartleby.com/61/37/R0163700.html Several representations of the same object can exist simultaneously at a unique moment, or over the same interval of time. But individual representations may also come into and pass from existence at unique instances, and a representation may have a unique interval of duration. The same discrete source of information can be represented by any number different organizations of matter and/or energy, at the same time, or at different times. What marks a particular representation in space and time or makes it important is when that particular source of information is represented, and that representation travels and is transformed into subesquent representations that, when they are received, are recognized as representations or derivitives of the original source of information. Suppose a picture of Madonna is a representation of Madonna. Some time after this representation is created, a person looks at it. By interacting with that representation, new representations are created; specifically a new representation of Madonna is created in thought as an idea. The new representation was created at a different time than the picture of Madonna was created, yet the representation of Madonna also exists at the same time as the new representation, and longer, as the idea is discarded for new thoughts. A representation could be almost anything-- so it's as important to consider how the relationship between representing and represented is held together as it is to consider what is reprsenting and what is being represented. Determining whether information is a representation depends largely on the conditions that govern its existence. For instance, a tree may be a source of information, but it is not a representation unless it stands or substitutes for something else-- like anarchy or the ideal tree. This does not mean a tree can't be a representation for something, just that it is not a representation under the present conditions, which designate what stands or substitutes for anarchy, the ideal tree, or any other thing the tree might represent. Representations exist and can be created, transmitted, and transformed within a system comprised of all the matter and energy involved in a communication, such as an observation or an interpretation. (In a system with a human audience?) Representations can exist physically and in thought, and a communication system can contain both kinds of representations simultaneously. Concrete representations are the actual, tangible carriers of information; abstract representations are carriers of significance and meaning that we experience with our minds-- not through direct physical sensation. A representation is most accurately described as it exists by itself, in terms of its relationship to other matter, energy, or information. No representation, or any other information, can actually exist in a unchanging, indeterminate present, totally unaffected by surrounding matter or energy. However, it's common to conceptualize a representation as a complete and independent entity. A person can't seem to consciously keep track of the individual different behaviors of several areas of information at once-- she has to focus her attention on one at a time. However, separating a representation from its context also removes it from the situation that influences how it exists, so a person's conceptualization is incomplete and not totally accurate. |