The concept of information in the documentation and information science fields
Information Literacy in Higher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective, Springer International Publishing, Cham, (2020)DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-50014-6_2
Abstract
In this chapter the main approaches to the concept of information are presented, as they have been set forth in the documentation and information science fields from the middle to the late twentieth century. To explain them, several authors have grouped them into three paradigms—physical or systems-oriented, subjective or cognitive, and socio-cognitive—which we will describe, focusing on the main representatives of each. Finally, we argue that the socio-cognitive paradigm, with its emphasis on the social context of information practices (beliefs, assumptions, behaviors, and evaluations, among others), provides the best epistemological framework for understanding the research on information literacy in higher education.