ABSTRACT
In the rhetoric of the Information Age, communication and information are converging toward synonymous meanings. This chapter reviews definitions of information and communication that are important in the fields of information studies and communication studies. It examines the possible connections between the two sets of definitions, in order to determine if a possible overlap exists between them. Since communication researchers and information scientists tend to define communication and information as distinct phenomena, each field has focused on one phenomenon to the relative neglect of the other. The analysis of definitions offers insights into the characteristics of the basic phenomena studied in each field, and to the possibility for commonalities. Any effort to understand information faces incongruities with the world of material things that seem to have nothing to do with communication. The link between information and communication is so complex, that identifying it in the context of human actions presents a challenge.
