ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses how information came to be conceptualized as an empirical phenomenon that can be observed and studied scientifically. Shannon and Weaver’s unifying vision of information is given special attention. It is shown how that vision was extended within the framework of cybernetics, which conceptualized communication as an information-processing mechanism generating purposeful behavior. Focusing on the role of the observer in communications, two waves of cybernetics are discussed: first-order cybernetics and second-order cybernetics. Also, information theory and communication theory are contrasted in terms of meaning, creativity, memory, measurement and materiality. The importance of information in communication is emphasized, for there is no message without information.
