The reading for this week was more complex and filled with more terminology that I had to research and read over the text. However, doing this made the reading somewhat understandable. I loved the analogy in the beginning that compared information data to a man whose car battery is flat, it helped make the text understandable. Information is broken down into data and meaning and when the data is put together it created information that is understandable and transferable. If information is erased or gotten rid of, we would have a blank page or silence that still amounts to data.

The universe is based on both digital and analog ideas based on experiences and data that are collected over some time. Analog computers use phenomena and experiences to do calculations that can be used to monitor and control events. It differs from digital data which is based on the combination of the bits and number 3 written in 11 in binary notation. A bit is the smallest unit of information and a byte is made up of 128 characters. Chapter 2 also speaks on the different types of data or information. There is primary which is an information management station, there is operational data which is information about the dynamics of an informational system. Environmental which is data that is independent and meaningful from an informer, and instructional which can be either semantic or environmental. This information cannot be identified as completely as either true or false.

Chapter 3 speaks on the transformation of information and its quantification into simple data. This makes the information able to be transferred with both verbal explanations and pictures to show the same message. It is not dependent on noise and ensured that the information directly transfers from the speaker to the receiver. The author then goes back to the point made in Chapter 2 that “information without meaning is data” and that the mathematical theory of data communication is a better representation and understanding of Information.

After completing the reading I tackled the Mapping Excercise, and since my flight prevented me from actually attending the campus in person, I used my previous knowledge of the campus to create the map. Although the exercise said to do your department space, I briefly created maps of the Academic and Namm Buildings as well, because I spend time in each of those buildings. In the academic building, I just highlighted the space where there are events, the auditorium where we also have events, then the gym, and finally, the seating area on the third floor where I go sometimes to study. In the Namm I just highlighted both cafeterias, the student help desk, the library, and the open space outside the cafeteria on the 1st floor. Then I broke down the Pearl building however, some COMD classes are taken on the 11th floor of the Namm Building.