Information: phenomenon and research subject in the contemporary society

Abstract

The information study has fundamental importance in contemporary culture, being a subject in several areas of knowledge. However, each discipline must identify in this phenomenon its specific subject, so that a comprehensive activity about it come to replace the largely accepted mechanical and functionalist explanation, which often has brought about more inaccuracies and doubts than solutions. This article aims at discussing not only the role of Information Science in the context of other disciplines that are being constituted, but also, its social-political and economic relevance. It emphasizes the importance of the
concept elaboration, for a better understanding of its subject and for proposing comprehensive alternatives of the phenomenon. It concludes that comprehension
does not take place at the ample level of the general phenomenon, which is present in all fields of knowledge. Instead, comprehension requires delimitation of the context in which a piece of information is being perceived as a value and
as a producer of value. Then, the simplified and fragmented aspects that characterize it will be analyzed and consecutively replaced, through a method that considers the information complexities.