Information Space

Information space denotes the set of concepts and relations among them held by an information system [Newby, 2001]; it describes the range of possible values or meanings an entity can have under the given rules and circumstances.

Information spaces surround us. When we retrieve a file from our computer, we are browsing through an information space; when we use a search engine we are sifting through an information space; and when we visit a website we are moving through yet another information space.

[Withrow, 2004]

Information space refers to the body of information with which an actor [user] is interacting to perform an activity. The types of complex activities in which actors engage often require access to information from multiple domains. For example, an analyst may require demographic, historic, financial, and geographic information to make decisions regarding the distribution of resources...the term information space refers to a body of information that contains any combination of entities, properties, or relationships—whether concrete, abstract, large, small, visible, or invisible, and from any possible combination of domains—with which actors access and interact...to perform cognitive activities.

[Parsons & Sedig, 2014]

References

• [Newby, 2001]: G. Newby, Cognitive Space and Information Space, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2001.
• [Withrow, 2004]: Jason Withrow, Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space Washtenaw Community College, August 2004.
• [Parsons & Sedig, 2014]: P. Parsons & K. Sedig, "Adjustable Properties of Visual Representations: Improving the Quality of Human-Information Interaction", Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 65(3), 455–482, 2014. [1]