A metallic structure resembling a network of nodes and edges
A sculpture of information, or perhaps the internet?

Foundations of Information

by Amy J. Ko

1st edition

For several years, I’ve taught an introductory course on the intellectual foundations of information, which surveys the many ideas and fields that have something to say about information. Unable to find an introductory text, I wrote this book as a gateway into the topics of the course, providing a broad overview of major topics in information, and links into the deeper research and popular literature. Unlike a traditional book, this one will change, evolving as my knowledge and our collective knowledge about information grows.

I hope you enjoy! If not, please file an issue on the the book’s GitHub repository.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2031265. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Chapters

A black and white white photograph of a row of men reading newspapers on the sidewalkChapter 1

The power of information

Foundations

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A photograph of a newspaper with Trump’s mouth torn out.Chapter 2

The peril of information

Foundations

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A photograph of a wall of thousands of dusty old books.Chapter 3

Data, information, knowledge

Foundations

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A photograph of hieroglyphs at the Temple of Hathor, DenderaChapter 4

Data, encoding, and metadata

Foundations

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A photograph of a person staring at an Apple II green display.Chapter 5

Information technology

Foundations

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A screenshot of AOL showing a collection of stories, instant messaging, email, and more.Chapter 6

Information systems

Foundations

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A screenshot of the original Google homepageChapter 7

Seeking information

Foundations

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Two women look up to a wall of surveillance camerasChapter 8

Hiding information

Foundations

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A photograph of a person managing a calendar and to do list.Chapter 9

Managing information

Foundations

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A painting of the signing of the U.S. Constitution showing many White men signingChapter 10

Regulating information

Foundations

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A photograph of the King County District Court name change office.Chapter 11

Designing information

Foundations

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A photograph of two friends talking while swinging on a swing set.Chapter 12

Information + social

Domains

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A photograph of a scientist pipetting DNA samples into a tube to copy DNA.Chapter 13

Information + science

Domains

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A girl touching a robot’s hand in Japan.Chapter 14

Information + automation

Domains

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A black man gets a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine from a white womanChapter 15

Information + health

Domains

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A photo of Black Lives Matter protestors in front of the White House on May 31st, 2020.Chapter 16

Information + democracy

Domains

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A photograph of a glacier melting.Chapter 17

Information + sustainability

Domains

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Five people working at a table and whiteboard with sticky notes.Chapter 18

Information + careers

Domains

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References

Everything cited

Glossary

Definitions

Index

Common words and where they are

Search

Find where words occur

Media

Images and video in the book

Acknowledgements

Several have contributed minor corrections and improvements, including, alphabetical order, Kristin Bott, Luke Channings, Antoine Cheron, Matthew Conlen, Stuart Schechter, and Bojan Tosic.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0

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Citation

Amy J. Ko (2026). Foundations of Information. …, retrieved 9/7/2026.