In the Beginning was Information

smoother pebble or a prettier sea-shell than the ordinary, while thegreat ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me.”6. Comprehensibility c (subjective concept, concerns both thesender and the recipient): This factor describes the intelligibilityof information; when the information cannot be understood at all,c = 0, and c = 1 when it is completely understood. Both sides maybe at fault if all of the transmitted information does not reach therecipient. The sender might not have expressed himself clearlyenough, so that the recipient grasps the intended semantics onlypartially in spite of being highly intelligent, or the recipient maynot be intelligent enough to understand everything correctly. Themental alertness of the recipient is also important for another reason:Verbally formulated information (the explicit part) often containsimplicit information which has to be read “between thelines”. The recipient only receives this latter part by contemplationand having the required background knowledge.Note: Many of the above-mentioned factors cannot be distinguishedsharply and might overlap. The question of interlinkingbetween the six parameters is not discussed further at this stage; itmight be investigated in the future.123