In our computerized age, the concept of information occupies a special place in society. The parameters used at the present stage of human development for the classification of information resources are very diverse. That is why there are several types of separation of information data into classes and groups. However, in general terms, the classification of world information resources for any method of their separation is almost the same. The difference can consist only in some conditional criteria, when some types of information resources (IR) can be assigned to a certain group according to subjective criteria.
The concept of information resources and their classification (main types)
If you look at the concept of information or information resources in the broadest interpretation of these terms, they can be described as some information about the world around it, processes occurring in it, people, objects, events, phenomena, facts, etc., regardless of the form of presentation, received by a person with subsequent display in his mind.
Based on this, it is customary to consider information resources as arrays of documents or separately taken documents that are stored in appropriate systems (data banks, the Internet, libraries, funds, archives, communication channels, etc.).
The classification of information resources is carried out using some basic criteria or features that allow dividing information technology into several large classes, and first of all, according to the degree of accessibility: open (public), closed (with limited access), personal information. But the separation of IR into the main types is not limited only to these criteria.
Types of information resources and their classification
In a more expanded version, the division into groups can be made taking into account additional criteria. And first of all, it should be noted that at the present stage of the development of society, the concept of information, or IR, is inextricably linked with documentation (this is the so-called documented information). It is understood that information of any type is recorded or stored on a specific type of medium (print, computer media, servers, communication channels, etc.).
In addition, such parameters are separately used to classify information resources, such as dividing them into stationary and mobile.
The main directions in the classification of IR
If we talk about the main directions in the division of IR into classes according to some criteria, you can find quite a lot of different ideas.
However, among all those signs by which information resources are classified, the most basic ones can be distinguished:
- by source of creation;
- by degree of access;
- for the intended purpose;
- by way of presentation and type of media;
- by form of ownership;
- according to the method of organization and storage;
- in content;
- on linguistic and national-territorial or geographical grounds;
- by level of competency, etc.
The largest class among all is the attribute of content. This will be discussed separately. Consider the remaining sections.
Among the sources of creation of IR distinguish between primary and secondary. This also includes the division into legal and non-legal (undocumented) information that remains outside the field of regulation from the point of view of legal norms.
In a separation based on access, this may be public or private information with limited access (for example, state, official, commercial secret or personal data).
In the intended purpose, the following information resources are most often allocated:
- personal
- corporate;
- business resources;
- MEDIA;
- political;
- educational;
- cultural;
- resources of organizations and institutions;
- services and facilities;
- entertainment;
- sport;
- relaxation;
- message boards;
- software and multimedia storages, etc.
Now let's see what parameters are used to classify information resources by presentation method.
As a rule, this includes the concepts of hard copies (books, newspapers, magazines, typewritten documents), magnetic and electronic (digital) media (audio and video recordings, photo and film film, CDs, removable memory devices, computer hard drives) and tools communications (radio, TV, network).
Among the forms of ownership are private (personal, corporate), state and municipal, federal, joint (collective), national property.
In the sense of organization and storage, the classification of information resources is partially related to the types of media (print media and digital media), and also provides for the concepts of libraries, collections, archives, databases, arrays of documents and automated forms.
With the national-territorial affiliation, everything seems to be clear, but in terms of the degree of competence, the separation is made on the basis of orientation to the mass or professional user.
Types of subjects in the concept of IR
As for the subjects of IR, there are three main types:
- citizens of states or stateless persons;
- Organization
- state authorities of any level.
Content Classification
Consider the largest section of the distribution of information technology - by content - as an example of the classification of information resources by a given criterion. In general, it includes the following large groups:
- thematic and scientific publications;
- reference Information;
- advertising;
- news;
- bibliographic publications.
If you look at these aspects somewhat more broadly, one more division can be given as an example:
- business information (economics, finance, commerce, business, statistics);
- socio-political and legal information;
- scientific and technical information;
- consumer and other mass information;
- electronic transactions;
- computer engineering and communications.
Naturally, any classification of information resources proposed today for the distribution of information technology according to individual characteristics may differ from another similar to it. However, at the moment we are more interested in electronic information.
The main types of electronic information
The classification of information resources (computer science directly points to this) in the most general case implies two main types of information technology according to the criterion of use:
- online - direct access to documents on servers through the network;
- offline - the use of documents, databases or their fragments in the form of copies of primary information from a server stored on an electronic medium.
In a sense, the classification of electronic information is somewhat similar to the separation according to content, but in addition there is a section of the software market:
- commercial software;
- freeware (freeware), including open source products (GNU GPL license);
- shareware software.
As a further addition, some sources indicate the information services sector.
The concept of an electronic document
A document of this type in most cases refers to documented information presented in electronic form, for the perception of which electronic computer systems are used, and for transmission, communication and network tools.
Information of this type can be represented in the form of separate files, databases and arrays or automated systems. In addition, of particular importance is the legal aspect of the legitimate use of certain documents, certification and certification of systems, as well as the protection of information of any level of access and type.
Internet classification of information
The classification of electronic information resources would be completely incomplete if Internet issues were not addressed, since today most electronic documents are available there.
Here are a few basic criteria:
- presentation form (web pages, information and file servers, databases, newsgroups);
- linguistic and territorial characteristic;
- content, etc.
Types of Internet Resources
Types and classification of informational educational resources in the educational process are considered in sufficient detail. However, some additions can be cited, including the concept of additional types of Internet resources in the distribution of IR into classes .
As a rule, the following are distinguished among the criteria:
- completeness and functional content;
- principle of user interaction (informative, interactive);
- degree of accessibility.
In the content part, the sites are divided into business cards (concise pages with basic information), blogs (personal pages), promotion sites (advertising of goods and services), electronic stores and services, information sites with a specific theme, web portals (large resources or the Internet -communities), corporate representations (systems for automating the activities of companies), enterprise management systems integrated into the Internet and Intranet (external and internal networks).
When interacting with the user, one can distinguish such types of information technology as information (online publications, media, television, radio), applied (online libraries and databases, software repositories with the ability to download, search engines), direct communication (social networks, Internet communities), entertainment (games, music, videos, jokes, etc.), commercial (sites with paid services and online stores), presentation IR advertising.
If we talk about the degree of accessibility, this criterion allows you to divide IR into public (open to all users, without exception), intranet (only employees of an organization within the intranet have access), extra-network (located on the Internet, but access has a limited circle of users )
Information Services
Finally, it is worth mentioning separately about information services. First of all, in this category there are services for searching and processing information, issuing, upon request, documents of any type and storing information.
The second most important section is the provision of services for the use of the Internet, database and AIS, for access to the Internet or networks and the transfer of information, as well as for the use of e-mail and hosting (the formation of personal pages).
IR protection
And, of course, any IR should be protected at the highest level, and absolutely no matter what type they belong to, and regardless of the medium on which they are stored.
In addition, protection can be understood as the legal aspect (copyright, legislation, licensing, certification), and software in the form of antiviruses or firewalls (firewalls - software or "iron"), cryptographic technologies for encrypting data or connections, etc. .
Conclusion
As can be seen from the foregoing, there are a lot of classifications of information resources, especially if you take into account the huge number of all kinds of criteria that can be applied in each case. It goes without saying that some conditional divisions of IR into the corresponding classes in different cases may not coincide. Nevertheless, in general terms, they are all very similar and have much in common. Finally, for the most part, all the classes of IR are closely interrelated, and only a small part of everything that can be considered if one concretizes a certain type of IR was given here.