Information theory and its detractors
Information theory and its detractors
This chapter offers a short overview of the various ways information theory, as initially formulated by Claude Shannon, has both influenced the study of digital culture and often been pitted against humanities-oriented approaches that claim to better account for the materiality and contextual specificity of communication. Indeed, information theory has long been historicized within the humanities as a fundamentally misguided method, the errors of which have thankfully been rectified by subsequent theories. Yet it is suggested in this chapter that these purported errors are less the product of Shannon himself and more that of its initial champion and popularizer Warren Weaver, who expanded the theory’s ambit contrary to the former’s wishes, and that they reflect, more than anything else, a mode of intellectual and professional comportment fundamentally distinct from that evident in the materialist historicism of many humanities scholars.
Sutherland, Thomas
a9a8e23c-232e-47ca-9be6-abeac690bfb2
Sutherland, Thomas
a9a8e23c-232e-47ca-9be6-abeac690bfb2
Sutherland, Thomas
(2025)
Information theory and its detractors.
In,
Bollmer, Grant, Guinness, Katherine and Soncul, Yiğit
(eds.)
Handbook of Digital Cultures.
De Gruyter.
(In Press)
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
This chapter offers a short overview of the various ways information theory, as initially formulated by Claude Shannon, has both influenced the study of digital culture and often been pitted against humanities-oriented approaches that claim to better account for the materiality and contextual specificity of communication. Indeed, information theory has long been historicized within the humanities as a fundamentally misguided method, the errors of which have thankfully been rectified by subsequent theories. Yet it is suggested in this chapter that these purported errors are less the product of Shannon himself and more that of its initial champion and popularizer Warren Weaver, who expanded the theory’s ambit contrary to the former’s wishes, and that they reflect, more than anything else, a mode of intellectual and professional comportment fundamentally distinct from that evident in the materialist historicism of many humanities scholars.
Text
18_Sutherland_InformationTheory revised
- Proof
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 January 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498840
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498840
PURE UUID: c01ff99f-2880-468f-b608-6da0cb8df247
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Mar 2025 18:15
Last modified: 17 May 2025 02:28
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Thomas Sutherland
Editor:
Grant Bollmer
Editor:
Katherine Guinness
Editor:
Yiğit Soncul
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics