(In)formation

This year I have been teaching on the BA Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. I am the platform leader on the Information & Systems platform so have been thinking a lot about the subject, here are some initial thoughts on the matter:

Information overload! Bandwidth, 4G, Wifi, connectivity, data… Information consumption. How much information does one consume each day? Both actively or passively? What is the RDA (recommended daily allowance)?

What in fact is information? What do you understand it to be? Where is it? What is it? What form does it take? When does it cease to be? Does it, or can it die? Or how is it born? Who makes it? How is it made? How is it understood? What format does it take? How is it transmitted? Or communicated? or distributed? or translated? How is it understood? articulated? expressed? consumed? Is it changeable? Can it adapt? Be remixed? represented? Can it be owned? or original for that matter?

And systems? What are systems? How do they operate? what are the mechanics of the system? It’s function? or purpose? what is the flow? or process? the approach? What is the language? Code? Encryption? The Material? What are the constraints? The parameters? How is the structure constructed? Is it intuitive? Systematic? Ordered? or chaotic? Does it work? How could it be improved? What is the context?

Information & systems are mutually inclusive, or mutually entwined. How do we engage? use? shape them? or them shape us? Think programmes or Vilém Flusser’s meta-programmes? Unearth all information & systems. Understand relationships and connections…

I arrived at the following statement / tongue-twister that summarised my thinking, and was formed from words within the word 'information':

A form in formation form(s) information

It seemed to make sense at the time, although I felt it needed to be re-contained within the word: