| Figures | ix |
| Tables | xi |
| Acknowledgments | xiii |
| Introduction | xv |
1 | Describing Information | 1 |
| What Is an Information System? | 1 |
| What Is a System? | 1 |
| What Is Information? | 2 |
| Working Definitions of Information | 3 |
| Information Distortion | 7 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 11 |
2 | Representing Information | 12 |
| The Cumbersome Decimal System | 12 |
| The Simple Binary System | 14 |
| Converting Binary to Decimal and Back Again | 15 |
| The Hexadecimal System | 18 |
| Number Humor | 20 |
| How Did the Romans Deal with Fractions? | 21 |
| Prefix and Postfix Representation | 22 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 23 |
3 | Organizing Information | 25 |
| Fundamental Information Structures | 25 |
| Who Wants Short Sorts? | 33 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 36 |
4 | Retrieving Information | 39 |
| The Nature of Information Retrieval | 39 |
| Boolean and Beyond | 42 |
| Vector Methods (Simplified) | 47 |
| Fuzzy Information Retrieval | 50 |
| Inverted Files | 54 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 56 |
5 | Networking Information | 57 |
| Network Topologies | 57 |
| Bridges, Switches, Routers, and Gateways | 61 |
6 | Securing Information | 62 |
| Physical, Data, Server, Backup, and Network Security | 62 |
| First Line of Defense: The Lowly Password | 66 |
| Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, Logic Bombs, and Other Nasties | 68 |
| A Dangerous Script | 71 |
| Misdirection | 73 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 75 |
7 | Concealing Information | 76 |
| Codes and Ciphers | 76 |
| Key Issues | 79 |
| The Unbreakable One-Time Pad | 80 |
| Symmetric (One-Key) Cryptography | 81 |
| Asymmetric (Two-Key) Cryptography | 82 |
| The Secret History of Public Key Cryptography | 86 |
| Other Cryptographic Systems | 87 |
| Steganography: Hiding Information in Plain Sight | 89 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 90 |
8 | Measuring Information | 92 |
| Bibliometrics: Measuring the Printed Word | 92 |
| Sabermetrics: Measuring Baseball Information | 96 |
| Web Metrics | 101 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 102 |
9 | Counting Information | 105 |
| Counting Tools | 105 |
| Counting Methods | 108 |
| Counting Things | 111 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 133 |
10 | Numbering Information | 138 |
| Prime Cuts | 138 |
| The Intriguing Nature of Pi | 142 |
| Pascal's Triangle | 147 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 149 |
11 | Managing Information | 150 |
| Characteristics of a Successful Information System | 150 |
| Building a Successful Information System | 152 |
| Why Things Go Wrong | 154 |
| Costs and Risks | 155 |
12 | The Computer as an Information System | 157 |
| How Big Is an Exabyte? | 157 |
| Data Compression: Reducing Redundancy | 158 |
| Information Issues in the Background | 160 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 161 |
13 | The Internet as an Information System | 163 |
| Basics of Internet Protocol Addressing | 163 |
| Addressing Schemes | 165 |
| The Internet Metaphor Project | 168 |
| Is Internet Access a Privilege or a Right? | 172 |
| Other Internet Issues | 175 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 177 |
14 | Music as an Information System | 179 |
| The Nature of Music and Sound | 179 |
| Tuning Information Systems | 181 |
| How Many Tones Belong in a Scale? | 184 |
| Making Cents of It All | 185 |
| Melody Machines | 186 |
| Fundamentals of Music Information Retrieval | 188 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 195 |
15 | Interpreting Information: Numbers as Meanings | 197 |
| Gematria | 197 |
| The Numerology of 666 | 203 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 206 |
16 | Counterintuitive Information | 207 |
| Not Quite Paradoxes | 207 |
| The Trouble with Infinity | 214 |
| Exercises and Research Questions | 218 |
| Appendixes | |
A | Which Librarian Has the Server? | 219 |
B | The Square Root of Two Is Irrational | 220 |
C | Who's on First? | 222 |
| Answers to Selected Exercises | 229 |
| References | 237 |
| Index | 247 |