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[[File:HOT word in sand.jpg|thumb|200px|"HOT" escrito en la arena. Alguien dejó esta información en la arena con un propósito.]]
'''Información''' es un término derivado probablemente de la raíz {{Nombre Latino|information-}} que a su vez se deriva del verbo [[latino]] {{Latin Name2|informare}} meaning "to give form to the mind", "to discipline", "instruct", "teach".Information is generally understood as knowledge or facts that one has acquired, but in some areas of science, information can have slightly different definitions, although we do not have a precise definition of '''information''', of what is or what is not information.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ime.usp.br/~is/ddt/mac333/aulas/tema-11-24mai99.html|title=MAC 333 - A Revolução Digital e a Sociedade do Conhecimento - Tema 11 - O que é Informação? Como ela age?|author=Simon, Imre|trans_title=MAC 333 - The Digital Revolution and the Knowledge Society - Track 11 - What is Information? How it works?|accessdate=July 31, 2013}}</ref><ref group=note>[[Wikipedia:Imre Simon|Dr. Imre Simon]], who made this reference, was a well-known Hungarian-born Brazilian mathematician and computer scientist.</ref> What we have is rather a vague and intuitive notion.
The word "information" is used in many ways. We mentioned the lay person's sense above, but it is also used of a sequence of symbols (such as letters of a language (see picture at right), dots and dashes of Morse code, or the arrangement of the bumps of Braille) that convey meaning.