Document as an Element of the Information Environment of Society

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Mazur L.N.,

Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Document as an Element of the Information Environment of Society

“A man is strictly forbidden to exist without documents”

(Mikhail Bulgakov “Heart of a Dog”)

Abstract

The article discusses issues concerning the redefining of the concept of document. The author proposes to regard it in the context of information communications as a variety of message created by writing technologies, and adapted for them. A. V. Sokolov, who considers the document from the point of view of communication processes, offers a promising approach to understanding document. On different historical stages there are different dominant forms of communication: oral communication in Antiquity, written messages / documents for civilization; electronic record / code for the information society. Thus, ‘message’ acts as a generic term and represents information coded with the use of various sign systems, which is intended to the addressee. Messages include requisites that serve as requisites and information support of messages and ensure communication efficiency. Selection and features of presentation/registration of requisites depend on information channels used in the message transmission. The article assesses a variety of the requisites and forms information support for the oral, written, electronic messages. The author underscores the continuity of requisites of the oral and written messages and their codification in a form of written document. Attempting to mechanically transfer a set of a written document requisites to a digital one present serious problems for the contemporary administrative communications. Digital communication environment changes the set of requisites and generates new ones. Thus, the document should be regarded as a part of the information environment of the writing oriented society and one of the communication forms.

Keywords

Document, information communications, message, requisites.

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About the authors

Masur Ljudmila Nikolaevna, PhD of History, head of the Department of document and information support of management of the B. N. Yeltsin Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You can read completely article in the russian historic-archival magazine “The Herald of an Archivist”. Read more about terms of subscription here.

Полностью материал публикуется в российском историко-архивоведческом журнале ВЕСТНИК АРХИВИСТА. Ознакомьтесь с условиями подписки здесь.