## 3 Information as Function  
In his popular book, _Being Digital_, published in 1995, [PERSON] famously set up a polar opposition between atoms and bits to illustrate the transition from print media and other material products (e.g., film, records, tapes, disks) to digital media [58]. In doing so, he implied that the two types of \"particles\" are in some way comparable, that matter and information are both different types of _substances_. But from the perspective of the physical sciences, the counterpart of matter is energy, and it would make more sense to contrast atoms with electrons (and photons), or with electricity and the electromagnetic spectrum. With this understanding, it becomes clear that media ecology scholars such as [PERSON] and [PERSON] were correct in identifying electrical energy, electric technology, and the electronic media as the key turning points in technological evolution [7,38], with digital technology simply being a further elaboration of the main shift.  
Understanding that energy is the appropriate equivalent to matter helps to clarify the fact that information represents another type of phenomenon altogether. We discuss information as if it were a substance, as something contained within and/or transmitted by a message or medium, and we do so as a matter of convenience. This kind of usage often is associated with popular and commonsense discourse, where the term itself is not subject to precise definition. A more nuanced approach would be to define information not as a substance, but as a _property_ of a substance, _i.e._, a property of a signal or message, or a property of a stimulus (which presupposes an organism that receives it) or a property of energy. Like other properties, such as weight and size, information can be measured, so this view is consistent with information theory, within which [PERSON] placed information into direct relationship with the measurement of entropy [2].  
From a communication theory perspective, though, information is best understood as a _function_, as a function of form (returning us to the earlier point of being in-_formation_), and therefore as one of various different functions of communication (e.g., to inform, to persuade, to educate, to entertain, _etc_. [59,60]) As a function, it also relates to purpose (the intent to inform, whether successful or not), and to effects (the effect of having been informed, whether that was intended or not). This process, then, is nested within the process of communication, which itself can be understood a function of a larger process, which can be referred to as _mediation_, by which I mean the function carried out by media, within a media environment [27]. The general function of communication, which includes the specific function of information, can be understood as part of an even more general function of mediation (which can occur among individuals and between individuals and their environments). In this way, understanding information helps us to frame communication and mediation as kindred concepts. Information, communication, and mediation represent three orders or levels of function, corresponding to information, message/content, and medium/relationship, each one a subset of the next.