According to Luciano Floridi, four kinds of mutually compatible phenomena are commonly referred to as "information": - Information about something (e.g. a train timetable) - Information as something (e.g. DNA, or fingerprints) - Information for something (e.g. algorithms or instructions) - Information in something (e.g. a pattern or a constraint).

The word "information" is commonly used so metaphorically or so abstractly that the meaning is unclear.