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A Model for Applying Information and Utility Functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

David Harrah
David Harrah*
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside, Calif
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Abstract

If the currently available theories of semantic information and utility-expectation are to be applied in a satisfactory way, they must be combined with a message-processing procedure. This paper presents a model of communication within which such a procedure can be defined. In this model the sender's messages arrive over a period of time, the receiver can reject some messages and retain others, the receiver can change his mind in various ways, and the receiver can apply various evaluation functions to a “usable message total”. As one example of message-evaluation, a system for evaluating news-value is presented.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , July 1963 , pp. 267 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1963

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References

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