Brief introduction to mathematical theory of communication

An excellent and mercifuly brief introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Communication

Assistant Vice President for Partnerships in Strategic Defense Innnovation and Professor of Communication at Purdue University, Director of the FORCES initiative leads research teams that study the relationship between technological and social systems using big data, simulation, and mapping approaches. He published papers and articles in Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Information Society, National Interest, and Foreign Policy. He is the author or co-editor of several books. The most recent is Structural differentation in social media. He also co-edited Ethical Reasoning in Big Data,Transparency in social media and Roles, Trust, and Reputation in Social Media Knowledge Markets: Theory and Methods (Computational Social Sciences) , all three the product of the NSF funded KredibleNet project. Dr. Matei's teaching portfolio includes technology and strategy, online interaction, and digital media analytics classes. A former BBC World Service journalist, his contributions have been published in Esquire and several leading Romanian newspapers. In Romania, he is known for his books Boierii Mintii (The Mind Boyars), Idolii forului (Idols of the forum), and Idei de schimb (Spare ideas).

D. Lawson

July 7, 2010 at 10:18 pm
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My students tend to think I’m crazy when I introduce Shannon’s work as a ‘Mathematical Theory of Communication’ — particularly since many of them (and myself included) are studying communication because they have a better feel for words than numbers. While Krippendorff’s overview is clear, I admit that the mathematical aspects still put me off — I suppose some ‘number-phobes’ will always remain that way.
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