Research and Application of General Information Measures Based on a Unified Model

To enable comparisons among various information systems, it is necessary to establish general measures based on a unified model. This paper sets out four concise postulates about information, from which a unified information model is derived using axiomatic methods, which provide a theoretical foundation for developing a series of general information measures. By using volume, the most commonly used information measure, a formula is derived for the relationship between information and mass, energy, and time in closed systems. This formula can be used to analyze and optimize the power consumption requirements of information systems. Through eleven corollaries, the author also demonstrates that the proposed theory can express classical or commonly used principles in information science and technology for each type of measure. This finding suggests that a unified theoretical system that integrates many classical information principles can be constructed. Finally, the output information from some information systems is tested and evaluated, and the results show that the proposed general information measures can be used to support the design and evaluation of various information systems.