From data to information and on to actionable knowledge - the authors present in this seminal work an eminently scientific approach for an effective design for processing information.Applications in information processing, of such concepts as evolution, semiotics, entropy, complexity, emergence, crisis, and chaos theory are presented to show their relevance to effective crisis management. The authors show how to evaluate and share information to avoid a disaster rather than simply respond to it. In fact the book highlights the question : Why do organizations continue to fail to process available information optimally to evade conditions related to impending crisis?The book is useful as a text for courses in Information Systems and Corporate Management. On the practical side, it is an ideal book for study and reference for those who deal in law enforcement, officers in defence organizations, national infrastructure protection and industrial security. In short, it is for all who seek better ways to gather, manage, and share information. Provides practical guidelines for the information manager dealing with situations where the mishandling of even small bits of information can have large consequences.Contents:Figures.PrefaceAcknowledgments.1. Introduction. 2. Organizations of Information: Semantics, Cybernetics, Entropy, and Signals. 3. Information Forms and Dependence. 4. Evolutionary Dimension of Information Processing: Semiotics. 5. Spatial Dimension of Information Processing: Coupling, Cohesion, and Chaos. 6. Temporal Dimension of Information Processing: Emergence. 7. Information Processing, Complexity, and Crises. 8. Barriers to Optimal Information Processing. 9. Setting up the Organization for Optimal Information Processing. 10. Recap and Real Time. 11. The Future of Information Processing.