从广义上来说,信息是资料、数据、情报等一切消息的总称。前工业时代,信息量小且掌握在少数人手中;工业时代,信息量大了也掌握在较多的人手中了;后工业时代,信息量猛增且被最大数量的人所掌握,所以,人们也把这一时代称作信息时代。信息咨询业是在工业时代产生的。随着纸张、印刷术的进步,报纸、杂志、电台、电视台的出现,使人类开始为信息量的过 In a broad sense, information is a general term for all information, data, intelligence and other information. In the pre-industrial era, the amount of information was small and controlled by the hands of a few people. In the industrial age, the amount of information was also controlled by more people. In the post-industrial era, the amount of information soared and was mastered by the largest number of people. People also refer to this era as the information age. Information consulting industry was born in the industrial age. With the progress of paper and printing, the advent of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations has led mankind to start