Edition.ENCYCLOPAeDIA BRITANNICA. 14th Edition.
revised 14th 1933–1973
24 volumes
Began continuous revision in 1936: every article revised at least twice every decade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica
1963年版のEncyclopædia Britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge,第12巻の350ページの記述
One of the most prominent features of 20th-century technology is the development and exploitation of new communication mediums.
Concurrent with the growth of devices for transmitting and processing information, a unifying theory was developed and became the subject of intensive research.
This theory, known as communication theory, or, in its broader applications, information theory, is concerned with the discovery of mathematical laws governing systems designed to communicate or manipulate information. It sets up quantitative measures of information and of the capacity of various systems to transmit, store and otherwise process information.
Some of the problems treated relate to finding the best methods of utilizing various available communication systems, the best methods of separating signals from noise and the problem of setting upper bounds on what it is possible to do with a given channel. While the central results are chiefly of interest to communication engineers, some of the concepts have been adopted and found useful in such fields as psychology and linguistics.
Information is interpreted in its broadest sense to include the messages occurring in any of the standard communication mediums such as telegraphy, radio or television, the signals involved in electronic computing machines, servomechanism systems and other data-processing devices, and even the signals appearing in the nerve networks of animals and man. The signals or messages need not be meaningful in any ordinary sense. This theory, then, is quite different from classical communication engineering theory, which deals with the devices employed but not with that which is communicated.
Central Problems of Communication Theory. — The type of communication system that has been most extensively investigated is shown in fig. 1 . It consists of the following :
1. An information source which produces the raw information or "message" to be transmitted.
2. A transmitter which transforms or encodes this information into a form suitable for the channel. This transformed message is called the signal.
3. The channel on which the encoded information or signal is transmitted to the receiving point. During transmission the signal may be changed or distorted. In radio, for example, there often is static, and in television transmission so-called "snow." These disturbing effects are known generally as noise, and are indicated schematically in fig. : by the noise source.
4. The receiver, which decodes or translates the received signal back into the original message or an approximation of it.
5. The destination or intended recipient of the information.
(※図が挿入)
FIG. 1. — DIAGRAM OF GENERAL COMMUNICATION STSTEM
It will be seen that this system is sufficiently general to include a wide variety of communication problems if the various elements are suitably interpreted. In radio, for example,(...続く)
ただこの1963年版の第12巻上にはClaude E. Shannonの記名は確認できません。
⇒ 検索にかからず
しかし同じ1963年版のEncyclopædia Britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge,第24巻にClaude E. Shannonの名前が検索ヒット。
⇒ (Google Books上でのプレビューはできないようです。)
推測ですが1963年版では第24巻が最終巻で奥付のような場所に執筆者一覧のような形で掲載されているのではと考えました。
調べてみたところ1963年版の第24巻は最終巻で23巻までの目次、寄稿家の一覧と位置づけられているようです。
1963年版の『INFORMATION THEORY』の項はClaude E. Shannon執筆と見て良いのではないかと思います。
またGoogle Books上で確認の取れる最も古い版は1963年版ということになります。
※Google Books上で1987年版と1993年版のInformation Theoryの項の構造がよく似ていることが
確認できました。ただし言い回しがちょこちょこ違うようです。
Google Booksからの検索ですが
書名「Encyclopædia Britannica」、フレーズ「Information Theory」を含む検索結果
書名「Encyclopædia Britannica」、フレーズ「Claude E. Shannon」を含む検索結果
となり「Information Theory」の記述は1961年の版
「Claude E. Shannon」の名前が含まれるのは1968年以降となっているようです。
Google Books上で全ての版を確認できるのかは未確認ですが
大学図書館の蔵書なども含まれているようで
ネット上で多くの版を確認できる手段の一つではないかと思っています。
----------------------
[追記]
書名「Encyclopædia Britannica」、フレーズ「Information Theory」と「Claude E. Shannon」を含む検索結果]
両フレーズで検索すれば良かったですね><
1963年、1987年、1993年、2002年の版が両フレーズを含む版としてひっかかりました。