Content! We are all about content here in GATE Village but content can and does mean different things at different times. It could refer to a node, an image, a video, a word, a sound; these days it could refer to just about anything that can be digitized and/or digitally described (or encoded).

An Information Object is a distinct, separate, and addressable piece of data within GATE Village -- most often it is a single instantiation of a content type but it might be dynamically generated content; or as in the case of a Panel page, a melange of content from various sources using a hybrid of content types providing a different view for different roles; or even, as in one case of a database-backed field, a single, selectable radio button.

GATE Village uses the phrase Information Object whenever we want to refer to generic data within the Village without concern as to the type of data contained within the Information Object. The only criteria is that the Information Object be addressable within the System -- that is, that it can be referred to by functions within the Village.

For example, while a node, an instantiation of any content type, a database-backed field, an image, a comment, a field within user's profile, and the profile itself are all examples of Information Objects, individual words, titles, or data within the any of them are not addressable -- they can only be accessed as a unit.