Shannon information theory is fundamentally not "hierarchical." It facilitates all communications at all levels of the hierarchy; e.g., intended purpose –> achieved result; expected action –> implemented action; communicated ideas –> understood meaning; code employed –> code understood; signal transmitted –> signal received.
I dunno. Perhaps Gitt simply does not think like a mathematician.
That makes sense. But it seems to me that Gitt is trying to build upon Shannon by investigating the non-physical message that is carried on the physical medium that transports information. Although judging by what you said above with such words as intended, expected, ideas, understood, meaning, code, employed, etc, it may be that Shannon goes much further than simply the statistics of information. If so, I would be much obliged if you could provide me with a link so I can learn more about this aspect of Shannon’s work.
Also, I would be curious to get your take on Gitt’s “The Five Levels of the Information Concept”:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/itbwi/five-levels-information-concept
All the best—GGG