So, by extension, the bits stored on a flash drive or the pits on a DVD are not "information", either -- until they are decoded and made to perform a function that interacts with a human.
I see a Newtonian analogy: All of the above data-storage forms are potential information -- much as water behind a dam, or gunpowder in a cartridge, or a weight hanging over your head ...represent potential energy.
So, by that analogy -- and your statement, "information" could be viewed as "kinetic data" that also interacts with a sentient recipient...
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Am I even close? ;-)
Looks pretty durned interesting to me, TXnMA. I'd like to explore your last further. I suspect you are on the right track here. I'd love to hear more about/help elaborate the details.
I do wonder about the "made to perform" language though. It is stated in the "imperative voice" of "natural speech (language)." The worry is, in general, it's not a good thing to "queer the deal" by imposing arbitrary limits from the get-go. (The word "made" presupposes an unidentified causal agency at work.)
Indeed, as you say, the message in Shannon's mathematical theory of communication can be seen as potential and the communication of that message as kinetic.
The receiver, however, need not be human. For instance, the communication could be from one computer to another - or within the molecular machinery of a houseplant, etc.