1.Reference has to do with the
semantics of language; access has to do with network architecture.
2.Successful reference is part of a
communication act between cognitive (language-using) agents. Successful access
requires neither cognition nor linguistic communication.
3.Access is mediated by transmission
over a communication network, and uses energy. Reference is not a physical relationship
and does not require any supporting architecture.
4.Only Ôinformation resourcesÕ(?) can be accessed; anything
at all can be referred to, even non-existent things.
5.Access, in order to be useful,
should be unambiguous. Reference to natural entities, in contrast, is inherently ambiguous.