Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 17:20:28 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Data Question, Pt. II

9 Messages, 215 Lines
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From:         Laine Ruus <LAINE@vm.utcs.utoronto.ca>
On Fri, 13 Nov 1992 13:34:22 CDT <Glenis_Pickering@vme.nott.ac.uk> said:
>What is the difference between Data and Information ?

IMHO - state by state election results from the 1992 presidential
election are data...that Clinton won is information. Or, the
exchange rates on the U.S. versus Canadian dollar monthly over
any period of time are data, the conclusion that the Canadian
dollar is falling relative to the US dollar is information. Or...

>(I'm not admitting how I waffled through it; I'm a PACS-L Lurker!)

From one lurker to another........

An unabashed lurker

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Laine G.M. Ruus                      Bitnet : laine@utorvm
Data Library Service               Internet : laine@vm.utcs.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
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From:         Kate <MCCAINKW@DUVM>
A simple (simplistic??) answer to the question -- the difference between
data and information:  CONTEXT. Beyond this, it's all waffling. I prefer
the Boulding/Buckland view of things/messages that 'can inform"/"have the
potential to alter our understanding of the world" -- our subjective knowledge
structures. Data, per se, do not really come into it -- but those who like
to create complex pedagogical structures place "data" just below the perceptual
horizon. Messages/environmental stimuli "received" AND "perceived" become,by
definition, "information." But that is just one perspective. Other readers/
lurkers (and I LIKE the term) may offer others.

Kate McCain                        Die Gedankenexperimente sind frei!!

College of Information Studies
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA 19104

mccainkw@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu
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From: "Anthony Tony L. Johnson" <p00119@psilink.com>
Subject: Re: Question - Data vs. Information

       DATA = A representation (e.g. signals or symbols) of a state or
              change in the world.

INFORMATION = The *process* of making or being made aware
              (i.e. the *process* of informing or being informed).
              (Latent with implications--not all data leads to
              information, for one.)

Many (if not most?) refuse to see information as a process--like
communication--and insist on defining both data and information as objects.
Either they equate the two, or conceive of information as a step "up" the
continuum: data--information--knowledge--understanding--wisdom.

If your son is one of these, ask him if he can conceive of the
difference between information and information product--i.e. the
difference between the information, itself, and the CD-ROM, newsletter, etc.
which packages and transfers it?  And what the price we pay for that book
represents: the value of the information, the information product, both,
or less than the total value of both?

(Of course, I distinguish data from information, and would substitute
"data" for "information" in the previous paragraph.)

Anthony Johnson, MIS, University of North Texas
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From:         kendall <KSIMMONS@UKANVM>
For once, an easy question (in MY experience)! :-)

Earlier this week, the house across the street burned down.  VERY long story,
BUT a bit of it answers your question as well as I can think of.

It was arson.  The arson inspector from the fire department determined that
from what she found at the site.  What she found was DATA (e.g., that the
fire was started in several places simultaneously in piles of clothes with
some sort of flammable substance).

The arson inspector talked with the woman whose home it was, my husband, the
man from the Salvation Army  who had been there earlier, and me.  What we gave
the arson inspector was INFORMATION (e.g. we had called the police twice
earlier that evening because the woman's estranged husband   broke into the
house, had threatened the Salvation Army man with a hammer and a knife, that
his belongings, which had been there shortly before the fire, had not been
burned up in the fire because they weren't there, etc., etc.)

It's not a nice example, but I think it makes the point re: the difference
between data and information.  Maybe not, but it's the best I can do!

Kendall
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From: D.Viehland@massey.ac.nz
>What is the difference between Data and Information ?

I'm interested in this discussion because that is a fundamental question I
address in my first year Information Systems course.  After reviewing the
treatment of this question in a variety of textbooks and other sources I
wrote my own supplemental reading for the class:  Information as a Business
Resource.  A brief summary of some of the material in that reading:

DATA
Data are quantities and descriptions that result from observation or
measurement.  Data are usually quantitative, but not exclusively "figures
and numbers" as some defintions suggest (eg, data can be text).

The concept of Data = quantity + description means a list of quantities is
useless unless defined or described (eg, inventory count needs description
of items being counted; test scores need student IDs).

Data quality is determined by precision, accuracy, reliability and
validity, which are all properties related to measurement.

INFORMATION
Information is "data that have meaning to and serve the needs of the
recipient.  Information is data that are used in context to inform the
recipient."  Context is critical -- without context or purpose data remain
data (ie, "one person's data are another person's information"; an
inventory count is data to me but information to a store manager).  So,
Information = data + context.

The ten attributes of information (some related to data, others to context)
are:  relevance, timeliness, completeness, accuracy, form, level of detail,
time horizon, consistency, scope, and source.

I am interested in hearing from others, via PACS-L or individual email, how
they approach this subject.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  Dennis W. Viehland                        D.Viehland@Massey.ac.nz
  Senior Lecturer                           (06) 356-9099 extn 8592
  Information Systems                      (06) 350-5233 (messages)
  Massey University                             (06) 350-5611 (fax)
  Palmerston North, New Zealand
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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From: dlambert@sfu.ca
Your son's query on the differences between data and information
sure addresses one of my pet peeves and in fact is one of MAJOR
discussion issues around a research methods course I teach.
I like to think of the latin "informare", to give form or
shape to. Information is data and fact which we assign meaning
to. One of my favorite critics on the topic of information is
Theodore Roszak. A reading of his "The Cult of Information:
The Folklore of Computers and the True Art of Thinking" will
forever change your mind on the meaning of information. Let me
close with a quote from T.S. Eliot:
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

P.S. I just joined this BBS - looks like fun!
david_lambert@sfu.ca

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From:        HJ Dyer <H.J.Dyer@lut.ac.uk>
My personal view is that data is an assembly of "facts" (I put that in "
" because they may not be true..  Information on the other hand is a signal
which alters the belief or behaviour (there is a third factor which escapes me
at the moment) of the recipient.  In other words, it has to be received by
something ( a gene) or someone and must be new to them and cause a response.
If you have heard all this before, it is not information to you.  If you have
not - it is - whether you agree with it, act upon it  - or merely delete it.

It woudl be interesting to hear what others think...

Hilary
==============================================================
|  Mrs Hilary Dyer                                           |
|  Senior Lecturer,  Department of Information and Library   |
|  Studies, Loughborough University, Loughborough,           |
|  Leicestershire, LE11 3TU                                  |
|                                                            |
|  JANET: H.J.Dyer@uk.ac.Loughborough                        |
|  Phone: (0509) 223068 (direct line)                        |
|  Fax: (0509) 223053                                        |
*=============================================================
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From:        "C.K.Work" <C.K.Work@southampton.ac.uk>

I recently was asked a similar question - my rough and ready answer:

Data - a collection of symbols (numbers, letters etc.) not necessarily
human readable

Information - data processed to a human readable form

Knowledge - information processed by the mind and understood

Colin K. Work
Uni. of Southampton Computing Services
C.K.Work@Southampton.AC.UK
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From: Dag Vaula <Vaula@ubb.uib.no>
Subject: Data and Information
Re: Question from Glenis Pickering on difference between
    data and information.

I think you may have disturbed a wasp nest here - there are
lots of armchair philosophers like me who would love to (and
will) discourse on this subject.

What I would say to my 15 yrs old son - if he were interested - is:

Data is raw material for information.
Information is raw material for knowledge.
Knowledge is raw material for wisdom.


Dag Vaula
Reference Librarian
University of Bergen
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