Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 17:17:46 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Data Question, Pt I

13 Messages, 217 lines
*----
From:         bev@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Bev Sanders)

data=any or all facts?

information=what is derived from data?

Bev Sanders
Operations Mgr
Libraries Information Tech. Dept.
Purdue University
W. Lafayette, Indiana
bev@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
*----
From: slides@ced.berkeley.edu (Arch Slide Library)
Bits of data can, if assembled in a coherent order,
provide information.  The bits themselves have to
be accurate if the resulting information is to
be of value.  A data element or data value can be
1956 or Thorsen House, but standing alone they
mean nothing.

Maryly Snow
Architecture Slide Librarian
UC Berkeley - speaking without license...
*------
From:         brierty@morekypr.bitnet

I have not finished the book yet, so I might not explain it too well,
but here goes..

Walter Wriston, in The Twilight of Sovereignty says basically that there
exists a three level pyramid.  At the bottom is Data.  It is just out
there and it has very little value.  The next level is Information,
which is data that has been sifted through and analyzed.  The top
level is Wisdom, which results from the application of the human mind to the
Information.

Hope this is close.  I highly recommend the book.


Carol A. Brierty                        brierty@morekypr.bitnet
Automation Coordinator                  Phone: (606) 783-5105
Morehead State University Library       Fax:  (606) 784-3788
Morehead KY 40351                       ** usual disclaimers **
*-----
From: "Elizabeth H. Wood" <ewood@phad.hsc.usc.edu>
Data are raw, unprocessed facts and figures.  Information is something a
brain can use, process, add to its store, ponder upon, dream about...

Elizabeth H. Wood
Head, Reference Section
University of Southern California
Norris Medical Library
(213) 342-1483
FAX (213) 221-1235
ewood@phad.hsc.usc.edu
*-----
From: HILL_J@CUBLDR.Colorado.EDU
Data is raw.  Information has been assembled somehow so that is "means"
something, and can be seen/interpreted "relative" to something.

Long ago, as a freshman in college, I took Greek.  (there's no explaining
some things).  Our translation exercises were usually sentences lifted out
of Greek philosophical texts.  As beginners, we weren't up to translating
whole texts, so we got isolated sentences.  One that I remember (almost)
went something like this:

        These is no truth about centaur.

(all right, it was some other sort of mythical beast that I have since
forgotten)  The point was that if you just say "centaur" it doesn't mean
anything.  You have to say something ABOUT centaur for it to be information,
or for any response to be possible.  If you had said "Centaurs exist", that
would be information.  It would be wrong (presumably), but at least it is a
statement that can be acted on.

The word "centaur" is data.  The word "exists" is data.  It isn't until you
put them together into a relationship that can be understood (in this case
by virtue of the structure of the particular language) that the two words
can be considered information.

        - janet swan hill
          univ of colo, boulder
*-------
From: LUNDYM@CITADEL.BITNET
Subject: Data vs Information
Glenis Pickering was asked:

     What is the diffference between data and information?

Glenis,

The same question has been asked of me by my computer
programming students.  My answer has been that data are
the raw facts and information is processed data.  Instead
of "processed", one could also say "organized" or
"analyzed."  However, the two terms seem to have become
interchangeable  in common usage.  Personally, I prefer to
draw a distinction between data and information because I
want to be able to contrast raw facts with the product
of processing those facts.

Mack Lundy
LUNDYM@CITADEL.EDU
*-----
From: Genny Engel <gen@magnum.ucop.edu>
Data is generally considered to be the raw facts whereas information is the
filtered or processed facts, put into a form a human can use.  Data, for
example, might be the total collection of all the votes recorded in an
election; information is who won.

Genny Engel
*------
The question about the distinction between data and information is not
foolish; at least, it was not foolish when I was going to library
school, admittedly a long time ago.

The taxonomy was (in my own clumsy wording): data are pieces of
information -- one number is one datum, etc.; when data are put
together, they can and presumably should result in information, which
is a higher order of "thing."  Once one has information, one can
proceed to use or create knowledge, and from knowledge one is supposed
to ultimately gain wisdom.

Well, it was library school, what can I say :-).  On the other hand,
it's a fairly useful construct, particularly when people bandy about
terms like "data processor," "information management," or "knowledge
manager."  Has anyone yet run across an individual or institution that
claims to be a wisdom manager?  I mean, in so many words?

Sue Martin
Georgetown University Library
*------
From: Steven Kirby <kirby@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Heck, I think this was a question on one of exams in library school.  The
answer I gave then was that data are simple elements such as words (in the
semantic sense), bytes, or bits.  The number 1, for example, is a piece of
data.  Data become information when they are interpreted or placed in some
sort of context, e.g. "How many custodians does it take to screw in a light
bulb?  One.  (And how many librarians does it take?  Depends on the size of
the committee.)"  To carry the issue just a little further, knowledge is
information that is generally accepted as true, while wisdom is that portion
of knowledge that I happen to agree with.

Steven Kirby
University of Georgia
kirby@athena.cs.uga.edu
*------
From: johnsonm@ohsu.edu (Millard Johnson,PC-D,PSU Portals)
If you have a list of 10,000 men, and for each man you know the height,
weight, and age you have DATA.

If you order the list so that, for any man, you know where he ranks among the
10,000 -- how many are larger, older etc. you have INFORMATION.

If you know the incidence of various diseases and life expectancy for
different sizes and ages of men you have KNOWLEDGE.

At least, that is the definition I have always used.
  (I am still working on WISDOM.)
*-----
From:   wcslinda@ccs.carleton.ca (Linda Stillborn)
An intriguing question.  Instinctively I would have said that data is
the representation of inforation while information is that which
carries meaning.  I don't know if it's right or not, but I kind of like it.
*-----
From:         Reed Altemus <IQM104@URIACC.URI.EDU>
   According to Davis and Rush's 1979 "Guide To Information Science"

"The simplest way of defining data is to say that it is the result
of measurement or observation."
   The way I think of it is that data is code which has no contextual
meaning attatched to it.
   Claude Shannon's hierarchy ( data -> information -> knowledge ->
wisdom) is still the most popular conceptualization, although there
are some who differ with it.
  Information is data to which meaning has been attatched.

  If *I* was answering the question in the same situation, I would
say "Data is code which is the result of measurement, information
is data that we can understand and use.  Information is all around
us, it's how we interact with our environment."

Kids *always* ask good questions!

Reed Altemus

Leard Reed Altemus, SLIS University of Rhode Island, Kingston

email: IQM104@uriacc.uri.edu
      raltemus@well.sf.ca.us
     laltemus@risc1.acc.uri.edu
mail: Box 156 Kingston RI 02881 USA
tel:   401-782-6337
*-----
From:    JUDYK@LIB.TECHNION.AC.IL
re. the difference between data and information:
My 2 cents' worth: data = "raw facts," information = facts that
are *new* and *useful* to the person receiving the information.
I.e. it's a subjective definition: what is information to me
may not be to you and vice versa. Take an online search, for
example: the relevant hits are information, the false drops,
or "noise" are data but not information; it's the client who
decides.

 -----------------------------------------------------
| Judy Koren,                                         |
| Head, Technical Services, Elyachar Central Library, |
| The Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology,     |
| Haifa, Israel 32000.                                |
|                                                     |
| Email: judyk@lib.technion.ac.il                     |
|    or: lbjudy@vmsa.technion.ac.il                   |
 -----------------------------------------------------
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU