6.5 In Class Practice Information and data are different. Information is understood by a person.
Data are patterns stored on a passive medium like a computer disk.
The purpose of a database system is to bridge the gap between information and data - the data stored in memory or on disk must be converted to usable information. A database is a model of a real world system. Changes in the database represent events occurring in the environment that change the state of what is being modeled. It is appropriate to structure a database to mirror what it is intended to model.