Data, Information & Knowledge

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The old adage / saying goes along the lines that knowledge can be defined as knowing a tomato is a fruit…And that wisdom is therefore knowing that you don't add a tomato to a fruit salad... There are a number of models and frameworks that investigate the data-information-knowledge-wisdom continuum

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Data Data are raw facts and

figures that on their own have no meaning

These can be any alphanumeric characters i.e. text, numbers, symbols

Note the “are” bit above? What does this mean?

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Data Examples Yes, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes 42, 63, 96, 74, 56, 86 111192, 111234

None of the above data sets have any meaning until they are given a CONTEXT and PROCESSED into a useable form

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Data Into Information To achieve its aims the organisation will

need to process data into information. Data needs to be turned into meaningful

information and presented in its most useful format

Data must be processed in a context in order to give it meaning

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Information Data that has been processed within a

context to give it meaning

OR

Data that has been processed into a form that gives it meaning

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Examples In the next 3 examples

explain how the data could be processed to give it meaning

What information can then be derived from the data?

Suggested answers are given at the end of this presentation

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Example 1

Yes, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, YesRaw Data

ContextResponses to the market

research question – “Would you buy brand x at price y?”

Information ???Processing

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Example 2

Raw Data

Context

Information

42, 63, 96, 74, 56, 86

Jayne’s scores in the six AS/A2 ICT modules

???Processing

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Example 3

Raw Data

Context

Information

111192, 111234

The previous and current readings of a customer’s

gas meter

???Processing

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Encoding Information• Processing turns data into information

• Sometimes you might want to turn information into data – i.e. to store it – this is called encoding

• How do you code information to make it easy to re-process, without losing it’s meaning?

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Sources of DataInternal or External?• Internal communication is communication with people inside the

same organisation or company

• External communication is with people outside the company, such as suppliers or customers.

Direct or Indirect?• Direct data are collected for the purpose of the processing being

undertaken – e.g. time cards for pay

• Indirect data are originally collected for another purpose, but is now being processed to provide extra information - e.g. spending patterns from credit cards

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Information ChannelsFormal or Informal?

• Formal channels are the official (or reliable!) ones, such as memos, letters, the company noticeboard, etc.

• Informal channels are the unofficial ones, such as office gossip, informal meetings and rumours – these can often be unreliable.

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The Value of Information• It is often said that we are in the information age, and that information

is a valuable commodity.

• Why is information valuable? Because:

• It allows us to plan how to run our business more effectively – e.g. shops can stock what customers want, when they want it, and manufacturers can anticipate demand

• Marketing materials can be targeted at people and customers that you know could be interested in your products and services

• This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and therefore profit

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Good Quality Information• The characteristics of good quality information – it should be:

• Accurate

• Up-to-date

• Relevant

• Complete

• On-time

• Appropriately presented

• Intelligible

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Collecting InformationHow is information about people collected?

1. Obviously you can ask people questions about their spending habits, etc. (but they might not like it!)

2. Or you can use a more indirect approach:

• Supermarket loyalty cards- e.g. easily identify vegetarians!

• Credit card transactions- amounts and locations- can help prevent fraud, too!

• ATMs, CCTV, till transactions, etc.

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Coding Information

• Information stored in a computer is often coded

• Coding categorises information and can replace long, description strings with a few letters or numbers (or both!)

• You are probably familiar with examples such as F for female and M for male

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Coding - AdvantagesInformation is often coded because:

• It is quicker to enter into the computer

• It require less disc space to store, and less memory to process

• It can make processing easier – or possible – as there will be fewer responses

• It improves the consistency of the data as spelling mistakes are less likely

• Validation is easier to apply

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Coding - DisadvantagesCoding also has some negative effects :

• Information is coarsened by forcing it all into categories – there might not be a category that matches what you want to record – e.g. hair colour

• The same can be true of rounding numbers – the intervals or numbers of categories is called the granularity – this needs to be chosen carefully to maintain the quality of the information

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Exam Tip You’ll nearly always be asked to give

examples of data processed into information

Don’t use:• Traffic lights• Dates of birth

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Knowledge Knowledge is the understanding of rules

needed to interpret information

“…the capability of understanding the relationship between pieces of information and what to actually do with the information”

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Knowledge

• Data and information deal with facts and figures

• Knowing what to do with them requires knowledge

• Knowledge = information + rules

• Rules tell us the likely effect of something

• For example: you are more likely to pass your A level IF you do your coursework and revise for your exam!

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Knowledge Examples Using the 3 previous examples:

• A Marketing Manager could use this information to decide whether or not to raise or lower price y

• Jayne’s teacher could analyse the results to determine whether it would be worth her re-sitting a module

• Looking at the pattern of the customer’s previous gas bills may identify that the figure is abnormally low and they are fiddling the gas meter!!!

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Knowledge Workers Knowledge workers have specialist

knowledge that makes them “experts”• Based on formal and informal rules they have

learned through training and experience

Examples include doctors, managers, librarians, scientists…

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Expert Systems Because many rules are based

on probabilities computers can be programmed with “subject knowledge” to mimic the role of experts

One of the most common uses of expert systems is in medicine• The ONCOLOG system shown

here analyses patient data to provide a reference for doctors, and help for the choice, prescription and follow-up of chemotherapy

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Summary

Information Data Context Meaning= ++

ProcessingData – raw facts and figures

Information – data that has been processed (in a context) to give it meaning