

What's the Difference between "Data" and "Information"? - dbreunig

I've been asking this question around and have been getting some interesting responses. Thoughts?<p>"To you, what is the difference between 'data' and 'information'?"
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rpbertp13
I have the sense that information is content, and that data is content in a
specific form. I think the difference is plain if you think about file
formats. I would be inclined to say that .wav and .mp3 versions of the same
audio recording consist of very different data, but carry very similar
information (not the same because of the quality degradation inherent in
compression)

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noodle
the dictionary definitions are almost identical and they're referred to as
synonyms.

but when i use the words, i tend to refer to data as information that has been
processed/arranged/sorted/whatever. data implies structured information. and
of course, information can still be used, as a word, to refer to data. thats
just how i tend to use it.

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Travis
I think the opposite. Data is just raw, information is one level abstracted,
and knowledge is the next step (information + expertise).

Data technologies -> information technologies -> knowledge technologies.

In the music example, data is the binary. Information is the song (format
agnostic). Knowledge is knowing that the band is awesome, played such-and-such
show, is in this genre, etc.

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CyberFonic
I tend to agree with Travis.

You know when you see it! Let's take another example.

Let's assume we have a series of temperature readings, 80, 40, 60, 90 degrees.
Thay are data points. If we add timestamps to them then we it might reflect
some process (I deliberately didn't mark them as Fahrenheit or Celsius) we
could graph them to show changing temperature over time. If we add location
data, say from a GPS, then taken together it is information about temperature
at some location over a period of time, such as a weather bureau might have.
Another example, take the number 84193221, what is it, if I say it's to do
with John Smith, then you'd still be in the dark. I could say it's his phone
number or his net worth in cents.

I like to think that a collection of data with specific relationships is
information.

