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| What
is the meaning of "data", "information", and "knowledge"? |
Abstract
The
field of Information Science is constantly changing. Therefore,
information scientists are required to regularly
review - and if
necessary - redefine its fundamental building blocks.
This article is one of a group of four articles, which resulted from a
Critical Delphi study conducted in 2003-2005. The
study, Knowledge Map of Information Science, was aimed at
exploring the foundations of information science. The international
panel was composed of 57 leading scholars from 16 countries, who
represent (almost) all the major subfields and important aspects of the
field. This particular article documents
130 definitions of data, information,
and knowledge formulated by 45
scholars, and maps the major conceptual approaches for defining these
three key concepts.
Definitions
 Dr. Hanne Albrechtsen,
Institute of Knowledge Sharing, Denmark
Data.
In
computational systems data are the coded invariances. In human
discourse data
are that which is stated, for instance, by informants in an empirical
study.
Information
is related to meaning or human intention. In computational
systems information is the contents of databases, the web etc. In human
discourse systems information is the meaning of statements as they are
intended
by the speaker/writer and understood/misunderstood by the
listener/reader. Knowledge
is embodied in humans as the capacity to understand, explain and
negotiate
concepts, actions and intentions.
Prof.
Elsa Barber, University of Buenos
Aires, Argentina
Datum
is the representation of concepts
or other entities, fixed in or on a medium in a form suitable for
communication, interpretation, or processing by human beings or by
automated
systems (Wellisch, 1996). Information is (1) a
message used by a sender to represent one or more concepts within a
communication process, intended to increase knowledge in recipients.
(2) A message
recorded in the text of a document... Knowledge is
knowing, familiarity
gained by experience; person's range of information; a theoretical or
practical
understanding of; the sum of what is known..
Prof.
Aldo de Albuquerque Barreto, Brazilian Institute
for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil
Data is a symbol set
that is quantified and/or qualified. Information
is a set of significant sings that has the ability to
create knowledge... The essence
of the information phenomenon has been characterized as the occurrence
of a
communication process that takes place between the sender and the
recipient of
the message. Thus, the various concepts of information tend to
concentrate on
the origin and the end point of this communication process (Wersig and
Neveling, 1975). Knowledge
is
information that has been appropriate by the user... When information is adequately assimilated,
it produces knowledge, modifies the individual’s mental store
of information
and benefits his development and that of the society in which he lives.
Thus,
as the mediating agent in the production of knowledge, the information,
qualifies itself, in form and substance, as significant structures able
to
generate knowledge for the individual and his group.
Prof.
Shifra Baruchson–Arbib, Bar Ilan University,
Israel
Data
are
sensory stimuli that we perceive through our senses. Information
is data that has been
processed into a form that is meaningful to the recipient (Davis and
Olson,
1985). Knowledge is what has understood and
evaluated by the knower.
Prof.
Maria Teresa Biagetti, University of Rome
1, Italy
Datum
is every thing or every
unit that could increase the human knowledge or could allow to enlarge
our
field of scientific, theoretical or practical knowledge, and that can
be
recorded, on whichever support , or orally handed. Data can arouse
information
and knowledge in our mind. Information is
the change determined in the
cognitive heritage of an individual. Information always develops inside
of a
cognitive system, or a knowing subject. Signs that constitute the words
by
which a document or a book has made are not information. Information
starts
when signs are in connection with an interpreter (Morris, 1938). Knowledge
is structured and organized information
that has
developed inside of a cognitive system or is part of the cognitive
heritage of
an individual (based on C. S. Peirce, 1931, 1958).
Prof.
Michael Buckland, University of
California, Berkeley, USA
Data.
The word "data"
is commonly used to refer to records or recordings encoded for use in
computer,
but is more widely used to refer to statistical observations and other
recordings or collections of evidence.
Information.
The
word “information” is used to refer to a number of
different phenomena. These
phenomena have been classified into three groupings: (1) Anything
perceived as
potentially signifying something (e.g. printed books); (2) The process
of
informing; and (3) That which is learned from some evidence or
communication.
All three are valid uses (in English) of the term
“information”. I personally
am most comfortable with no. 1, then with no. 3, but acknowledge that
others
have used and may use no 2.
Knowledge.
The
word “knowledge” is best used to refer to
what someone knows, which is, in effect, what they believe, including
belief
that some of the beliefs of others should not be believed. By extension
the
word “knowledge” is used more loosely for (1) what
social groups know
collectively; and (2) what is in principle knowable because it has been
recorded somehow and could be recovered even though, at any given time,
no
individual knows (or remembers) it.
Dr.
Quentin L. Burrell, Isle of Man
International Business School, Isle of Man
Data
are the basic individual items of numeric
or other information, garnered through observation; but in themselves,
without
context, they are devoid of information. Information is
that which is
conveyed, and possibly amenable to analysis and interpretation, through
data
and the context in which the data are assembled. Knowledge is
the
general understanding and awareness garnered from accumulated
information,
tempered by experience, enabling new contexts to be envisaged.
Prof.
Rafael Capurro, University of
Applied Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany
Homepages:
http://www.capurro.de;
http://icie.zkm.de;
http://www.i-r-i-e.net
Data
are (or datum is) an
abstraction. I mean, the concept of `data' or `datum' suggests that
there is
something there that is purely given and that can be known as such. The
last
one hundred years of (late) philosophic discussion and, of course, many
hundred
years before, have shown that there is nothing like `the given' or
`naked
facts' but that every (human) experience/knowledge is biased. This is
the
`theory-laden' theorem that is shared today by such different
philosophic
schools as Popper's critical rationalism (and his followers and critics
such as
Kuhn or Feyerabend), analytic philosophy (Quine, for instance),
hermeneutics
(Gadamer) etc. Modern philosophy (Kant) is very acquainted with this
question:
experience (“Erfahrung”) is a product of `sensory
data'
within the framework of perception (“Anschauung”)
and
the categories of reason (“Verstand”)
(“perception
without concepts is blind,
concepts without perception are void”). Pure sensory data are
as
unknowable as
“things in themselves.”
Information
is
a multi-layered concept with Latin roots (`informatio' = to give a
form) that
go back to Greek ontology and epistemology (Plato's concept of `idea'
and
Aristotle's concepts of `morphe' but also to such concepts as `typos'
and
`prolepsis') (See
Capurro, 1978; Capurro & Hjoerland, 2003). The use of this
concept in
information science is at the first sight highly controversial but it
basically
refers to the everyday meaning (since Modernity): “the act of
communicating
knowledge” (OED). I would suggest to use this definition as
far as it points to
the phenomenon of message that I consider the basic one in information
science.
Message,
information, understanding.
Following
systems theory and
second-order cybernetics, I suggest to distinguish between `message',
`information' and `understanding.' All three concepts constitute the
concept of
communication (See, for instance, Luhmann, 1996, with references to
biology
(Maturana/Varela), cybernetics etc.). A `message' is a `meaning offer'
while
`information' refers to the selection within a system and
`understanding' to
the possibility that the receiver integrates the selection within
his/her
pre-knowledge - constantly open to revision i.e. to new communication -
in
accordance with the intention(s) of the sender. The receiver mutates
each time
into a sender.
Knowledge
is
`no-thing' (contrary to “information-as-thing”
as suggested by Michael Buckland, 1991a) i.e. it is the event of
meaning
selection of a (psychic/social) system from its `world' on the basis of
communication. The “act of communicating knowledge”
(OED's definition of
information) is then to be understood as the act of making a meaning
offer
(=message) leading to understanding (and misunderstanding) on the basis
of a
selection of meaning (=information). To know is then to understand on
the basis
of making a difference between `message' (or meaning offer) and
`information'
(or meaning selection). Human knowledge is, as Popper states, basically
conjectural. Or, to put it in hermeneutic terms: understanding is
always
biased, i.e., based on (implicit) pre-understanding. In more classical
terms we
distinguish following Aristotle between `empirical knowledge' (or
`know-how' =
`empeiria') and explicit knowledge (or `know-that', for instance,
scientific
knowledge or `episteme').
Data, information,
knowledge.
Putting the three concepts
("data", "information", and "knowledge") as done
here, gives the impression of a logical hierarchy: information is set
together out
of data and knowledge comes out from putting together information. This
is a
fairytale.
Prof.
Thomas A. Childers, Drexel University,
USA
.
Knowledge
is that which is known, and it exists in the mind of the knower in
electrical
pulses. Alternatively, it can be disembodied into symbolic
representations of
that knowledge (at this point becoming a particular kind of
information, not knowledge). Strictly
speaking, represented knowledge is information. Knowledge—that
which is known—is by definition subjective, even when
aggregated to the level
of social, or public, knowledge—which is the sum, in a sense,
of individual
“knowings.” Data
and information can be
studied as perceived by and “embodied” (known) by
the person or as found in the
world outside the person.
Prof.
Charles H. Davis, Indiana University,
USA
Data
is the plural of
datum, although the singular form is rarely used. Purists who remember
their
first-year Latin may insist on using a plural verb with data, but they
forget
that English grammar permits collective nouns. Depending on the
context, data
can be used in the plural or as a singular word meaning a set or
collection of
facts. Etymologically, data, as noted, is the plural of datum, a noun
formed
from the past participle of the Latin verb dare—to give.
Originally, data were
things that were given (accepted as “true”). A data
element, d, is the smallest thing
which can be
recognized as a discrete element of that class of things named by a
specific
attribute, for a given unit of measure with a given precision of
measurement
(Rush & Davis, [in progress]; Landry & Rush, 1970;
Yovits &
Ernst, 1970).”
Information
The verb ‘inform’ normally is used in the sense to
communicate (i.e., to report, relate, or tell) and comes from the Latin
verb
informare, which meant to shape (form) an idea. Data is persistent
while
information is transient, depending on context and the interpretation
of the
recipient. Information is data received through a communication process
that
proves of value in making decisions.
Knowledge
involves both data
and the relationships among data elements or their sets. This organization of data
based on
relationships is what enables one to draw generalizations from the data
so
organized, and to formulate questions about which one wishes to acquire
more
data. That is, knowledge begets the quest for knowledge, and it arises
from
verified or validated ideas (Sowell,
1996).
Prof.
Anthony Debons, University of
Pittsburgh, USA
Data
are symbols organized according to
established algorithms.
Information
represents
a state of awareness (consciousness) and the physical manifestations
they form.
Information, as a phenomena, represents both a process and a product; a
cognitive/affective state, and the physical counterpart (product of)
the
cognitive/affective state. The counterpart could range from a scratch
of a
surface, movement (placement)of a rock; a gesture(movement)
speech(sound),
written document, etc. (requirement). Information answers questions of
what,
where, when and who and permutations thereof..
“Knowledge.
Knowledge
represents a cognitive/affective state that finds definition in meaning
and
understanding. Knowledge is reflected in the questions of
“how” and “why”.
Knowledge extends the organism state of awareness (consciousness/
information).
Knowledge can be given physical representation (presence) in the
material
products (technology) thereof (books, film, speech, etc)”.
“Message.
Message is a medium through which data; information and knowledge are
transmitted and used. It represents an instrument for
moving the state of awareness and meaning with reference to specific
events
(states, conditions) from one implicit, or explicit source to another.
When the
physical products of awareness are transferred from one source to
another,
reference to the collective domain can be realized.
Prof.
Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Mälardalen
University, Sweden
Raw
data (sometimes
called source data or atomic data) is data that has not been processed
for use.
[In the spirit of Tom Stonier’s definition - Data: a series
of disconnected
facts and observations] Here “unprocessed” might be
understood in a sense that
no specific effort has been made to interpret or understand the data.
They are
the result of some observation or measurement process, which has been
recorded
as “facts of
the world”. The word data is the
plural of Latin datum, “something given”, which one
also could call “atomic
facts. Information is the end
product of data
processing. Knowledge is the
end product of
information processing. In much the same way as raw data are used as
input, and
processed in order to get information, the information itself is used
as input
for a process that results in knowledge.
Theory
laden.
It is very
true that all data are theory laden. That does not mean that you
can
not produce new data which in the next step will lead to the theory
revision,
and that new, corrected theory will be the basis for producing new data
which
after a while will lead to the correction of the existing theory. We
use our
theory-laden data to refute theories!
Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom. According to Stonier (1993, 1997), data is a series
of disconnected facts and observations. These may be converted to information by
analyzing, cross-referring,
selecting, sorting, summarizing, or in some way organizing the data.
Patterns
of information, in turn, can be worked up into a coherent body of
knowledge.
Knowledge consists of an organized body of information, such
information
patterns forming the basis of the kinds of insights and judgments which
we call
wisdom. The above conceptualization may be made concrete by a physical
analogy
(Stonier, 1993): consider spinning fleece into yarn, and then weaving
yarn into
cloth. The fleece can be considered analogous to data, the yarn to
information
and the cloth to knowledge. Cutting and sewing the cloth into a useful
garment
is analogous to creating insight and judgment (wisdom). This analogy
emphasizes
two important points: (1) going from fleece to garment involves, at
each step,
an input of work, and (2) at each step, this input of work leads to an
increase
in organization, thereby producing a hierarchy of organization. .
Prof.
Henri Dou, University of
Aix-Marseille III, France
Datum
is a unique piece of content related to an entity. Information
is the
sum of the data related to an entity..
Prof.
Nicolae Dragulanescu, Polytechnics
University of Bucharest, Romania
Data
are a set of symbols representing a
perception of raw facts (i.e. following Debons, Horne
& Cronenweth (1988), events from which
inferences or conclusions can be drawn). Information
is organized
data (answering the following basic questions: What? Who? When?
Where?). Knowledge
is understood information (answering following basic questions: why?,
how?, for
which purpose?).
Prof.
Hamid Ekbia, University of
Redlands, USA
Data.
Here, data
typically means the “raw” material obtained from
observation (broadly
understood, but not necessarily, as “sense
impressions,” which is a key notion
of empiricist philosophy). Such data is typically quantitative,
presented in
numbers and figures.
Prof.
Charles Ess, Drury University, USA
Prolog.
These
definitions are offered as an elaboration on physicist Heinz
Pagels’ (1988) observation.
Information is just signs
and numbers, while knowledge has
semantic value. What we want is knowledge, but what we often get is
information. It is a sign of the times that many people cannot tell the
difference between information and knowledge, not to mention wisdom,
which even
knowledge tends to drive out. (1988, 49, cited in O’Leary and
Brasher, 1996,
262).
These
distinctions in turn
trace back at least as far as T.S. Eliot’s lament:
Where
is the Life we have
lost in living?
Where
is the wisdom we
have lost in knowledge?
Where
is the knowledge we
have lost in information?
--
"Choruses from the
Rock"]
Data
can be
defined as a class of information objects, made up of units of binary
code that
are intended to be stored, processed, and transmitted by digital
computers. As
such, data consists of information in a narrow sense – i.e.,
as inscribed in
binary code, units of data are not likely to be immediately meaningful
to a
human being. But
units of data, as
“informational building blocks,” when collected and
processed properly, can
form information in the broader sense (see below), i.e., that is more
likely to
be meaningful to a human being (as sense-making beings).
Information.
Collocations of data (information in the narrow sense – see
above) that thereby
become meaningful to human beings – e.g., as otherwise opaque
units of binary
code are collected and processed into numbers, artificial and natural
languages, graphic objects that convey significance and meaning, etc.
Such
collocations of data can be made meaningful by human
beings (as sense-making beings) especially as such data
collocations/information connect with, illuminate, and are illuminated
by still
larger cognitive frameworks – most broadly, worldviews that
further incorporate
knowledge and wisdom (see below). On
this definition, information can include but is not restricted to
data. On the
contrary, especially as
Borgmann (1999) argues, there are other forms of information (natural,
cultural) that are not fully reducible to data as can be transmitted,
processed, and/or produced by computers and affiliated technologies.
Knowledge
is
one step above information, and one step below wisdom.
Knowledge in the broadest sense
approaches a
reasonably comprehensive worldview, i.e., a cognitive framework that
establishes the major parameters and ten thousand details of human
social and
ethical realities, including basic values, beliefs, habits, notions of
identity, relationships among human beings (including gender identity
and
issues) and relationships between humanity and larger realities
(political,
environmental, religious). Knowledge, however, can remain detached,
objective,
and thereby useless. Transforming
cognitive forms of knowledge into ethical judgment and action is a
primary task
and goal of wisdom (see Dreyfus 2001; Ess 2003,
2004).” [16] (Charles Ess)
Prof.
Raya Fidel, University of
Washington, USA
Data
are a string of
symbols. Information is data that is communicated,
has meaning, has an
effect, has a goal. Knowledge is a
personal/cognitive framework that
makes it possible for humans to use information.
Prof.
Thomas J. Froehlich, Kent State
University, USA
“Data.
It
depends on your framework. If
you are a
Kantian, it is the foundation for the a priori categories of the
understanding. If
you are a computer
programmer it is pre-processed information (data collected according to
some
algorithm for some purpose) or post-processed information (e.g., tables
of such
information). In
this latter case data
cannot be defined apart from information, because it is dependent on it. If you are a biologist, it
might be stimuli,
but these scientific approaches are built on a faulty understanding of
perception (e.g., perception is sensations (i.e., stimuli) glued
together –
which is false).
Information
is
resources useful or relevant or functional for information seekers.
Knowledge.
For
some philosophers, validated, true information is that which coheres
with other
truths (coherence theory of truth). For others, what corresponds to
reality
(correspondence theory of truth).
For
others, it is what works or is functional (pragmatic theory of truth).
At any
event it is always contextual.
“A
lot of our so-called truths, knowledge, or known
‘facts’
are really orthodoxy – what we collectively believe at a
certain point in time. Today when
someone would observe an unsupported object falling, when pushed for an
explanation, they would utter the phrase/explanation: “the law of
gravity.” Unfortunately,
it is an explanation that
fails to explain – we still do not know what the
“weak force” is, what gravity
is, but we are taught in our so-called scientific approach, to utter a
phrase
that is supposed to – in the naming of it – to
explain it. Four
centuries back, it was attributed to the
“will of God”. Is this a worse explanation? Possibly.
In both cases, we are
living in images and metaphors and the orthodox frameworks of the time. Most reference collections
in libraries are
expressions of orthodoxies of various subject domains.
Dr.
H.M. Gladney, HMG Consulting, USA
Data
are
representations of facts about the world. Information
is data organized
according to an ontology that defines the relationships between some
set of
topics. Information
can be communicated. Knowledge is a set of
conceptual structures held in human brains and
only imperfectly represented by information that can be communicated.
Knowledge
cannot be communicated by speech or any form of writing, but can only
be hinted
at.
Prof. Glynn Harmon,
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Data
is
one or more kinds of energy waves or particles (light, heat, sound,
force,
electromagnetic) selected by a conscious organism or intelligent agent
on the
basis of a pre-existing frame or inferential mechanism in the organism
or
agent. Information is an organism’s or an
agent’s active or latent
inferential frame that guides the selection of data for its own further
development or construction. Knowledge
is one or more sets of relatively stable information. A
Message is one or
more
inferred data sets gleaned from external or internal energetic
reactions.
Dr.
Donald Hawkins, Information Today,
USA
Data
are facts and statistics that can be
quantified, measured, counted, and stored. Information
is data that has
been categorized, counted, and thus given meaning, relevance, or
purpose. Knowledge
is information that has been given meaning and taken to a higher level. Knowledge emerges from
analysis, reflection
upon, and synthesis of information.
It
is used to make a difference in an enterprise, learn a lesson, or solve
a
problem." [21] (Donald Hawkins)
Prof.
Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA
Datum
is smallest collectable unit associated
with a phenomenon. Normally, data occur in collections that are
collected in
order to monitor a process, assess a situation, and/or otherwise gain a
referent on a phenomenon. This does not mean that data are always
defined,
collected or used appropriately for the question in hand, but that that
is the
intention when doing so. They are building blocks, even if the building
is
engineered incorrectly.
Information.
I
would usually expect information to be an assessment or interpretation
of data.
Often information is not far removed from the ‘smallest
collectable unit’ as I
have defined “datum”. But I expect it to be some
abstraction from data... Information
does not inherently mean empirical or first hand analysis of data. It
also does
not guarantee correct interpretation of data although that is expected.
Knowledge
is
more subject, and intangible compared to information or data. It is
what an
individual takes from information and data, and what they incorporate
into
their beliefs, values, procedures, actions, etc. It is heavily
internally
oriented, understood completely only to the person possessing it. Much
work
around knowledge implies how to get the knowledge “out
of” one head and in to
another. Such transfer entails encoding knowledge into transferable
information
and decoding again into knowledge. Knowledge and information are not
the same,
but they feed from and support each other.
A
message
is the encoded
information or codified/explicit knowledge that is disseminated to
others. Very
much a Shannon and Weaver transmission model, but I also consider that
encoding
and decoding have a heavy personal, contextual and historical influence.
Ken
Herold, Hamilton College, USA
“Data
are dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being
meaning-neutral and a dual nature of description and instruction. Information
is dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being
belief-neutral and a dual nature of content and medium. Knowledge
is
dynamic objects of cultural experience having the aspect of being
action-neutral and a dual nature of abstracting to and from the world..
Prof.
William Hersh, Oregon Health
& Science University, USA
Data
are
the raw observations about the world collected by scientists and
others, with a
minimum of contextual interpretation. Information
is the aggregation of
data to make coherent observations about the world. Knowledge
is the
rules and organizing principles gleaned from data to aggregate it into
information.
Prof.
Birger Hjorland, Royal School of
Library & Information Science, Denmark
Data
are observations and measurements you make on objects (artifacts,
sites, seeds,
bones) and on their contexts. Data are theory-laden.
Regarding
the
theory of knowledge organization we may say that knowledge is not
organized by
elements called data combined or processed according to some
algorithmic
procedure. What data are is domain specific and theory-laden. At the
most
general level what is seen as data is depending of the epistemological
view
that one subscribes to.
Information.
The
most fruitful theoretical view is here based on Karpatschof's
interpretation of
information and activity theory, AT (2000, p. 128ff.). In order to
define
information, Karpatschof introduces the concept of release mechanisms,
being
systems having at their disposal a store of potential energy, the
systems being
”designed” to let this energy out in specific ways,
whenever trigged by a
signal fulfilling the specifications of the release mechanism. The
signal that
triggers a certain release mechanism is a low energy phenomenon
fulfilling some
release specifications. The signal is thus the indirect cause, and the
process
of the release mechanism the direct cause of the resulting reaction,
which is a
high-energy reaction compared to the energy in the signal. Information
is thus
defined as a quality by a given signal relative to a certain mechanism.
The
release mechanism has a double
function: (1) it reinforces the weak signal and (2) it directs the
reaction by
defining the functional value of a signal in the pre-designed system of
the
release mechanism. There has been a tendency to consider information to
be an
obscure category in addition to the classical categories of physics.
Information is indeed a new category, but it cannot be placed,
eclectically,
beside the prior physical categories. Information is a category, not
beside,
but indeed above the classical categories of physics. Therefore,
information is
neither directly reducible to these classical categories, nor is it a
radically
different category of another nature than mass and energy.
Information
is, in fact, the
causal result of
existing physical components and processes. Moreover, it is an emergent
result
of such physical entities. This is revealed in the systemic definition
of
information. It is a relational concept that includes the source, the
signal,
the release mechanism and the reaction as its reactants. The release
mechanism
is a signal processing system and an information processing system.
Information
is
thus defined in physical terms of signals, mechanisms and energy, but
probably
first arose with the biological world. Hjørland (2002)
outlines the development
of information processing mechanisms in the biological, the cultural
and the
social world.
Many
professionals can claim to work with "the generation, collection,
organization, interpretation, storage, retrieval,
dissemination, transformation
and use of information". This is not specific to information
professionals. (Their specific work is discussed in Capurro &
Hjørland
(2003) and elsewhere). Hjørland (2000) investigates when and
why the word "information"
became associated with library schools (and thus knowledge
organization) and
what the theoretical implications in the shift from documents to
information
imply”.
Knowledge.
Different
epistemologies (theories of knowledge) have different views on the
nature of knowledge. I subscribe to the pragmatic
theory of knowledge. The most important influence from pragmatic
philosophy has been skepticism towards any claim of knowledge. A claim
of
knowledge should never be regarded as finally verified. It should just
be
regarded as just a claim. However, claims may be supported by empirical
and
logical arguments. Knowledge claims are parts of more comprehensive
theories.
Knowledge claims are not purely arbitrary. Instead of regarding science
as a
collection of true statements, it should be regarded as a collection of
supported knowledge claims. In ordinary speech, knowledge then means
that part
of our background assumptions, that we do not find it fruitful to put
questions
to.
Prof.
Donald Kraft, Louisiana State
University, USA
Data
are atomic
facts, basic elements of “truth”, without
interpretation or greater context. It
is related to things we sense. Information
is a set of
facts with processing capability added, such as context, relationships
to other
facts about the same or related objects, implying an increased
usefulness.
Information provides meaning to data. Knowledge
is
information with more context and understanding, perhaps with the
addition of
rules to extend definitions and allow inference.
Prof.
Yves François Le Coadic, National Technical
University, France
Datum (in our
sector mainly electronic) is the
conventional representation, after coding (using ASCII,
for example), of information. Information is knowledge
recorded on a spatio-temporal support. Knowledge
is the result of forming in mind an idea of something (Le
Coadic, 2004).
Dr. Jo
Link-Pezet, Urfist, and
University of Social Sciences, France
Data
are commonly seen as simple,
isolated facts, though products of intellectual activity in their rough
shape. Knowledge
is the appropriation of information in the process of learning, acting,
interpreting. Knowledge is in the head of people, yet knowledge can be
shared.
Knowledge refers to the way information is used during the intellectual
process.
Michal
Lorenz, Masaryk University
in Brno, Czech Republic
Data
are formalized parts (i.e., digitalized contents) of
sociocultural information potentionally proccessable by technical
facilities
which disregard the cognitive process and that is why it is necessary
to
provide them with meanings from outside (i.e. they are objective). Information
is a relationship between an inner arrangement (i.e., a priori set
structure
(Smajs &
Krob, 2003),
implicate order of a system and
its present embodiment in reality (explicate order) including
mediating memory processes (i.e., historically dependent processes)
releasing
the meaning. Knowledge is tacitly or consciously
grasped and
interiorized content of information related and meaningfully integrated
into a
unifying frame of experience among other information contents
interiorized in
the same way, the complex of which reflects subjective understanding of
environment. Mistakes arise from integration of misinformation or from
integration of contradictory information into a unifying frame of
experience
(the second leads to cognitive dissonance and motivates to seek another
information).
Prof.
Michel J. Menou, Knowledge and ICT
management consultant, France
Data
are perceptible or
perceived - if and when the signal can be interpreted by the 'user' -
attributes of physical, biological, social or conceptual entities. Information
is recorded and organized data that can be communicated (Porat
& Rubin, 1977). However, it is advisable to distinguish
between the various states or conditions of information (e.g.
information-as an
object (Buckland, 1991b), or semantic, syntactic and paradigmatic
states
(Menou, 1995). Knowledge is
information that is understood,
further to its utilization, stored, retrievable and reusable under
appropriate
circumstances or conditions..
.
Prof.
Haidar Moukdad, Dalhousie
University, Canada
Data are
sets of characters, symbols, numbers, and audio/visual bits that
are represented and/or encountered in raw forms. Inherently, knowledge
is
needed to decipher data and turn them into information”. Information
is
facts, figures, and other forms of meaningful representations that when
encountered by or presented to a human being are used to enhance
his/her
understanding of a subject or related topics. Knowledge
is a reservoir
of information that is stored in the human mind. It essentially
constitutes the
information that can be “retrieved” from the human
mind without the need to
consult external information sources.
Prof.
Charles Oppenheim, Loughborough
University, UK
Data
are raw material of information, typically numeric.Information
is data
which is collected together with commentary, context and analysis so as
to be
meaningful to others. Knowledge is a combination of
information and a
person's experience, intuition and expertise.
Prof.
Lena Vania Pinheiro, Brazilian Institute
for Information in Science and Technology, Brazil
Datum
is an object or crude fact
perceived by the subject, non – constructed nor elaborated in
the consciousness,
without passing through neither analysis processes nor evaluation for
its
transfer as information. Information is a
phenomenon generated from
knowledge and integrated therein, analyzed and interpreted to achieve
the
transfer process of message (i.e., meaningful content) and the
cognitive
transformations of people and communities, in a historical, cultural
and social
context. Knowledge is a social and cognitive
process formed by the
passing or assimilated information to thought and to action. Message
is
the meaningful content of information..
Prof.
Maria Pinto, University of
Granada, Spain
Data
are primitive symbolic entities, whose meaning
depend on it integration within a context that allow their
understanding by an
interpreter. Information is the intentional
composition of data by a
sender with the goal of modifying the knowledge state of an interpreter
or
receiver. Knowledge is the intelligent information
processing by the
receiver and it consequent incorporation to the individual or social
memory (Belkin
& Robertson, 1976; Blair, 2002).
Prof.
Roberto Poli, University of
Trento, Italy
Signs.
The distinctive feature of signs is that they denote something,
regardless of
whether that something exists or does not exist, is concrete or
abstract,
possible or impossible, a thing or an event, a substance or a
determination, an
individual or a collective. Analysis even of one single sign leads to a
multiplicity of signs and their denoted items. For this reason, we may
say that
the sign contains a reference to both the denoted item considered per
se, in
isolation, and the contexts or situations in which the denoted item
appears.
And of these of especial importance are those that, for lack of better
terminology,
we can call the proximal context and the distal context. The proximal
context
is the net of relations that hold among the items denoted by signs. On
the
other hand, the distal context is the outcome of a categorization
procedure.
Its most usual form is that constituted by the reply to questions like
'what is
this?', where acceptable replies are of the type 'this is an animate
being',
'this is an artifact', 'this is a property', etc. This codification of
the two
types of context enables me to propose the following distinction
between data
and information.
Datum.
Def. 1. x is a datum = x is a sign that denotes entities
or attributes in a proximal context. In the light of this definition
one
understands why conventional analyses of consistency and integrity, or
procedures of normalization, are effective techniques for the
organization and
rationalization of data. From a technological point of view, relational
data-bases are the currently most advanced products available for the
efficient
handling of data.
Information.
Def. 2. x is an item of information = x is a datum in adistal context.
Definition 2 tells us that information is made up of more
structured items. That is to say, information is the embedding of
signs-in-a-proximal-context
(i.e., data) in a distal context. Information, thus, adds greater
structure to
data. These definitions provide a first explanation for the scant
interest aroused
by proposals to draw more exact distinctions between data and
information. In effect,
in concrete cases of application, it is often difficult to distinguish
precisely between distal and proximal contexts.
Conditions of knowledge. Knowledge
is apparently not reducible solely to
information
and data. The problem is to understand 'what is lacking', what must be
added to
information and data in order to achieve true knowledge. My claim is
that the
meaning of a sign is given by the position of the sign in a field of
signs (in
a space). On the other hand, the content of a sign is given by the
position of
the item (denoted by the sign) in a field of items. Data, information,
meanings
and contents cover the field of knowledge. This amounts to saying that
we have
knowledge when we know (1) which item is denoted by which sign, (2) the
item's proximal
context, (3) the item's distal contexts, (4) the sign's position in the
field
of signs, (5) the item's position in the field of items (Poli, 2001).
..
Data,
information, knowledge, message. I
am unable to understand why data, information, knowledge and message
are placed
on the same level of analysis. I would suggest considering message as
the “vehicle”
carrying either data or information (which can be taken as synonymous).
Knowledge hints to either a systematic framework (e.g., laws, rules or
regularities, that is higher-order “abstractions”
from data) or what somebody
or some community knows (“I know that you are
married”). In this latter sense
knowledge presents a “subjective” side.
Prof.
Ronald Rousseau, KHBO, and University
of Antwerp, Belgium
Data
are a
representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner, and hence
capable of
being communicated or manipulated by some process. So: data is related
to facts and machines ( Holmes, 2001). Information
is the meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known
conventions
used in its representation. Information is
related to meaning and humans (Holmes, 2001).
Scott
Seaman, University of
Colorado, Boulder, USA
Datum
is a quantifiable fact that can be repeatedly measured. Information
is
an organized collection of disparate datum. Knowledge
is the summation
of information into independent concepts and rules that can explain
relationships
or predict outcomes.
Prof.
Richard Smiraglia, Long Island
University, USA
“Data
are raw evidence,
unprocessed, eligible to be processed to produce knowledge. Information
is the process of becoming informed; it is dependent on knowledge,
which is
processed data. Knowledge perceived, becomes
information. Knowledge is
what is known, more than data, but not yet information. Recorded
knowledge may
be accessed in formal ways. Unrecorded knowledge is accessible in only
chaotic
ways.
Prof. Paul Sturges,
Loughborough University, UK
Data
are discrete items of
information that I would call facts on some subject or other, not
necessarily
set within a fully worked out framework. Information
is facts and ideas
communicated (or made available for communication). Knowledge
is the considered
product of information. Selection as to what is valid and relevant is a
necessary condition of the acquisition of knowledge.
Prof.
Carol Tenopir, University of
Tennessee, USA
Data
are facts
that are the result of observation or measurement. (Landry et al,
1970). Information
is meaningful data. Or data arranged or interpreted in a way to provide
meaning. Knowledge is internalized or understood
information that can be
used to make decisions.
Dr.
Joanne Twining, Intertwining.org, a
virtual information consultancy, USA
Data
are unprocessed, unrelated raw facts or artifacts (Nitecki 1993).
Information is data or knowledge processed into relations
(between data and
recipient) (Nitecki 1993). Knowledge is information
scripted into
relations with recipient experiences.
Prof.
Anna da Soledade Vieira, Federal University
of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Data
are representations of facts and raw material of information. Information
is data organized to produce meaning. Knowledge is
meaningful content
assimilated for use. The three entities can be viewed as hierarchical
in terms
of complexity, data being the simplest and knowledge, the most complex
of the
three. Knowledge is the product of a synthesis in our mind that can be
conveyed
by information, as one of many forms of its externalization and
socialization.
Prof.
Irene Wormell, Swedish School of
Library and Information Science in Borås, Sweden
Data
are alphabetic or numeric signs, which without context do not have any
meaning. Information is a set of symbols that
represent knowledge. Information is what context creates/gives to data.
It is
cognitive. Normally it is understood as a new and additional element in
collecting data and information for planned action. Knowledge
is
enriched information by a person's or a system's own experience. It is
cognitive based. Knowledge is not transferable, but through information
we can
communicate about it. (Note that the highest level of information
processing is
the generation of wisdom, where various kinds of knowledge are
communicated and
integrated behind an action.
Prof.
Yishan Wu, Institute of
Scientific and Technical Information of China, China
Data
are artifacts
that reflect a phenomenon in natural or social world in the form of
figures,
facts, plots, etc.
Information
is
anything communicated among living things.
It is one of the three mainstays supporting
the survival and evolution of life, along with energy and materials. Knowledge
is
a human construct, which categorize
things, record significant events, and find causal relations among
things
and/or events, etc. in a systematic way.
Chaim
Zins, Knowledge Mapping Research, Israel
Inferential
propositional knowledge. In
traditional epistemology, there are three main kinds of knowledge:
practical
knowledge, knowledge by acquaintance, and propositional knowledge
(Bernecker
and Dretske, 2000). Practical knowledge refers to skills (i.e.,
functional
abilities, such as driving a car). Knowledge by acquaintance is direct
non-mediated recognition of external physical objects and organisms
(e.g., "this
is Albert Einstein"), or the direct recognition of inner phenomena
(e.g.,
pain, hunger). Propositional knowledge usually comes in the form of
'knowing
that''; S (subject) knows that P (proposition). It is the reflective
and/or the
expressed content of what a person thinks that he or she knows. Note
that the
contents of our reflective and/or expressed thoughts are in the form of
propositions. Propositional knowledge is divided into inferential and
non-inferential knowledge. Non-inferential propositional knowledge
refers to
direct intuitive understanding of phenomena (e.g., ""This is a true
love"). Inferential knowledge is a product of inferences, such as
induction and deduction. The field of information science, as well as
any
academic field, is composed of inferential propositional knowledge, as
they are
published in articles and books. This analysis is focused on defining
"data", "information", and "knowledge" as they
are related and implemented in inferential propositional knowledge.
Subjective
vs. objective realms. Data
(D), information (I), and knowledge (K) phenomena have two distinctive
modes of
existence; namely, in the subjective and in the objective realms.
Correspondingly,
we differentiate between subjective knowledge and
objective knowledge. Note
that "subjective knowledge" is equivalent here to the knowledge of
the subject or the individual knower, and "objective knowledge" is
equivalent here to knowledge as an object or a thing. Subjective
knowledge
exists in the individual's internal world (i.e., as a thought), while
objective
knowledge exists in the individual's external world (e.g., as it is
published
in books, presented in digital libraries, and stored in electronic
devices). In
this context, they are not related to arbitrariness and truthfulness,
which are
usually attached to the concepts of "subjective knowledge" and
"objective
knowledge". To avoid confusion, I will use the terms "universal
knowledge" and "collective knowledge (i.e., knowledge in the
collective realm) rather than "objective knowledge". The distinction
between subjective knowledge and universal knowledge differs from the
distinction between private knowledge and public knowledge. "Private
knowledge" is the individual's intimate knowledge. These are thoughts
on
contents known only to the individual, such as intimate dreams and
feelings,
"hidden agenda (i.e., hidden goals and incentives)."Public
knowledge" refers to thoughts that the individual consider as
knowledge,
and they are on contents known to other people as well (e.g.,
"2+2=4", "Paris
is the capital of France")."
Six
distinctive concepts. Having
established the distinction between the subjective and the universal
domains,
we are in a position to define the three key concepts "data",
"information", and "knowledge". In fact, we have six
concepts to define, divided into two distinctive sets of three. One set
relates
to the subjective domain, and the other – to the universal
domain.
D-I-K
in the subjective domain.
In the subjective domain, data are the sensory
stimuli, which we
perceive through our senses. Information is the
meaning of these sensory
stimuli (i.e., the empirical perception). For example, the noises that
I hear are
data. The meaning of these noises (e.g., a running car engine) is
information.
Still, there is another alternative as to how to define these two
concepts -
which seems even better. Data are sense stimuli, or
their meaning (i.e.,
the empirical perception). Accordingly, in the example above, the loud
noises,
as well as the perception of a running car engine, are data. Information
is empirical knowledge. Accordingly, in the example above, the
knowledge that
the engine is now on and the car is leaving is information, since it is
empirically based. Information is a type of knowledge, rather than an
intermediate stage between data and knowledge. Knowledge
is a thought in
the individual's mind, which is characterized by the individual's
justifiable
belief that it is true. It can be empirical and non-empirical, as in
the case
of logical and mathematical knowledge (e.g., "every triangle has three
sides"), religious knowledge (e.g., "God exists"), philosophical
knowledge (e.g., "Cogito ergo sum"), and the like. Note that
"knowledge" is the content of a thought in the individual's mind, which
is characterized by the individual's justifiable belief that it is
true, while
"knowing" is a state of mind which is characterized by the three
conditions: (1) the individual believe that it is true, (2) S/he can
justify
it, and (3) It is true, or
it is appear
to be true.
D-I-K
in the universal domain. In
the universal domain, data, information, and knowledge are human
artifacts.
They are represented by empirical signs (i.e., signs that one can sense
through
his/her senses). They can take on diversified forms such as engraved
signs,
painted forms, printed words, digital signals, light beams, sound
waves, and
the like. Universal data, universal information, and universal
knowledge mirror
their cognitive counterparts. Meaning, in the objective domain data
are
sets of signs that represent empirical stimuli or perceptions, information
is a set of signs, which represent empirical knowledge, and knowledge
is
a set of signs that represent the meaning (or the content) of thoughts
that the
individual justifiably believes that they are true.
..
Signs
vs. meaning. Defining
the D-I-K phenomena as sets of signs needs to be refined. There is
a fundamental distinction between documented (i.e., written, spoken, or
physically expressed) propositions and meanings. "E=MC2",
"E=MC2", and "E=MC2"
are not three different types of knowledge. These
are three different sets of signs that represent the same meaning. In
other
words, they are three different utterances of the same knowledge. Knowledge,
in the collective domain, is the meaning
that is represented by written and spoken statements (i.e., sets of
symbols).
However, since we cannot perceive with our senses the meaning itself,
which is
an abstract entity, we can relate only to the sets of signs (i.e.,
written,
spoken, or physically expressed propositions), which represent it.
Apparently,
it is more useful to relate to the data, information, and knowledge as
sets of
signs rather than as meaning
and its building blocks.
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Five
Models for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge
1.
UD:
D-I; SD: K; meaning: D-I are external phenomena; K
are internal
phenomena. This is the most common one. It underlies the
rationale of the name "Information
Science"; that is, Information Science is focused on exploring data and
information, which are external phenomena. It does not explore
knowledge, which
is internal phenomena.
2.
UD: D; SD: I-K; meaning:
D are external phenomena; I-K are internal phenomena.
3. UD: D-I-K; SD:
I-K; meaning: D are external phenomena; I-K phenomena can be in both
domains, external or internal.
4. UD:
D-I; SD: D-I-K; meaning: D-I phenomena
can be in both domains, external or internal; K phenomena are internal.
5.
UD: D-I-K; SD: D-I-K; meaning: D-I-K
phenomena can be in both domains, universal (i.e., external) or
subjective
(i.e., internal). |
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Model 1
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Model 2
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Model 3
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Model 4
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Model 5
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UD
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SD
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UD
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SD
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UD
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SD
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UD
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SD
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UD
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SD
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D
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D
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D
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D
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D
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D
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D
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I
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I
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I
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I
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I
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I
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I
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I
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K
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K
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K
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K
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K
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K
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K
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| Five
models for Defining Data,
Information,
and Knowledge; What
is your model? |
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.
 
 |
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10 Pillars of Knowledge: Map
of Human Knowledge
Library
Classifications |
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November 2013 ©
Copyright Dr.
Chaim
Zins, Jerusalem, 2002-2013. All rights reserved.
Chaim
Zins,
Knowledge Mapping Research, 26 Hahaganah St. Jerusalem, 97852 tel:
972-2-5816705 chaim.zins@gmail.com |
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