[Sigia-l] various definitions of "information"

[christina wodtke]

The excellent book on knowledge management, Working Knowledge
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578513014/eleganthack talks about
information as the middle part of the transition from data to knowledge...

"Data is a set of discrete, objective facts about events"

Information is not defined as succinctly (they get more verbose as the work
from simple concept to complex) but it essentially means that information is
data that shapes the receiver, or "data that makes a difference". and
interesting way of looking at it. "Data becomes information when its creator
adds meaning"

then we move on to knowledge "Knowledge is a fluid mix if framed experience,
values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework
for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It
originates and is applied in the mind of the knowers"

which suggests we can design information, but not knowledge or data-- an
interesting way to look at it.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Scheid" <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au>
To: "sigia l" <sigia-l at asis.org>
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2002 11:44 PM
Subject: [Sigia-l] various definitions of "information"


> I'm looking for soundbyte definitions of "information"
>
> Someone (who?) said "information is the difference that makes a
difference",
> while Richard Saul Wurman says "it informs". Meanwhile, less qualitively,
> from a brief reading of Shannon's groundbreaking work, it appears
Shannon's
> definition is closer to what most people think of being data.
>
> What are some other definitions?
>
> e.
>
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