SV: [Sigia-l] RE: Data vs. Information

[David Heller]

"Am I mad to be thinking of information
as a substance.  One that hold society
together, and the universe as well."

I would have to say you are. When it comes down to it information is a
cultural intangible, a construct. Data is a substance, how that data is
described begins to give it context which is culturally derived and thus
grows into the intangible and and interpretable. 

I think that the continuum that people are talking about is one in where
data is given more and more structure. The more structure or context
that data has the more it becomes information. How can you talk about
any data point w/o some sort of structure.

For example:
"23"

23 what?

Ok,

"23 degrees"

23 F or C?

"23C"

Is that in the shade or sun?

"23C in the shade?"

I think you get the point. The data is 23 .. The concept of a "degree"
is already a cultural designation that has multiple interpretations,
then C, then shade, then windchill, then humidity and so forth till you
get to a piece of information. It feels 23c today outside in the shade,
w/ a breeze from the NW ... Blah blah blah.

Now structure that visually and it becomes different again.

Data is a substance, but information is just an extrapolation.

-- dave

David Heller
Sr. User Interface Designer
Documentum: The Leader in Enterprise Content Management
925.600.5636
 
david.heller at documentum.com
http://www.documentum.com/
AIM: bolinhanyc  //  Yahoo: dave_ux  //  MSN: hippiefunk at hotmail.com
 
--"If it isn't useful, it will never be usable."