[Sigia-l] RE: Data vs. Information

[Thomas Vander Wal]

On 1/9/03 3:14 AM, "Carol Butler" <carolbutler at attbi.com> wrote:

> Boniface said:
> "What does it mean to use the blurry line? It means recognizing the
> importance of context in presenting whatever to the users. One IA may
> say I am presenting data; another IA may say it is information. Fine.
> What matters is whether users have enough context to make sense of the
> data/information. The rest is just angels on a pinhead."
> 
> I agree, what matters IS whether users have enough context.
> 
> And while in some senses the data-information debate is *just angels on a
> pinhead* it's also perfectly appropriate that of all the people on the
> planet, the dedicated community of IAs are the ones you would expect to
> wrestle with the details.  As Thomas said:
> 
> "Understanding the finer points helps us understand when we have a product
> that is usable and findable. ...  As IAs we work with full pieces of
> information and other times it is smaller chunks of information that may be
> just a collection of data points to some.  We should know the difference..."

Carol provides a nice summary and asks a good question...

> (why do we always spend more time on the data-information part in these
> discussions ... i've seen it happen over and over again ... then a few
> people join in to remind us of knowledge and wisdom ... and we all concur
> ... but data/information keeps coming back as a discussion topic.)

Data and information can not be removed from the the understanding that
knowledge follows in the continuum.  Our projects may not offer the tools
information to reach the knowledge stage.  Having gone through the process
of educating clients and co-workers on the data > information > knowledge
continuum it is easier to understand the data and information interaction
than the information and knowledge interaction.  Knowledge is more
ephemeral, but not having the right collection of information will hinder
access to obtaining knowledge (knowledge is not necessarily gained from
formal education, formal education should teach one how to learn by finding
the data and building usable information from that data, discerning the good
and bad data and information, and from this creating their own knowledge).

As IAs, I suspect and others have pointed out in this thread, most of us
deal with already formed information.  We try to form structures around this
information to help the information be found.  We try to provide access to
ease the attraction from one chunk of information to other chunks of
relevant information.  Piecing together enough pieces of information may
help the user get some knowledge, which is exactly the same process for
creating information from data.  Where many sites and information
applications have problems is not providing enough information chunks or the
right information chunks to make the information usable.  Our goal should be
to create rich information sets.

If we look at an Amazon book page we see not only a lot of data, but a lot
of chunks of information.  The abundance of information provides the user
with much of the information to determine if this is the book they are
wanting to buy, if this is the book they heard about, if this book will be
helpful to them, if this book is available, if this book was liked by other
readers and why it was enjoyed or not enjoyed, and if this book is like
others they have read or has others like it.  Each of these chunks of
information could stand alone and other smaller book sites offer these
pieces of information as their only offering.  Where Amazon creates rich
information that *could* turn in to knowledge is combining the chunks of
information together in a manner that helps the user take action.

Why does the data and information discussion pop-up often.  Maybe it has not
been learned or understood why it should be learned.  We are Information
Architects and we should know how information is created if we are to be
taken seriously by people who pay us and the people we interact with to
perform our jobs.

All the best, 
Thomas

-- 
www.vanderwal.net

The future is mine, not Microsoft's