[Sigia-l] data as information?

[Ted Han]

On 6/30/05, Alexander Johannesen <alexander.johannesen at gmail.com> wrote:

> > this entire discussion slipped into idiocy some time ago. The issues
> > raised have largely been thrashed out by excellent comments from:
> 
> Really? Well, let's have a look then ...

> > Ted Han
> 
> Can't find any perticular post, neither with Ziya nor me that stands
> out as proof in the pudding. Thrashing? Bollocks.

http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0506/0451.html

That was my contribution :P

More generally speaking, i'm not entirely sure where i come down on
the information/data distinction.  I think attempts to make this
distinction are getting at something, i'm just not sure whether this
is the proper formulation of what that thing is.  The reason why i
think there is something substantive here, is that there is a clear
distinction that should be made between random collections of stuff,
and stuff that has been appropriately configured to be useful.  Where
the configuration is to take place is a different matter, and i think
partially an issue of how you conceptually model the world.  Is it the
case that you are configuring information to be better suited for
consumption by devices, or whether you are configuring devices to
better consume information, or some middle ground betwixt the two (i
suspect it is in reality the middle ground).

-T