[Sigia-l] What is in a definition?

[Hankinson, Jody]

A bit overdue, but I'm finally reading 'The User Illusion' by Tor
Norretranders. He touched a nerve for me when he wrote about measuring
information.

"Information is defined only once you have define who is talking to whom and
in what context. (p, 41)." 

He goes on to explain that context can be the mental state of a message's
originator. If the mental state of the communicator is not part of a message
the information changes states and becomes something he calls exformation.
I'm probably destroying his concepts, but I've taken it all to mean that
data, in context, is information. And information, without context, is data.

I'm using the idea in my practice to mean that the extranet I'm working on
is a collection of data and the user pathways provide the context. If I
don't get the paths correct (and that includes process and berry-picking),
the users won't have access to information. I'm not so sure I've been able
to impress this idea on the entire team, but sometimes a slow leak is more
effective that a big blast.

- Jody


Jody Hankinson | Information Architect
212.852.5051 | jhankinson at girlscouts.org
GSUSA | Where Girls Grow Strong | 420 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10018

-----Original Message-----
From: MacPherson, Darcy J [mailto:darcy.j.macpherson at boeing.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 6:02 PM
To: sigia-l at asis.org
Subject: [Sigia-l] What is in a definition?

I would like to get some comments on the use of the terms: Data and
Information

I have submitted some questions to help guide the thoughts on this.

How does the organization use the terms
Which term has value
Does one have more value than the other
How does the organization define the terms
How does the organization keep the terms straight (i.e. glossary,
controlled vocabulary, etc)
Has the organization made a conscious effort to use one term over the
other and how is/was that accomplished
If the terminology data or information is not used, what term is used
Is/was the organization successful in guiding the organization to move
away from the use of data as strictly a database term
What is the organization's definition of the terms

Any other two cents to offer

Thanks

Darcy J MacPherson
BCA Information Architecture
 
 



------------
When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
*Plain text, please; NO Attachments

Searchable list archive:   http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
________________________________________
Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l