in this competitive world, information have a great role in every area, information plays great roles in decision making. It is imperative that we begin with an understanding of what we actually mean by the term information.
In other words, I know what I intend them to mean, but at this stage you do not. Even if you have made a guess you cannot be sure. As the numbers stand they do not tell us anything with confidence. They do not convey any meaning to us and so they do not convey any information to us.
We have arrived at a definition of information:
A Definition of Information
Information is the meaning conveyed to us by some concrete representation of that information.
Of course the representation need not be numbers – for instance "baa baa" could be another representation of the same information.
Let us pause and consider these representations:
1. They tell us nothing with certainty,
2. They are symbolic,
3. They are easily stored in a computer.
We call such representations data.
A Definition of Data
Data is the encoded representation of information. It is commonly said that whilst data is the raw material, information is the finished product. There is one further aspect that we must consider, as this understanding is too simple for anyone in the real world.
Examining the two data representations "100 100" and "baa baa", we can think of each as a further encoding of the other. In other words they are the same thing.
The possible meanings conveyed to us could include:
1. The number one hundred thousand and one hundred,
2. A date. But is it the 10th January 2000, or the 1st October 2000 as expressed in the North American style?
3. The binary equivalent of the number we normally give as 36. This is
the numbering system used inside computers.
4. The sound made by a sheep.
5. Musical notes in series as for the tune "Three Blind Mice".
6. Any others you may have thought of.
To choose the correct option from these we need to know the context in which the data is presented. Each of the options can be correct within its own separate context. We can now say that to understand a piece of information we need to interpret the data representation within a previously understood context. This has a knock-on effect on our understanding of information, however. For an example we will further consider option number 3 above of the binary numbering system used inside computers. If you are one of the many who do not know what binary numbers means, then the data representation is still just data to you. No information is conveyed. We can say that what is information to one is usually just data to another. So all representations are both data and information at the same time and it depends upon a context and further understanding to turn data into information.
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