Knowledge Infomation Data

What is the difference between Data, Information and Knowledge ?

DATA: "Data are the basic building blocks of information"(Josephine chinying lang 2001).
Data is just raw. It may be used or may not be used. It may be in usable form or may not be (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d). "Data is always specified in some conceptual context. The conceptual context is the one that expresses data in a structured format"(Joseph.M.Firestone 2001).
Data provided should contain a minimum of relationship and behaviour (Sujatha Das 2007).

For example:

• Lecture 2:00PM - 4:59PM R College Building C207 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Lecture Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab
• Laboratory 9:30AM - 12:29PM R College Building C117 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Laboratory Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab
• Laboratory 9:30AM - 12:29PM F College Building C117 12 Jan 2009 - 3 Apr 2009 Laboratory Bakr M. Abdel-Motelab

After I first saw the above data I was unable to interpret anything and when I asked a class mate of mine he told me how to understand that data so that I can get some Information out of that. And after that I came to know how that data is important to me.

INFORMATION: Information means giving meaning to the provided data or explaining the data that we have been provided with (Sujatha Das 2007). The meaning may be useful to us but it is not a compulsion that the Information we got from the data is useful (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d).

For Example: We are considering the same data provided in the example field where the meaning of "Data" has been told. So from that data we can get the information as:

There is a Lecture from 2:00PM untill 4:59PM on every Thursday in the college building and the classroom in which this lecture is being held is C207 and the date range of this lecture is from Jan 12 2009 to 3 April 2009 and the section type is Lecture and the Instructors of this lecture are Mr. Bakr M. Abdel Motelab and Mr. Mark Woodman. And there are Laboratory's from 9:30AM untill 12:29PM on thursday and Friday in the college building and the laboratory room is C117 and the date range of this Laboratory is from Jan 12 2009 to April 03 2009 and the section type is laboratory and the Instructors for this Laboratory are Mr. Bakr M. Abdel Motelab and Mr. Mark Woodman.

After I interpreted the data and collected the information of my time-table for the module BIS 4410 Knowledge management strategies I thought of using this information to grasp what ever knowledge I can get.

KNOWLEDGE: Knowledge is collecting the Information appropriately from the information we got from the provided data but not memorising the information (Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d). The quality of Knowledge depends on following the rules and regulations are validated and how far we can improve an organisation using this knowledge (Sujatha Das 2007).

For Example: Classes for the module BIS 4410 Knowledge Management Strategies are starting from 12 Jan 2009 in the college building which include both Lectures and Laboratories on the days thursday and friday, however the laboratory on friday is for those who were unable to get a place in the thursday batch and we have to attend these lectures and laboratories regularly so that we will not miss the valuable lectures which are very much useful to understand the module and will not be told twice if we miss any class and on time or the Instructors will not give attendance for the whole lecture or lab for whatever we showed up late and we have to work hard inorder to pass in this module. And as we have lectures and laboratories on these days and the specified timings we have to plan our journey such that we reach on time for the classes and shift the timings of our part time jobs if any accordingly.

So this was the knowledge I acquired from the data provided intially, through which I got some information and by carefully interpreting that information. This knowledge I acquired may not be the same between all my classmates and may differ from one class mate to another as they comprehend the data and information in their own perspective and may gain more knowledge than me.

So, according to my view Data, Information and Knowledge are interlinked and all of them play a major role as without data we donot get Information and without both of them we donot acquire Knowledge. So inorder to acquire knowledge we need to have proper data i.e., data which is meaningful through which information can be drawn out. However, when extracting knowledge from the provided data and the acquired information I think it depends on an individual as of what knowledge he can gain as knowledge depends upon one's understanding and comprehension and changes from one individual to another as said by Wilson T.D (2002).

The above provided example gives a brief description as of how we can distinguish between data, information and knowledge. The example provided is the schedule for our class timings which can be interpreted in different ways and the detailed explanation provided under the Knowledge field is the knowledge that I acquired from the information I got by looking at the provided data.

REFERENCE

• Firestone, J. M. Key Issues in Knowledge Management. In Knowledge and Innovation, Journal of the KMCI. Vol. 1, No. 3, April 2001, Knowledge Management Consortium International. Retrieved Retrieved 11th February 2009, from: http://www.kmci.org/media/firestoneissueskiv1n3.pdf .
• Wilson, T.D. (2002) "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'" Information Research, 8(1),Retrieved on 11th february 2009, from: http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html .
• Josephine chinying lang 2001, Retrieved on 11th February 2009, from: http://rsk666.blogspot.com/
• Sujatha Das 2007, Retrived on 1st February 2009, from http://knowmgt.blogspot.com/2007/07/difference-between-data-information.html
• Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro, Anthony Mills n.d Retrived 1st February 2009, from http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm