Uses and Misuses of Terms in Knowledge Management
Data: is a raw presentation with out meaning unless it undergoes some form of processing e.g. numbers in a cell of a spreadsheet means nothing until it has been processed or defined
Information: is when raw data has been given some meaning or has been processed.
Information needs to be timely, meaningful and useful e.g. following the analogy above of numbers in a cell of a spreadsheed, it becomes information when the provider names the cell ‘Friday’s Team Attendance’ for instance.
Knowledge: is information that changes something or somebody -- either by becoming grounds for actions, or by making an individual (or an institution) capable of different or more effective action." -- Peter F. Drucker in The New Realities
My deduction is: there is a relationship between data, information and knowledge. Without data information cannot exist and without information knowledge cannot exist either. And the next step in the ladder as it were is wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to apply acquired knowledge.
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Hi Yemi, after our group discussion on Thursday I came up with a few ideas on relationships between data information and knowledge and changed my view from the idea of these three entities as a linear progression to one of a more cyclical nature. I have tried to express it in a diagram that I hope makes some sense!
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