Week 11: Clear on Data vs. Information

This week I was actually shocked at how easily I understood the information in comparison to past weeks. The lecture I found most interesting and easy to understand was the Data vs. Information lecture. In the past, I have used the terms data and information interchangeably, but after reading and watching this lecture, I'll most likely never catching myself making that mistake again. In fact, I may even correct other people when using the two terms incorrectly because if this lesson has taught me anything, it is that they are not the same.

Data and information go hand-in-hand, but they are not interchangeable. Data is raw facts and figures while information is data in context. In other words, data creates information. Data is raw. When the data is transformed from a raw state into context, it can be used to answer questions and support decision making, which is information!

The example used in lecture illustrated this concept perfectly. Take a scatter spot of raw data. Alone, they are just clusters of data, but the data becomes information when a correlation in the scattered dots is recognized and formed. I like to think as the transformation of data into information as a growth, in which the data is young and the information is mature. And like any other kind of growth, there is always more room to mature.

Photo 1: Public Domain: http://www.infogineering.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/model.jpg

Photo 2: Public Domain: http://allpsych.com/researchmethods/images/scatterplot.gif