[Year 12 IPM] Data vs Information

[Robert Timmer-Arends]

I have to agree with Mike. Pre 1980's (?) we had data processing not
information processing, and in principle nothing has changed - as far as
data is concerned what computers do now they did in the 1960's, it's just a
lot more sophisticated now.
Another way to look at Mike's argument is this: a (almost) classic
definition of 'information' in IT is: information = data + meaning. Let's
take this as a given, then we have to ask 'where does meaning come from?'
The answer is 'from somewhere inside our heads'. In other words, meaning is
not 'attached' to data until we receive it. When we in IT talk about
'information processing' we are really talking about making the data as hard
to misinterpret as possible; that is, making it very difficult to arrive at
an unintended meaning by adding more data to it, formatting it etc. (of
course there are plenty of people who specialise in doing the opposite!).
But the point is, that for all that processing, meaning only becomes
attached when a person reads the data - until then it is just data.
Mike point about the way the terms are changed over time is interesting - it
is happening right now with 'knowledge' - knowledge management, knowledge
engineering - what a lot of nonsense: knowledge is something you know, not
what a computer has stored on a disk somewhere!

Regards
Robert T-A