Unit 1: What is Data and Information?

What is Data and Information?



What is Data?
Data, is defined as a body of facts or figures, which have been gathered for one or more specific purposes
data can exist in the forms of
linguistic expressions (e.g. name, age, address, date, ownership)
symbolic expressions (e.g. traffic signs)
mathematical expressions (e.g. E = mc2)
signals (e.g. electromagnetic waves)

What is Information?
Information, is defined as data which have been processed into a form that is meaningful to a recipient. In other words, data has to be interpreted in order to obtain information.
- although data are ingredients of information, not all data make useful information
- information is only useful to its recipients when it is
    +  relevant (to its intended purposes and with appropriate level of required detail)
    +  reliable, accurate and verifiable (by independent means)
    +  up-to-date and timely (depending on purposes)
Information system, is  a system used to  change "data" into "information“.