Data and Information Index Page

• The nature of information - Quantitative, Qualitative, Formal, Informal
• The structure of information - Detailed, Summarised, Sampled, Aggregated
• Forms of information - e.g. aural, visual, tactile, textual, graphic, taste
• Characteristics of data - including Analogue vs digital
• The value of data
• Judging the value of data coming from the internet
• The uses of information - inform, persuade, educate, entertain
• Primary and Secondary data, and how to collect them

First and foremost: remember that data and information are NOT the same and should never be used as if they mean the same thing. Data are raw, unprocessed facts and figures. Information is data that has been processed into a meaningful form.

e.g. A sack of corn (data) is useless to a hungry man until it is processed into cornflakes (information), by steaming and toasting it.

Similarly, 25 million census forms are useless to a government or commercial body until they are processed into usable information (e.g. by counting, averaging, categorising, mapping, graphing)

In the information processing cycle it is the PROCESSING stage that is the turning point, where data becomes information. Think of it as puberty for data. Well, maybe not. You get the idea, anyway.