The Value of Data and Information

Why data and information are valuable

Note: "data" is the plural of "datum". Strictly speaking, you should say "data are" but using "data is" is so common nowadays it's not going to lose you marks if you misuse it.

Whether you are managing a business or you are a single home user, your data is worth a lot to you. Imagine your hard disk crashed tomorrow and you had no data backup. What sorts of data would you lose?

- your email address book
- your list of internet bookmarks (favourites)
- banking records
- letters you've written
- schoolwork you've done
- all the preferences you've entered to make your favourite programs work the way you like

Imagine the time, pain and effort it would take to re-create all those things. Your programs are easy to reinstall: just pop in the CD and reload them. Your MP3 files can be downloaded again. Your clipart can be restored (except for the clipart you created yourself.)

Think of the things you'd really scream about if you found they'd disappeared from your computer: what do they have in common? They are original. They are irreplaceable. You can't download your address book or schoolwork: they took a great deal of effort and time to create and replacing them would involve incredible work.

Now imagine you're a business manager. Your information system stores most of the things listed above, but also a lot more:

- client lists
- payroll information
- tax records
- accounting details
- transaction details
- records of who owes you money
- records of whom you owe money to

Imagine losing those: it would be more than a major pain in the rear end - it would be catastrophic. Your business would not know who its customers were or how to contact them. You could not pay your staff. The tax department would be after you with knives drawn. You would have no idea how much money the company had or where it was. You would not know who had ordered what or when. You could not get money back from debtors and you would not know who you owe money to. You'd probably be in court within the week, being sued by your creditors. Your income would be zero because you would not know who owed you money and your staff would probably not want to work for free. Your company would be bankrupt. You would be in gaol. Your beloved wife or husband would leave you. Your dog would hate you. (A bit melodramatic, maybe, but you get the idea).

I cannot stress too this too strongly: DATA ARE THE MOST VALUABLE THING A COMPANY OWNS.

For you at home, your computer is worth real dollars and losing it would be a major disaster. For a business, the computers are all insured. They can be replaced nearly instantly. The company's data, however, is hugely valuable. If you had to re-enter all the data you lost in a major system crash it would take you months (or years), it would cost you a fortune, it would cripple the company's productivity while the disaster recovery took place, employees would be taken off normal profitable work to claw back what you had lost. To re-create lost or damaged data costs thousands upon thousands of dollars and hours. An information systems manager simply cannot afford to have it happen. Ever.

So what dangers are there to data, and what can be done to protect it?

Number 1 cure: REGULAR, RELIABLE DATA BACKUP

If data is copied to a safe place regularly, even if the information system is hit by lightning and falling elephants, it can be restored with little or no loss.

Factors affecting the value of information in organisations

• Completeness
  
• Accuracy
  
• Timeliness - i.e. is it up to date and available when it's needed?
  
• Consistency
  
• Validity – unbiased, representative, verifiable
  
• Appropriateness – meaningful and relevant, formatted to suit the user’s needs
• Uniqueness - no competitor has it
• Relevance

completeness

If information is not complete, bad decision can be made. For example, if you were choosing a car, and had no information about safety on any of the models you were contemplating, you could make a really skull-crushing decision.

accuracy

It makes sense that accurate information is the best kind of information. Beware when you are searching for information... especially on the Internet. Any old idiot (like me) can say anything he or she likes. Doesn't mean it's worth a pinch of pig poo. You must judge each piece of information based on

i) What you already know (but sometimes what you know might be wrong!)
ii) The reputation of the information source (have they usually been accurate in the past?)
iii) Has the information been checked by others? (books are carefully edited by experts, webpages might not be)
iv) Is the author biased? (Do they work for the company who makes the product they are praising? Are they prejudiced?)
v) Is the information up-to-date (timely)? Are you buying a computer with a 1998 magazine ad?

timeliness

Information can be valuable one day, and useless the next. A newspaper article examining the chances of candidates in a Federal Election might be spot-on the day before the vote, and ridiculous the day after. All information has a "use by" date. Be very wary of consuming information that is out of date!

With books, check the date of publication. Some topics rarely change with time (e.g. the themes in Shakespeare). Others change by the minute (e.g. what stock is good value).

With webpages, check the "Last Updated" date, if there is one (be cautious if there isn't one and the issue is changing constantly.) Old webpages are sometimes only good for historical research...

consistency

Beware if your source of information changes its mind at various places, or contradicts itself. It is the sign that it is untrustworthy. If a newspaper review of a film glows about it, then later pans it, you can be sure the author is either confused or stupid. In either case, treat all the information with the caution it deserves.

validity

To be valuable, information should be unbiased, representative and verifiable.

Bias can be conscious (e.g. advertisements) or unconscious (through prejudice or ignorance).

If information neglects key topics or issues, it might not represent the full knowledge-base you need to know. If, for example, you wivit an American website discussing world history, don't be surprised if it seems that America won both World Wars single-handedly - even though they started late in each of them.

If information cannot be independently verified, it should be treated with utmost caution. In court, "hearsay" evidence is treated with near-contempt. Just because someone says something happened does not mean it really happened. There needs to be a way to investigate claims beyond what a single person (or organisation) says. If you believed everything you were told without checking out the facts, you'd be a fool. Sad to say, many people watching 6:30 current affairs shows are fools.

appropriateness

Information can be presented in different ways. Some ways may be meaningful and relevant, and formatted to suit the user’s needs : others may not.

If you are searching for basic information on networks and you find a site that discusses intricate technical specification of file servers that you simply don't understand - the information is worthless to you. It might be a pot of gold to someone else, but it has no value to you.

Similarly, if you were researching the causes of the common cold and you found a book that said, "Colds are caused by bugs, so be careful if your playmates sneeze near you", the information might be valid, but in an inappropriate form.

Information might be presented in a fashion that is inappropriate to your needs. For example, if you were a security operative in a large retail chain, and you suspected an employee was stealing money, you'd want detailed transaction records, and not a summary graph showing the store's sales over a month.

On the other hand, if you were the CEO of the company and you wanted an indication of the company's progress, a thousand cash register receipts would be useless. You'd need the information summarised or aggregated to be of any use to you.

uniqueness

Sometimes, information is valuable if you are the only one who has it. If everyone in year 12 knew that S.Dish, the all-time cutie of the whole world was looking for a date for the formal, the information would not be too valuable. However, if you, alone, knew that the most desirable creature on earth was looking for a partner, you'd certainly have some powerful information and you'd be around to the Dish residence with offers and sweet words before you knew it.

Similarly, a business that owns unique intellectual property will guard it with all its might because it is valuable while they alone possess it. Patents, marketing ideas, ad campaigns, new products etc all fall into this category. Once their secrets are known, they are worthless. That explains why organisations tend to be quiet about initiatives and new products until they are publicly released.

During World War 2, Polish and British codebreakers cracked the German 'Enigma' encryption device*, letting them know every move the Germans were going to make. While the information was of immense value to the British, they could not let the Germans know the information had been compromised. Therefore, Winston Churchill allowed British cities and shipping convoys to be knowingly attacked because if they had been unusually heavily protected, the Germans would have guessed that their codes had been broken and would have increased their level of security.

relevance

If information is not relevant to the recipient, it is worthless. If you are not a gambler and you hear a tip that a horse is a "dead certainty" at Randwick tomorrow, it is useless information. For a puntser, however, the information might be pure gold. Information is not universally valuable: it is valuable only to a person who needs it and can use it.