|
WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: December 30, 2002 Why A CIO Isn't -- "You're on foot, lost in the Mojave desert. You come upon a deserted gas station. On the counter is a map of the area. Is the map data or information? Based on the definition proposed by many, it would be information, because it is data in context. But that would be wrong, because the definition does not account for 'which context' the data is in. Data is not information until it is in 'user-relevant' context. The map is not in a relevant context ? there is no 'you are here' reference on it, therefore it is just another piece of useless data in the hands of the recipient."
Reader Comments...
I think that the map is information in this case since we can consider that the data would be the bits of ink on a sheet. The reason it is informnation is that the individual know how to read a map based on contextual knowledge of how to read maps. Posted by: Charlie Dowdell on December 31, 2002 03:24 PM
There seem to be several camps. One advocates for everything as information. Others find information as a completely different thing from data entirely, and much more valuable. I would class "bits of ink on a sheet" as even below data -- bit-like and elementary in nature. You can't do much with a single bit, were it not arranged in some relationship to other bits. A geological map is pretty much useless for finding your way. A map of the right type is useless if the person either knows the way, or thinks they do. And if you have no destination in mind, every way is the right way. If the map is contstructed poorly, how do we know without users? Perhaps information should be active. The map, the user, the number of users who reach their destination or get lost using one map versus another. Together, in a system dynamic -- that is the "context." Posted by: (the other)JS on January 2, 2003 02:49 PM
Home | Moving WebWord | Cool Books | Hot Web Sites
URL: http://webword.com/weblog/ ©1998-2005 by WebWord.com. All rights reserved. |