First Blog Assignment

1. Define the meaning of the terms data, information and knowledge according to Thomas Davenport's Information Hierarchy (1997).

Answer: (1) Data: I define data as "observations of states of the world".
(2) Information: It is as "data endowed with relevance and purpose."
(3) Knowledge: It is valuable information from the human mind which includes reflection, synthesis and context [1].


2. What are the characteristics of the above terms?

Answer: (1) The characteristic of data:
The observing of such raw facts or quantifiable entities can be done by people or by the appropriate technology. From an information management perspective, data is relatively easy to capture, communicate, and store. Nothing is lost when it's represented as a string of bits, which certainly comforts IT personnel.
In short, its characteristics are easily structured, easily captured on machines, often quantified and easily transferred.
(2) The characteristic of information:
People turn data into information, and that's what makes life difficult for information managers. Unlike data, information requires some unit of analysis. Information is also much harder to transfer with absolute fidelity.
In short, its characteristics are to require unit of analysis, need consensus on meaning and need human mediation.
(3) The characteristics of knowledge:
Knowledge is information with the most value and is consequently the hardest form to manage. And it is valuable precisely because somebody has given the information context, meaning, a particular interpretation; somebody has reflected on the knowledge, added their own wisdom to it, and considered its larger implications. Knowledge can be embedded in machines, but it's tough to categorize and retrieve effectively.
In short, its characteristics are hard to structure, difficult to capture on machines, often tacit and hard to transfer [1].


3. Give and example for each term mentioned above.

Answer: (1) About data: "There are 697 units in the warehouse."
(2) About information: As a child, he is playing "Telephone."
(3) About knowledge: If the water is boiling, then we know the temperature of the water reaches 100 degree [1].


4. Is there any possibility of a fourth level of Information Hierarchy? Elaborate.

Answer: Yes, there is possibility of a fourth level of Information Hierarchy.
According to Russell Ackoff, a systems theorist and professor of organizational change, the content of the human mind can be classified into five categories: Data, Information, Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom. At the same time, He also indicates that the first four categories relate to the past; they deal with what has been or what is known.
To the fourth level of Information Hierarchy ---- 'understanding', a further elaboration of Ackoff's definitions is:
Understanding is an interpolative and probabilistic process. It is cognitive and analytical. It is the process by which I can take knowledge and synthesize new knowledge from the previously held knowledge. The difference between understanding and knowledge is the difference between "learning" and "memorizing". People who have understanding can undertake useful actions because they can synthesize new knowledge, or in some cases, at least new information, from what is previously known (and understood). That is, understanding can build upon currently held information, knowledge and understanding itself. In computer parlance, AI systems possess understanding in the sense that they are able to synthesize new knowledge from previously stored information and knowledge [2].


References:
[1] Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak. Information Ecology. In Chapter 1 Information and Its Discontents: An Introduction. Oxford University Press US, 2009. PP.9,10.
[2] Gene Bellinger, Durval Castro and Anthony Mills. (2004) Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom. Available at: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm (Accessed: 15 January 2009)