On Data, Information, and Knowledge

When I first heard this idea, I was immediately reminded of a quote by Computerworld commentator Frank Hayes that I saw in his September 25, 2000 column entitled "Conventional IT wisdom." The quote was:

I remember being awestruck by such a simple yet well-conceived idea. At the time I was struggling with trying to extract some type on usable knowledge from hundreds of gigabytes of network traffic captures. A customer wanted to understand network traffic patterns in support of some server consolidation efforts. As with many such efforts, the customer only had the vaguest idea of what they really needed and could only express it in broad terms that eventually pointed to the idea that "I'll know it when I see it." I was on a fool's mission (they were holding out for the magic bullet that would make their problems go away) and didn't realize it until I read that Frank Hayes column while waiting for a meeting at another customer site.

Since then, I've spent much effort in my work trying to differentiate and distinguish between data, information, and knowledge. I've found some really great sites that explain the principals of Knowledge Management theory in excruciating detail, like this one. Instead, I opt for a simpler model.

Data

40

Not very interesting, is it? In general, raw data is dull as it doesn't really tell us anything. Is it a temperature? A price? A rate? Without further clarification it's not very useful.

Information

$40

Well, that at least a little more informative. We at least know we're talking about money now. A little more data yields some real information:

Bob's net worth is $40.

While this is certainly informative about Bob, we still don't know enough for it be actionable. You can store it, manage it, and massage it, but you can't reliably take action upon it. And that's the problem with information: it is seldom anything you can use to choose a course of action.

Knowledge

Bob is 65 years old, has no job, no retirement, and his net worth is $40.

At this point, we probably know more about Bob than we really want to, but there is stil no real actionable path for us to take. This is still just information. We must add more information to complete enough of a picture to be actionable:

Bob, my father, is 65 years old, has no job, no retirement, and his net worth is $40.

This is still just information, but it leads to knowledge. It tells me that my family and I have some hard decisions to make regarding dear old Dad. Now we're getting into the area of knowledge. Note that I didn't say we had knowledge, because knowledge is something that exists in the individual human mind and cannot be clearly and succinctly stated in sentences.

So what is knowledge? Philosophers dating back at least to Socrates never really figured that one out. Knowledge is a sticky, gooey concept. We all have an innate knowledge of what it is, but are hard-pressed to put it into words. My best idea is that with knowledge, the total is greater than the sum of the parts. Data and information make up knowledge, but much of the data and information we know doesn't really contribute to the sum of our knowledge (like that pesky Post Raisin Bran song I learned as a kid that won't exit my memory).

Getting back to the "Bob" example, we can see how Bob as my father can integrate into my knowledge structure. Assuming that I love dear old Dad, I innately know that Dad may need help and see that my life may need to change to make sure that Dad lives well in his old age. On the other hand, I may integrate this with my knowledge of Dad to realize that he's a deadbeat and perhaps I should distance myself from him. How, and whether, this new information grows my personal knowledge base is controlled by what I already know and how the information I know is connected within my consciousness to create my "personal knowledge base."

I chose to talk about Bob as my father to make the information something that would be close enough to me to force it's way inside. But what about the previous statement "Bob is 65 years old, has no job, no retirement, and his net worth is $40."? This can also become knowledge, depending upon the makeup of my personality and personal knowledge base, or it could be just another disconnected factoid (or idle gossip) floating around in my head. Here are a few examples of how this information might be differently integrated into my personal knowledge base depending on my personal makeup:

• If I were a charitable person, it might make me more empathetic to Bob's situation and wish to help him, even if he were a total stranger.
• If I had the belief that all people were no-accounts, Bob's situation might reenforce this prejudice and harden me toward Bob.
• If I had knowledge (or a prejudice) that many people's net worths are negative (as was the case after the 1980's real estate bust), seeing that Bob's net worth is positive might raise my opinion of Bob and increase my respect for his ability to manage his life.

So What?

The sad fact is that it isn't easy. If obtaining knowledge were as easy as gathering a whole boatload of facts and factoids, CNN and the like would make us all geniuses. That's why school was often so hard. We were given data and information and then tested on data and information, with a little test of knowledge thrown in once in a while (remember those nasty "word problems?"). It was up to us to develop knowledge and be able to use it. That's why one of my high school teachers was fond of saying "I can teach you, but I can't learn you." A teacher may impart information to you, but learning happens in your own mind.

There's no great lesson to all this, but I have developed a few ideas that help me navigate these problems:

• Learn to recognize the difference between data, information and knowledge and when they apply. What's data in one situation may be knowledge in another.
• Listen to what people ask for. At best, you can provide information. You can't give them knowledge and this is really hard to explain to people, especially those who want easy answers.
• Recognize that any knowledge people develop from information you provide will be fundamentally different from any knowledge you obtain from the same information.

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