Knowledge vs Information
The
human mind’s content is based on the kinds of things that one interacts with on
a daily basis. Many a time people perceive things based on either what they
have seen, experienced, heard, read, learned or inferred after some
experimentation. These perceptions are then categorized in the mind as data,
information, knowledge, understanding or wisdom. Unlike wisdom, information and knowledge perceptions
are as a result of what the brain has recorded in the past. That said, we need
to know how knowledge differs from information (if it does) and if one can
exist without the other.
Information
refers to data that has been given some meaning by way of relational
connection. In computing terms it is data that has been processed. The
‘meaning’ applied to the data may not necessarily be useful. For instance, data
stored in a database can be processed by a procedure or a program to give
information about something, for example a banking application can determine
how a particular account balance increased by returning the record of the
credit that occurred to that account using data stored in a database somewhere,
so ‘information’ would have been retrieved about that transaction. It is
important to know that without information, you will not have knowledge.
what is knowledge?
Knowledge is the concise and appropriate
collection of information in a way that makes it useful. Knowledge
refers to a deterministic process where patterns within a given set of information
are ascertained. We can also positively say that when a person
memorizes some information about something, then they have knowledge
about it. That knowledge will have some useful and even applicable use
to them but even if that’s the case, that knowledge doesn’t in itself
provide for integration such as would infer further knowledge. Take the
example of elementary school kids who memorize knowledge of the
multiplication table (times table), for instance like the result of 3
times 3 is 9(3*3=9), because they have amassed knowledge of the table.
However, the kids will not be able to respond positively when asked the
result of 2300*150 as that entry isn’t in the table. It takes true
analytical ability and the ability to reduce it to empirical factual
knowledge, not just some memorized set of knowledge.
Summary:
1. Information is processed data whereas knowledge is information that is modeled to be useful.
2. You need information to be able to get knowledge.
3. Information deals with the way data is related while knowledge examines patterns within a given set of information.
4. To get knowledge you need some cognitive and analytical ability while for information you do not need cognitive ability.
1. Information is processed data whereas knowledge is information that is modeled to be useful.
2. You need information to be able to get knowledge.
3. Information deals with the way data is related while knowledge examines patterns within a given set of information.
4. To get knowledge you need some cognitive and analytical ability while for information you do not need cognitive ability.
