By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
    benefits of data analytics for financial industry
    Fascinating Changes Data Analytics Brings to Finance
    7 Min Read
    analyzing big data for its quality and value
    Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value
    6 Min Read
    data-driven seo for product pages
    6 Tips for Using Data Analytics for Product Page SEO
    11 Min Read
    big data analytics in business
    5 Ways to Utilize Data Analytics to Grow Your Business
    6 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Defining Analytics: Data, Information and Knowledge
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
cloud-centric companies using network relocation
Cloud-Centric Companies Discover Benefits & Pitfalls of Network Relocation
Cloud Computing
construction analytics
5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
Analytics
database compliance guide
Four Strategies For Effective Database Compliance
Data Management
Digital Security From Weaponized AI
Fortifying Enterprise Digital Security Against Hackers Weaponizing AI
Security
DevOps on cloud
Optimizing Cost with DevOps on the Cloud
Development
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Analytics > Predictive Analytics > Defining Analytics: Data, Information and Knowledge
Predictive Analytics

Defining Analytics: Data, Information and Knowledge

Steve Bennett
Last updated: 2010/02/07 at 7:43 PM
Steve Bennett
5 Min Read
SHARE
- Advertisement -

Following-up to my blog ‘Just Tell Me What I’m Doing‘, I’m starting a series of posts that define the key concepts and terms that make up my analytic world. Everything I do is coloured by my experience actually doing analytics in commercial organisations. So while I believe these posts will present practical definitions that will be actionable in the business world, I know that there are other worlds in academia and science where they are less relevant. At the very least, people in these areas will gain a better understanding of how business regards analytics.


Bennett’s AnalyticaCortec_black_logo  
   A Practitioner’s Guide To Analytics

- Advertisement -



Data, Information and Knowledge

More Read

supply chain analytics

Automotive Industry Uses Analytics To Solve Pressing Supply Chain Issues

How can CIOs Build Business Value with Business Analytics?
Seven Benefits of Using AI to Perform Text Analysis
7 Data Lineage Tool Tips For Preventing Human Error in Data Processing
Data Analytics Plays a Vital Role in Teacher Verification Software

Information is a collection of related data – often transformed and aggregated – about a topic. In business, that topic is often insight about…

- Advertisement -

Following-up to my blog ‘Just Tell Me What I’m Doing‘, I’m starting a series of posts that define the key concepts and terms that make up my analytic world. Everything I do is coloured by my experience actually doing analytics in commercial organisations. So while I believe these posts will present practical definitions that will be actionable in the business world, I know that there are other worlds in academia and science where they are less relevant. At the very least, people in these areas will gain a better understanding of how business regards analytics.


Bennett’s AnalyticaCortec_black_logo  
   A Practitioner’s Guide To Analytics



Data, Information and Knowledge


Information is a collection of related data – often transformed and aggregated – about a topic. In business, that topic is often insight about an operational area or a performance question. In analytics, information is often used interchangeably to mean ‘data’ but data is actually best thought of as something that on its own carries no meaning. The main differences are in the degree of meaning and the level of abstraction being considered. To explain:

- Advertisement -

Degree Of Meaning

Data, information and knowledge all have some degree of meaning. Even data has meaning at some level. For example:

  • data: 99.9 is a number (you know it is probably not text). There is still a possibility that 99.9 is code for a text string or value. 
  • information: 99.9 is the percent of transactions successfully processed by an application.
  • knowledge: 99.9 is 0.05 below the acceptable level for failed transactions with our customers.

Level Of Abstraction

Data is the lowest level of abstraction, information is the next level, and finally, knowledge is the highest level among all three.

Be careful: abstraction is not the same as summarisation. Summaries may only be the sum of individual pieces of data. This doesn’t change the data into information in and of itself. An example:

- Advertisement -

A list of amounts 5, 8, 5, 2 can be summed to 20. Is 20 information?

Sources

In the business intelligence world data is extracted from fixed sources (batch or in real time, it doesn’t matter). Sources are usually either transactional applications or reference data. All sources have meaning. Transactional data has meaning because:

  • each transaction is stored in one or more records and this gives context to the individual data items of the record.
  • the source application is known and that is information that gives additional meaning to the data.

Reference data also has meaning as the table(s) within which it is stored has an internal meaning due to the relationship between the table rows. Typically this meaning is either hierarchical (for example an organisational structure or products grouped into categories) or group (for example a list of product codes or currencies).

In order for data to become information, it must be interpreted and take on a meaning.

- Advertisement -

Analytica Illustration

An example (care of Wikipedia):

“The height of Mt. Everest is generally considered as “data”, a book on Mt. Everest geological characteristics may be considered as “information”, and a report containing practical information on the best way to reach Mt. Everest’s peak may be considered as “knowledge”.”

Related Terms and Concepts

Refer also to Data

Refer also to Metadata


Comments? Via form below or send feedback to
analytica@tbig.com.au
         version 0.1 201002



Link to original post

TAGGED: analytics, metadata
Steve Bennett February 7, 2010
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share
- Advertisement -

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

cloud-centric companies using network relocation
Cloud-Centric Companies Discover Benefits & Pitfalls of Network Relocation
Cloud Computing
construction analytics
5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
Analytics
database compliance guide
Four Strategies For Effective Database Compliance
Data Management
Digital Security From Weaponized AI
Fortifying Enterprise Digital Security Against Hackers Weaponizing AI
Security

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

supply chain analytics
Analytics

Automotive Industry Uses Analytics To Solve Pressing Supply Chain Issues

6 Min Read
Analytics

How can CIOs Build Business Value with Business Analytics?

8 Min Read
text analytics
Text Analytics

Seven Benefits of Using AI to Perform Text Analysis

9 Min Read
Big Data

7 Data Lineage Tool Tips For Preventing Human Error in Data Processing

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?