Data, Information and Knowledge

Data, information, Knowledge are the frequently used terms in knowledge management which are closely linked and sometimes very difficult to distinguish. Although data and information seems to have same meaning, information is on top of data which is a base in a hierarchy and knowledge is on top of information followed by wisdom. This model of hierarchy is called ‘pyramid to wisdom’ is first proposed by Russel Ackoff.
Data
Data has been given many meaning by different people according to the circumstance of its use. In information science it is described as “Unprocessed information”, whereas in other areas it has given a meaning as” representation of objective facts”.(Hey, 2004). According to (Bellinger et al, 2004), data is something that has no importance other than its existence. But generally data is more static in nature, and it also used to represent discrete values about an incident, more than anything information cannot exist without the useful data.
In my point of view data can be explained as a type of information, because when data is arranged in a structured format it can provide information to a certain extent. In organizations employees are asked to enter their daily work in a excel sheet to generate the performance report every month, for example the no of transaction that a person has completed in every hour in a cash counter is just some data but when it is put together in a structured format in an excel sheet the data itself is an information to the management.

Information

Generally information can be expressed as a processed data which has specific meaning and that can be used for a specific purpose .Moreover; it is can guide people in their decision making.
Data itself has no meaning, when the creator adds meaning by adding value it become information. The value can be added through various methods such as Contextualizing, Categorizing, calculating, correcting and condensing. (Davenport, 2000).
For examples, in many organizations many set of data are collected in a specific format to see how each and every employee is performing their job. This is just a collection of data which has no meaning. But, at the end of each month this data is analysed further by categorizing, calculating and condensing to create report called performance report which is valuable information which helps the organization to decide how to reward the employees who have performed well in their job.

Knowledge

Knowledge has been defined by many people in many ways by many people. Nonaka and Takeuchi accepted the knowledge as “Justified true belief”, whereas many English dictionaries define it as “Knowledge is understanding based on experience” (Firestone, 2001). In my point of view knowledge is an understanding of a subject which a person gain through his studies and experience.
Also knowledge can be expressed as a”fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight” which gives a framework to assess and to include new experiences and learning information which are initiated in the mind of knower. Knowledge is an integrated part of human mind that is originated from information through human effort. (Davenport, 2000)
Although many people suggest many definitions for knowledge it is a very difficult to be defined in a single definition. The knowledge a person inherit in him depends on his mental capacity to absorb the information around him through his education and experience, and how he analyses the information and organize it in his mind. Therefore the level of knowledge each and every person posses is always different. The knowledge a person inherit in him is called the tacit knowledge which include mental model and beliefs in addition to know how. When a person invents a new knowledge he is basically reinventing himself. Converting this tacit knowledge of an individual in to explicit knowledge is process of finding a way express knowledge which is inexpressible. Through this conversion of individuals tacit knowledge in to a explicit knowledge that is available for all creates a knowledgeable society around us.
For example, in an organization there are different people performing different duties. Some people have less educational background but they have years of experience in the field. But some are very educated but they have limited exposure to the specific field. But the knowledge level of these people to perform a given task is not purely depends on how much education or experience they posses, it is purely how they analyses the situation and apply the tacit knowledge they have to solve the problem. Although the education and experience help a person to increase their knowledge level, but to solve the problem they have to have the wisdom to see how they have to use their knowledge. Therefore the wisdom is very essential to utilise the knowledge to the fullest.
• Firestone, J. M.(2001) Key Issues in Knowledge Management. In Knowledge and Innovation, Journal of the KMCI. Vol. 1, No. 3, April 2001, Knowledge Management Consortium International. Accessed on 30th April 2009, from: http://www.kmci.org/media/firestoneissueskiv1n3.pdf .
• Wilson, T.D. (2002) "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'" Information Research, 8(1), Accessed on 30th April 2009, from: http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html .
• Bellinger, G., Castro, D., & Mills, A., Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom, Retrieved on 28th April 2009, from: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm.
• Hey, J., (2004), “The Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom Chain:The Metaphorical link”, Retrieved on 29th April 2009, from: http://best.me.berkeley.edu/~jhey03/files/reports/IS290_Finalpaper_HEY.pdf
• Davenport, T., & Prusak, L., (2000). Working Knowledge: How Organisations Manage What They Know. Retrieved on 29th April 2009, from: http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/book/t_davenport_1.html [2009, 29/01/2009].