Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Completeness
If information is not complete, bad decision can be made. For example, if you were choosing a
car, and had no information about safety on any of the models you were contemplating, you
could make a really skull-crushing decision.
Accuracy, correctness
It makes sense that accurate information is the best kind of information. Beware when you are
searching for information... especially on the Internet. Any old idiot can say anything he or she
likes. You must judge each piece of information based on
i) What you already know
ii) The reputation of the information source (have they usually been accurate in the past?)
iii) Has the information been checked by others? (books are carefully edited by experts,
webpages might not be)
iv) Is the author biased? (Do they work for the company who makes the product they are
praising? Are they prejudiced?)
v) Is the information up-to-date (timely)? Are you buying a computer with a 1998 magazine ad?
Timeliness - Information needs to be available when it's needed, not some time afterwards.
"Timely" means "appearing at the right moment".
Also, in a related sense, information needs to be up-to-date. Some info can be valuable one day,
and useless the next. A newspaper article examining the chances of candidates in a Federal
Election might be spot-on the day before the vote, and ridiculous the day after. All information
has a "use by" date. Be very wary of consuming information that is out of date!
With books, check the date of publication. Some topics rarely change with time (e.g. the themes
in Shakespeare). Others change by the minute (e.g. what stock is good value).
With webpages, check the "Last Updated" date, if there is one (be cautious if there isn't one and
the issue is changing constantly.) Old webpages are sometimes only good for historical
research...i.e. is it available when it's needed?
Consistency - Beware if your source of information changes its mind at various places, or
contradicts itself. It is the sign that it is untrustworthy. If a newspaper review of a film glows
about it, then later pans it, you can be sure the author is either confused or stupid. In either case,
treat all the information with the caution it deserves.
Validity To be valuable, information should be unbiased, representative and verifiable.
Bias can be conscious (e.g. advertisements) or unconscious (through prejudice or ignorance).
If information neglects key topics or issues, it might not represent the full knowledge-base you
need to know. If, for example, you wivit an American website discussing world history, don't be
surprised if it seems that America won both World Wars single-handedly - even though they
started late in each of them.
If information cannot be independently verified, it should be treated with utmost caution. In
court, "hearsay" evidence is treated with near-contempt. Just because someone says something
happened does not mean it really happened. There needs to be a way to investigate claims
beyond what a single person (or organisation) says. If you believed everything you were told
without checking out the facts, you'd be a fool. Sad to say, many people watching 6:30 current
affairs shows are fools.unbiased, representative, verifiable
Distortion the presentation of data to induce a particular interpretation. Data may also be
disguised in order to discourage certain interpretations.
Formal information is official and authoritative. It is meant to be taken seriously and is presented in a
formal manner. It is usually more carefully prepared and verified than informal information, and its
accuracy and reliability should also be higher. e.g. a company's annual report to shareholders, a
SO 4
Data... Data can be defined as raw facts and figures. Data may be meaningless or ambiguous. Data
often have little meaning until they are sorted or until we calculate something from them. This sort of
calculation is called data processing. When data is processed, it provides information.
Information... Information is data that have been put into a meaningful and useful context. Therefore,
Information = data + structure.
Knowledge... knowledge is applying information to solve problems or make decisions.