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Background vs. Information — What's the Difference?

Background vs. Information — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Background and Information

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Background

The part of a picture, scene, or design that forms a setting for the main figures or objects, or appears furthest from the viewer
The word is written in white on a red background
The house stands against a background of sheltering trees

Information

Information can be thought of as the resolution of uncertainty; it answers the question of "What an entity is" and thus defines both its essence and the nature of its characteristics. The concept of information has different meanings in different contexts.

Background

The circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event
The political and economic background
Background information

Information

Knowledge or facts learned, especially about a certain subject or event.

Background

Form a background to
Windswept land backgrounded by the Rockies
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Information

The act of informing or the condition of being informed; communication of knowledge
Safety instructions are provided for the information of our passengers.

Background

Provide with background
The embassy backgrounded American reporters

Information

(Computers) Processed, stored, or transmitted data.

Background

The ground or scenery located behind something.

Information

A numerical measure of the uncertainty of an experimental outcome.

Background

The part of a pictorial representation that appears to be in the distance and that provides relief for the principal objects in the foreground.

Information

(Law) A formal accusation of a crime made by a public officer rather than by grand jury indictment in instances in which the offense, if a federal crime, is not a felony or in which the offense, if a state crime, is allowed prosecution in that manner rather than by indictment.

Background

The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed.

Information

That which resolves uncertainty; anything that answers the question of "what a given entity is".

Background

A position, area, or situation that is not immediately in one's attention or notice
You can hear traffic moving in the background during the interview.

Information

Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.
I need some more information about this issue.

Background

(Computers) The environment in which programs operate that the user does not engage with directly
Processes that run in the background.

Information

The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.
For your information, I did this because I wanted to.

Background

The circumstances and events surrounding or leading up to an event or occurrence.

Information

A statement of criminal activity brought before a judge or magistrate; in the UK, used to inform a magistrate of an offence and request a warrant; in the US, an accusation brought before a judge without a grand jury indictment.

Background

A person's experience, training, and education
Her background in the arts is impressive.

Information

(obsolete) The act of informing against someone, passing on incriminating knowledge; accusation.

Background

The cultural or social environment in which a person was brought up or has lived
A class with students from many different backgrounds.

Information

The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.

Background

Subdued music played especially as an accompaniment to dialogue in a dramatic performance.

Information

The creation of form; the imparting of a given quality or characteristic; forming, animation.

Background

Sound that intrudes on or interferes with an audio recording.

Information

[…] the meaning that a human assigns to data by means of the known conventions used in its representation.

Background

Low-level radiation, as from radioactive decay, that exists as part of the natural environment.

Information

(Christianity) Divine inspiration.

Background

Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.
Background noise
The antivirus program runs on a background thread.

Information

A service provided by telephone which provides listed telephone numbers of a subscriber.

Background

One's social heritage, or previous life; what one did in the past.
The lawyer had a background in computer science.

Information

(information theory) Any unambiguous abstract data, the smallest possible unit being the bit.

Background

A part of the picture that depicts scenery to the rear or behind the main subject; context.

Information

As contrasted with data, information is processed to extract relevant data.

Background

Information relevant to the current situation about past events; history.

Information

(information technology) Any ordered sequence of symbols (or signals) (that could contain a message).

Background

A less important feature of scenery (as opposed to foreground).
There was tons of noise in the background.
The photographer let us pick a background for the portrait.

Information

The act of informing, or communicating knowledge or intelligence.
The active informations of the intellect.

Background

(computing) The image or color over which a computer's desktop items are shown (e.g. icons or application windows).

Information

Any fact or set of facts, knowledge, news, or advice, whether communicated by others or obtained by personal study and investigation; any datum that reduces uncertainty about the state of any part of the world; intelligence; knowledge derived from reading, observation, or instruction.
Larger opportunities of information.
He should get some information in the subject he intends to handle.

Background

(computing) A type of activity on a computer that is not normally visible to the user.
The antivirus program is running in the background.

Information

A proceeding in the nature of a prosecution for some offense against the government, instituted and prosecuted, really or nominally, by some authorized public officer on behalf of the government. It differs from an indictment in criminal cases chiefly in not being based on the finding of a grand jury. See Indictment.

Background

(physics) background radiation

Information

A measure of the number of possible choices of messages contained in a symbol, signal, transmitted message, or other information-bearing object; it is usually quantified as the negative logarithm of the number of allowed symbols that could be contained in the message; for logarithms to the base 2, the measure corresponds to the unit of information, the hartley, which is log210, or 3.323 bits; called also information content. The smallest unit of information that can be contained or transmitted is the bit, corresponding to a yes-or-no decision.

Background

To put in a position that is not prominent.

Information

Useful facts, as contrasted with raw data; as, among all this data, there must be some interesting information.

Background

(journalism) To gather and provide background information (on).

Information

A message received and understood

Background

Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.

Information

A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn;
Statistical data

Background

The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.

Information

Knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

Background

Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.

Information

(communication theory) a numerical measure of the uncertainty of an outcome;
The signal contained thousands of bits of information

Background

A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.
I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance.
A husband somewhere in the background.

Information

Formal accusation of a crime

Background

The set of conditions within which an action takes place, including the social and physical conditions as well as the psychological states of the participants; as, within the background of the massive budget deficits of the 1980's, new spending programs had little chance of passage by the congress.

Background

The set of conditions that precede and affect an action, such as the social and historical precedents for the event, as well as the general background{5}; as, against the background of their expulsion by the Serbs, the desire of Kosovars for vengeance is understandable though regrettable.

Background

The signals that may be detected by a measurement which are not due to the phenomenon being studied, and tend to make the measurement uncertain to a greater or lesser degree.

Background

An agreement between a journalist and an interviewee that the name of the interviewee will not be quoted in any publication, although the substance of the remarks may be reported; - often used in the phrase "on background". Compare deep background.

Background

A person's social heritage: previous experience or training;
He is a lawyer with a sports background

Background

The part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground;
He posed her against a background of rolling hills

Background

Information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem;
The embassy filled him in on the background of the incident

Background

Extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured;
They got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals

Background

Relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation;
When the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background

Background

The state of the environment in which a situation exists;
You can't do that in a university setting

Background

(computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear

Background

Scenery hung at back of stage

Background

Understate the importance or quality of;
He played down his royal ancestry

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