Data vs. Information — What's the Difference?

Data are units of information, often numeric, that are collected through observation. In a more technical sense, data are a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables about one or more persons or objects, while a datum (singular of data) is a single value of a single variable.Although the terms "data" and "information" are often used interchangeably, these terms have distinct meanings.

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.

Plural of datum

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

Information, especially in a scientific or computational context, or with the implication that it is organized.

The act of informing or the condition of being informed; communication of knowledge

(collectively) Recorded observations that are usually presented in a structured format.

(Computers) Processed, stored, or transmitted data.

(computing) A representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process.

A numerical measure of the uncertainty of an experimental outcome.

Senseid|en|telephony}}(mobile telephony) {{ellipsis of mobile data: digital information transmitted using the cellular telephone network rather than Wi-Fi.

(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.

See Datum.

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

A collection of facts, observations, or other information related to a particular question or problem; as, the historical data show that the budget deficit is only a small factor in determining interest rates.

Things that are or can be known about a given topic; communicable knowledge of something.

Information, most commonly in the form of a series of binary digits, stored on a physical storage medium for manipulation by a computer program. It is contrasted with the program which is a series of instructions used by the central processing unit of a computer to manipulate the data. In some conputers data and execuatble programs are stored in separate locations.

The act of informing or imparting knowledge; notification.

A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn;

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.

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

The systematic imparting of knowledge; education, training.

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

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

(Christianity) Divine inspiration.

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

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

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

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

The act of informing, or communicating knowledge or intelligence.

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.

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.

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.

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

A message received and understood

A collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn;

Knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

(communication theory) a numerical measure of the uncertainty of an outcome;

Formal accusation of a crime