DATA vs. INFORMATION

I find this a useful distinction.  Data is the syntactic representation of information (the semantics).  Data is the bits and bytes recorded (“fixed in some tangible medium," as the copyright law states about what intellectual property can be copyrighted).  Information is derived from data but requires definition and context (the meta data?).  For example, I write down 55.  That is data.  What does it mean (the semantics)?  If I tell you it is age, in years, that is helpful.  If I tell you it is my age, in years, that is more helpful.  Perhaps it is really the weight of John Jones taken on a certain date, at a certain location, on a particular scale, measured in kilograms, with no clothes on, and rounded to the nearest kilogram.  Now the information has greater value.  And of course, with age the information usually becomes less valuable (for most purposes).  I loved Terry Hanold‘s definition of data given in an article in Datamation about 40 years ago:  “Data is the digital shadow of haphazard events indifferently recorded."  As you add definition and context, aggregate it, etc. it gradually becomes more and more valuable for some purposes.