Data, information, knowledge and wisdom

I always seem to forget how I think about data, information, knowledge and wisdom, so I have captured the explicit version in this short article. It's more nuanced than this, but some of it is useful. Sometimes.

PAST-PRESENT, DOING THINGS RIGHT

Data: a collection of individual unprocessed and unorganized facts.

Information: (processed and organized) data that is useful in a certain context.

Knowledge:

• accumulated and often distributed information
• the capability to understand information
• the resulting information that represents the understanding.

PRESENT-FUTURE, DOING RIGHT THINGS

Wisdom:

• the capability to apply information about a situation to make judgements about the situation
• the resulting information that represents the judgement.