In this present world, the words data, information and knowledge are used interchangeablely because, what data is to me can be a knowledge to a school student and what information is to me can be data to a phd student in a university.
IKUJIRO NONAKA
1. (figure : 1)
Data may be defined as raw information,just bits and bites or pieces of numbers or quantities.
Information is the data collected and stored, again its just lifeless and colorless.Information is just black and white.
Knowledge is adding a context to the information,sharing it using it and reusing it whenever required. Or in other words when we add color to information it becomes lively, and called as knowledge.
I was surfing through the internet to find some articles about these definitions and the important ones which i found out are....
2.(Ackoff,1989) says that
"Data... data is raw. It simply exists and has no significance beyond its existence (in and of itself). It can exist in any form, usable or not. It does not have meaning of itself. In computer parlance, a spreadsheet generally starts out by holding data."
"Information... information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection. This "meaning" can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database makes information from the data stored within it."
" Knowledge... knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that it's intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone "memorizes" information (as less-aspiring test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, an integration such as would infer further knowledge. For example, elementary school children memorize, or amass knowledge of, the "times table". They can tell you that "2 x 2 = 4" because they have amassed that knowledge (it being included in the times table). But when asked what is "1267 x 300", they can not respond correctly because that entry is not in their times table. To correctly answer such a question requires a true cognitive and analytical ability that is only encompassed in the next level... understanding. In computer parlance, most of the applications we use (modeling, simulation, etc.) exercise some type of stored knowledge."
WHAT I HAVE LEARNT IS:
From the above quotations, data, information and knowledge can be understood as interdependable. because when there is no data, practically speaking , there is no information or there is no knowledge.
The existence of data,information and knowledge depend on eachother.
When some raw quantities are collected like numbers or quantities ,which just exists and doesnt really make any sense untill or unless some context is used to make it lively.data can be usable or non usable data.
Best example is a spread sheet in a computer because, it is just a sheet with tables,rows and coloumns. And the raw data is just fed into it.iiiiiiiiit forma a perfect example.
Information is processed data , which gives some kind of meaning or which explains about the data fully or partially. This information can be useful but does not neccessarily be always meaningful.
In spreadsheets, when the collected data is stored and retrieved whenever there is a requirement, it becomes information.
And knowledge is the perfect collection of information or usefull information. whenever some information is used, reused, shared and stored it becomes knowledge because it has a specific meaning.
Following article has been adapted from a webpage called 12 manage.
3.(12 manage,2008)
SECI MODEL:
The seci model was proposed by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi which deals with creation of a process to understand the creation of knowledge
According to this theory,it consists of three elements.
1.SECI
2.Ba
3.knowledge Assets
It says that 'ba' is used to share the knowledge assets of any organization and tacit knowledge held by individuals is converted and amplified by the spiral knowledge through
1.Socialization
2.Externalization
3.Combination
4.Internalization
For any organization create knowledge should adapt all the above points.
According to SECI,the creation knowledge is a continuous process of interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge.
Socialization is explained as sharing of tacit knowledge through face to face communication or shared experience.
Externalization is developing the concepts which includes the tacit knowledge.
Combination is combining various elements of explicit knowledge
Internalization is linking learning by doing where the explicit knowledge becomes part of the individuals knowledge base.
BA
There is no specific meaning for this word but usually understood as a context of knowledge shared.
THis seci model explains the distinction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge and provides an understanding of knowledge creation.
But this model is very well adaptable for japan only where tacit knowledge is given much importance andthis model also helps in providing a framework for management.
MY REAL LIFE EXAMPLE:
I have worked in a call centre,so let me give an example from a call centre.
Whenever a customer calls a call centre, the first thing which customer service executives do is take their details like name, city they are calling from,their phone number etc. this is data.
And when these details are stored in a database.Different callcentres use different databases, but we used a data base called people soft crm.These stored details become information when sorted.
And when the customer calls for the next time,retrieving the information from the database, or to be more specific, capturing exact information of that customer like the earlier reasons of calling etc and using that information to help the customer further is nothing but knowledge.
REFLECTIONS FROM MY READINGS AND DISCUSSIONS:
(ENGINEERING THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN BRAINS)
(DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DATA,INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE)
4.( VIDEO : 1)
I have found this video in youtube.This video explains about the basic meanings and differences between data,information and knowledge.proffessor tells that,all american managers are intellectually weak and that is the reason that they work in factories but not in universities.
He says that difference between data,information knowledge is a typical question, And in americe.people are still influenzed by episthomoligies of 1920's.
According to him knowledge is an object and can be moved from person to person based on some advanced philosophy,
The most important point is that, proffessor jamin tells that they are designing a wireless knowledge transferrer.which looks like a cap,made up of metal with big ears.
he says that it would successfully record the intercodes in brain and captures information.
He says that, they are the world leaders in knowledge neural standards.
And this product which is under construction will be called as the next generation's knowledge management tools.
He says that they engineer the structures of human brain and would reengineer the brains of all employees
after this product is manufactured thereby contributes for perfect knowledge management.It seemed to me very strange but also very exciting.
I was going through the blog of pavan and found some relevant information which states the same meaning here.And i have seen sameer sheik commenting on pavan's article about data,information and knowledge.
samir says that he doesnot agree with pavan,when pavan tells that knowledge is a subset of information.And i agree with pavan because according to my understanding,data,information and knowledge, all these terms are interdependable and subset of one another.
I was going through samir's blog and he writes that data,information and knowledge are mostly used interchangeably but according to him,he says that there is hierarchial structure between them. What samir tells also seems to me to be correct because,explaining the hierarchial structure between data,information and knowledge,he says that data is is at bottom root level, when some context is added it would become information and when this information is used with some experience to take a decision it becomes knowledge. And i guess he is right when he tells that.
I have read the article written by samir about nonaka's model and the point that impressed me was that the knowledge can be transformed from one form to another by this theory but not neccessarily change the knowledge.
He wrote a nice point criticizing nonaka's model, that nonaka was considering only japan and that is entirely different culture and so its not suitable for all the world.
Even i was thinking on that, because in japan, people cling to their companies for many years and tacit knowledge comes into light but that is not correct with rest of the world.
I do accept that nonaka has done a splendid job by creating the seci model but why did nonaka, create a model of that sort which might not be accepted by all the world...
REFERENCES
1.IKUJIRO NONAKA,Retrieved from http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=971490,
Accessed on march3,2008.
2.Ackoff,1989,Retrieved from http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm
Accessed on march 2,2008.
3.SECI MODEL,Retrieved from
http://www.12manage.com/methods_nonaka_seci.html,
Accessed on march 3,2008.
4.Engineering the structures of human brain,
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz0KXaflY2w,
Accessed on march 2,2008.
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