K is for Knowledge

Do you ever get confused in the usage of the words: data, information, knowledge and wisdom?  They are often used interchangeably although they do not have the same meanings.

There is much scholarly discourse written about the differences, the nuances, and the transitions between them.  Therefore, I will just give you a very brief definition as I understand them:

Data is the raw facts, it is unprocessed information.  Information is processed data, it "informs" us in our decision making.  This is simply illustrated by our friendly weather man every day, the meteorologists collect data in the form of the temperature, humidity, etc.  This data is processed into a weather report that "informs" the audience.  We use that information to decide if we should carry our umbrella or if we really want to go camping this weekend.

Knowledge is everything we "know" - it is individual, personal, and hard to transfer.  It is our collection of memories, beliefs, experiences, facts and information.  It is how we "know" how to do things or how to respond in situations.  We create knowledge by accumulating information.  Wisdom goes beyond knowledge and has a moral or philosophical component, wisdom requires discernment or judgement.

How do you define the differences?

"Information is not knowledge."
~Albert Einstein

I is for Information

Information Overload

Do you suffer from Information Overload?

While the computer's processing power has increased exponentially since its invention, the capacity of the human brain to process Information has remained the same.  With the rapid-fire growth of the Internet and the use of Social Media it is no wonder that we are inundated with Information.  Not only are we trying to manage an Information explosion in the workplace, but also in our personal lives as well.  The Internet numbers are staggering; for example there are over 3 billion email accounts worldwide and over 555 million websites (you can see the rest here).

How are we supposed to sift through it all?  I suggested one way in my post for day 'F," by using filters (folders).  Filtering out the unnecessary Information and only focusing on what is important.  I also hinted at another way in my little ditty for day "D," by making sure the content comes from authoritative sources.

Ted Koppel recognizes the necessity of a group of people with the skills that we develop while in Library and Information School - "Perhaps the greatest need we have is for a body of people who will sort of sift from that information, sort of winnow it down, so that we have something in a form of order that we can pass onto generations yet to come.  When you are dealing with a great library, that is precisely what a library does.  The largest library in the world can no longer accommodate all of the information that is available.  Someone has to select, the editing process is more important today than it has ever been in the history of the world."  You can see his take on the Information Overload here: