8/19/2020 BIG DATA & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Professor Dimitrios M. Emiris Fall Semester 2020 1 DEFINITIONS 2 8/19/2020 INFORMATION • What is information? • Information is that which informs. In other words, it is the answer to a question of some kind [source: Wikipedia] • Facts or details that tell you something about a situation, person, event, etc. [source: Longman dictionary of contemporary English] • Knowledge that you get about someone or something : facts or details about a subject [source: Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary] • Information is related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts 3 INFORMATION • Information is conveyed either as the content of a message or through direct or indirect observation of anything • Information reduces uncertainty; the more uncertain an event, the more information is required to resolve uncertainty of that event • Information can be encoded into various forms for transmission and interpretation or, it can be encrypted for safe storage and communication • Information can appear in several representations or models (graphic types) • Information is communicated 4 8/19/2020 DATA What is data? Data is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables Pieces of data are individual pieces of information Data may be structured (as in templates), semi-structured (as in excel sheets), unstructured (in reality), or random (distraction, social media) • Data is collected by a huge range of organizations and institutions, including businesses (e.g., sales data, revenue, etc.), governments (e.g., crime rates, unemployment rates, etc.) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., censuses of the number of homeless people by nonprofit organizations) • Data may be measured, collected, analyzed, reported and visualized • Raw data – field data – experimental data • • • • 5 KNOWLEDGE • What is knowledge? • Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning [source: Wikipedia] • Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject • It can be implicit - tacit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less formal or systematic • Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, communication and reasoning 6 8/19/2020 WISDOM • Wisdom or sapience is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight [source: Wikipedia] • Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgement in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense [source: Oxford dictionary] 7 FROM DATA TO WISDOM Wisdom Knowledge of what is true and why WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIjSY05J E9Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0J8M7 Knowledge Know-how, experience, KSATg [from 0:58 to 3:08] insight, understanding and contextualized information Information Contextualized, categorized, calculated and condensed data Data Facts and figures which relay something specific, but which are not organized in any way 8 8/19/2020 INFORMATION AGE • The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, or Digital Age) is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization • The onset of the Information Age is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as the Industrial Revolution marked the onset of the Industrial Age • During the Information Age, the phenomenon is that the digital industry creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a hightech global • Industry is becoming more information-intensive and less labor and capital-intensive 9 INFORMATION / KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY • Information economy is an economy with an increased emphasis on informational activities and information industry • The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge to generate tangible and intangible values • Technology and, in particular, knowledge technology help to incorporate part of human knowledge into machines • This knowledge can be used by decision support systems in various fields to generate economic value • The global economy is in transition to a knowledge economy 10 8/19/2020 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY • Information technology (IT) is the application of computers to store, study, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data or information often in the context of a business or other enterprise • Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an extended term for Information Technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information • In modern society ICT is ever-present, with over three billion people having access to the Internet • Approximately 8 out of 10 Internet users owning a smartphone, thus information and data are increasing by leaps and bounds 11 INFORMATION SYSTEM • An information system (IS) is an organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information • A computer(-based) information system is essentially an IS using computer technology to carry out some or all of its planned tasks • The basic components of computer-based IS are: • Hardware- Devices like the monitor, processor, printer and keyboard, all of which work together to accept, process, show data and information • Software- Programs that allow the hardware to process the data • Databases- The gathering of associated files or tables containing related data • Networks- A connecting system that allows diverse computers to distribute resources • Procedures- The commands for combining the components above to process information and produce the preferred output • HOMEWORK / PRE-WORK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3zoHFdzQbs 12 8/19/2020 By Compo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10908088 13
