Data, Information and Information Technology

Data

Data is raw, unprocessed facts and figures that, on their own, have little or no direct meaning. Data can be numbers, letters, words, symbols, images, or sounds collected from some source but not yet organised or interpreted. For example, the numbers 450, 520, and 610, or the names Ravi, Sana, and Amit, are simply data — by themselves they do not tell us anything useful, because we do not know what they represent.

Information

Information is data that has been processed, organised, or interpreted so that it becomes meaningful and useful to the person receiving it. When data is arranged in a context and given meaning, it answers a question and helps in decision-making. For example, if we say "In January, February, and March, the shop's daily sales were Rs. 450, Rs. 520, and Rs. 610 respectively, showing a steady rise," the same numbers now carry meaning — they have become information. The key point is that data is the input and information is the output of processing.

Data vs Information

From Data to Information — Processing

The act of turning data into information is called data processing. It usually involves steps such as collecting the data, organising or sorting it, performing calculations, and presenting the result in a readable form (a report, a chart, a total). A computer is, at its heart, a very fast and accurate data-processing machine.

Information Technology (IT) …