Information theory is a division of electrical engineering, applied mathematics, and computer science in involving the quantification, storage, and communication of information. This term or theory of information was first advanced by Claude E. Shannon to discover the limits fundamentally on processing signals and communication operations such as data compression. There is an interesting new book out on the history and theory of data.
Data facts or figures
Data is simply facts and figures– only bits of information, but not the information itself. When data is:
· Processed
· Interpreted
· Structured
· Organized
It is presented to make it more useful or meaningful, and information provides context for data.
Example
For example, take a list of dates – or data, is just meaningless without information that makes that data of dates relative – such as dates of holiday. “Information” and “data” are secured together, where they are recognized as 2 separate words or are used interchangeably, as is common today.
Interpreted incorrectly
Since data needs to be analyzed and interpreted, it is always possible – indeed, quite likely – that it will be construed incorrectly. When this happens, it leads to conclusions that are wrong and is said the “data is misleading”. Often this is the cause of incomplete data or a having no idea of the context. One example of this – let’s say that your investment in a mutual fund is up by 5{061df1cae2d64927061e07b6d7eafcef06a76bc18c3ebe725bd65677dd35588a} leading you to conclude that the managers of the fund are doing a wonderful job. But this could be misleading if the indices of major markets are up by 12{061df1cae2d64927061e07b6d7eafcef06a76bc18c3ebe725bd65677dd35588a}. In this case, your fund has expressively underperformed the market.
What is a person
Humans were once what they believed. Today, the modern person is known by “data exhaust” – this is invisible anthropocentric ether of zeros and ones that are the result of the world that is now so digitally monitored. In one book written by Mark Jarzombek, he makes the argument that our world has been redesigned so that the fusion of algorithmic with the ontological needs a new discussion of ontology to update or rethink of the question of being.
This is all part of the history and theory of data.
