What is the number 12?
A friend posts in the group chat. The message says only: 12.
What does it mean? An age? A bus? A price in pence? You cannot tell.
Then the next message says: "Bus 12 is 5 minutes late." Now it means something. And if you also know that bus 12 is late every Monday, you leave home early. This lesson is about those three steps.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Facts and numbers on their own, with no meaning yet. | 12 |
| Information | Data with a meaning. You know what it is about. | Bus 12 is 5 minutes late. |
| Knowledge | What you understand from information and your own experience. You can use it to decide. | Bus 12 is late every Monday, so I leave early. |
| Context | The extra facts that tell you what a piece of data is about. | Bus, late, minutes |
| Decision | A choice about what to do. | Leave home early. |
| Raw data | Data that nobody has changed or explained yet. | 3, 1, 0, 3, 3 |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: which is it?
Have a go
Quick check: which is it?
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Step 1: data
Data is a fact or a number with no meaning yet. It is the start of everything.
A phone stores data all day. 8, 55, 14:32, "Leeds". Each one is only a piece. You do not know what it is for.
Step 2: information
Add context and data becomes information. Context tells you what the data is about.
The data 55 becomes information when you read "Battery: 55 percent". Now you know it is a battery and you know it is half full.
Worked example: football points
| Step | What you have | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Data | W, W, D, L, W | Letters only. W is win, D is draw, L is loss. |
| Add up | 3 + 3 + 1 + 0 + 3 = 10 | A win is 3 points, a draw is 1, a loss is 0. |
| Information | Leeds has 10 points from 5 matches: 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss. | Now we know who, what and how many. |
| Knowledge | 10 points is more than half of the 15 on offer, so the team is doing well. | You compare with what you expect. You can decide. |
| Decision | Keep the same team. | Knowledge helps you choose. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Try it: data to information
results = ["W", "W", "D", "L", "W"]
wins = results.count("W")
draws = results.count("D")
losses = results.count("L")
total = wins * 3 + draws
print("Raw data:", results)
print("Information:", wins, "wins,", draws, "draws,", losses, "losses =", total, "points")
# Change one letter and press Run again.
Step 3: knowledge
Knowledge is what you understand from information. You add your own experience.
The team manager sees "10 points from 5 matches" and thinks: the team wins at home and loses away. That is not in the numbers. It comes from the manager. Knowledge lets you make a decision.