What does 47 mean?
You start work on a help desk. A screen shows one number: 47.
Is it 47 tickets? 47 minutes? A room number? You cannot tell.
Then you read: "47 tickets are open." Now it means something. And if you also know that 47 is double a normal day, you ask for more staff. This lesson is about those three steps.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can explain how data becomes information and information becomes knowledge.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Facts and numbers with no meaning yet. | 47 |
| Information | Data that has a meaning. | 47 tickets are open. |
| Knowledge | What you understand from information, used to decide. | This is double a normal day, so ask for help. |
| Context | Extra facts that say what data is about. | tickets, open |
| Raw data | Data that nobody has changed or explained yet. | 3, 1, 0, 3 |
| Decision | A choice about what to do. | Ask for more staff. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Data is a fact on its own
Data is a fact or a number with no meaning yet. It is where everything starts.
A help desk system stores data all day: 47, "open", 14:32, "Printer". Each one is only a piece. You do not know what it is for.
Data that nobody has touched is raw data.
Context turns data into information
Context is the extra facts that say what data is about. Add context and data becomes information.
The data 47 becomes information when you read "47 tickets are open". Now you know what it counts and what state they are in.
Worked example: the ticket queue
| Step | What you have | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Data | open, closed, open, open, closed | Words only. Each one is a ticket status. |
| Count | 3 open and 2 closed | You count each word. |
| Information | 3 of the 5 tickets today are still open. | Now you know what and how many. |
| Knowledge | Three open out of five is too many for one engineer. Last week it was one. | You compare with what you know. |
| Decision | Ask a second engineer to help. | Knowledge helps you choose. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: which is it?
Have a go
Check: which is it?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.