Data versus Information

Data can be considered the raw material whether in paper or electronic, that is processed by the computer. Data consists of the raw facts and figures that are processed into information. Information is summarised data or manipulated data that is useful for decision making. It is the output of the system. Data is a vital ingredient of an information system. If the data is collected is meaningless, the information presented will be meaningless. In an information system, information technology, participants and information processes combine to transform data into information.

Data will be appropriate if it is: Relevant useful to the purpose of the information system. Accurate collected from a dependable source and entered without errors. Timely current and kept up to date. Secure protected from deliberate or accidental damage or loss.

Data types Images data in the form of pictures, eg drawings, painting or photographs; a static or animated graphic used for illustration or as a substitute for text. Audio data in the form of sounds, eg noise, voice recognition, music Video data in the form of pictures and sounds combined and displayed overtime, eg film clips. Text: data in the form of letters, numbers and other characters; sets of characters of strings. Numbers: data in the form of predefined characters, eg integers, decimals, percentages, currency and dates.

Information is processed meaningful data. For data to have meaning it must be organised or placed in a context. The processes of collecting, organising, processing, analysing, storing, transmitting and displaying can be expensive. Information in an information system requires specific characters to make it useful. It needs to be: Accurate/correct information needs to be checked and verified and up to date. Complete for all areas it covers Concise and Organised so that it is easy to understand and arranged to meet the purpose of the information system. Relevant without any unnecessary facts and useful to the purpose of the information system. Well presented attractive, easy to read and appropriately formatted.

Data
Meaning: Data is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed. Data can be something simple and seemingly random and useless until it is organized.

Information
When data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context so as to make it useful, it is called Information.

Example:

Each student's test score is one piece of data

The class' average score or the school's average score is the

information that can be concluded

Data

Information
from the given data.

Definition:

Latin 'datum' meaning "that which is given". Data was the plural form of datum singular (M150 adopts the general use of data as singular. Not everyone agrees.)

Information is interpreted data.

Information systems
Information systems (IS) is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software (see information technology) that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data.[1][2][3][4][5] The study bridges business and computer science using the theoretical foundations of information and computation to study various business models and related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Computer Information System(s) (CIS) is a field studying computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their software and hardware designs, their applications, and their impact on society[15][16][17] while IS emphasizes functionality over design.[18]

Any specific Information System aims to support operations, management and decision making.[19] In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the

information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes.[20]

Some authors make a clear distinction between information systems, computer systems, and business processes. Information systems typically include an ICT component but are not purely concerned with ICT, focusing instead on the end use of information technology. Information systems are also different from business processes. Information systems help to control the performance of business processes.[21]

Alter argues for an information system as a special type of work system. A work system is a system in which humans and/or machines perform work using resources to produce specific products and/or services for customers. An information system is a work system whose activities are devoted to processing (capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and displaying) information.[22]

As such, information systems inter-relate with data systems on the one hand and activity systems on the other. An information system is a form of communication system in which data represent and are processed as a form of social memory. An information system can also be considered a semi-formal language which supports human decision making and action. Information systems are the primary focus of study for organizational informatics.[23]

Types of information systems

A four level pyramid model of different types of Information Systems based on the different levels of hierarchy in an organization The 'classic' view of Information systems found in the textbooks[36] in the 1980s was of a pyramid of systems that reflected the hierarchy of the organization, usually transaction processing systems at the bottom of the pyramid, followed by management information systems, decision support systems, and ending with executive information systems at the top. Although the pyramid model remains useful, since it was first formulated a number of new technologies have been developed and new categories of information systems have emerged, some of which no longer fit easily into the original pyramid model.

Some examples of such systems are:

data warehouses enterprise resource planning enterprise systems expert systems search engines geographic information system

global information system office automation.

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 information system are:

Hardware- these are the devices like the monitor, processor, printer and keyboard, all of which work together to accept, process, show data and information.

Software- are the programs that allow the hardware to process the data. Databases- are the gathering of associated files or tables containing related data.

Networks- are a connecting system that allows diverse computers to distribute resources.

Procedures- are the commands for combining the components above to process information and produce the preferred output.

The first four components (hardware, software, database and network) make up what is known as the information technology platform. Information technology workers could then use these components to create information systems that watch over safety measures, risk and the management of data. These actions are known as information technology services.[37]

information system, an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and for delivering information, knowledge, and digital products. Business firms and other organizations rely on information systems to carry out and manage their operations, interact with their customers and suppliers, and compete in the marketplace. For instance, corporations use

information systems to reach their potential customers with targeted messages over the Web, to process financial accounts, and to manage their human resources. Governments deploy information systems to provide services cost-effectively to citizens. Digital goods, such as electronic books and software, and online services, such as auctions and social networking, are delivered with information systems. Individuals rely on information systems, generally Internetbased, for conducting much of their personal lives: for socializing, study, shopping, banking, and entertainment.

As major new technologies for recording and processing information have been invented over the millennia, new capabilities have appeared. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century and the invention of a mechanical calculator by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century are but two examples. These inventions led to a profound revolution in the ability to record, process, and disseminate information and knowledge. The first large-scale mechanical information system was Herman Holleriths census tabulator. Invented in time to process the 1890 U.S. census, Holleriths machine represented a major step in automation, as well as an inspiration to develop computerized information systems.

One of the first computers used for such information processing was the UNIVAC I, installed at the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1951 for administrative use and at General Electric in 1954 for commercial use. Beginning in the late 1970s, personal computers brought some of the advantages of information systems to small businesses and to individuals. Early in the same decade the Internet began its expansion as the global network of networks. In 1991 the World Wide Web, invented by Tim Berners-Lee as a means to access the interlinked information stored in the computers connected by the Internet, was installed to become the principal service delivered on the network. The global penetration of the Internet and the Web has enabled access to information and other resources and facilitated the forming of relationships among people and organizations on an unprecedented scale. The progress of electronic commerce over the Internet has resulted in a dramatic growth in digital interpersonal communications (via e-mail and social networks), distribution of products (software, music, e-books, and movies), and business transactions (buying, selling, and advertising on the Web). With the emergence of smartphones, tablets, and

other computer-based mobile devices, all of which are connected by wireless communication networks, information systems have been extended to support mobility as the natural human condition.

As information systems have enabled more diverse human activities, they have exerted a profound influence over society. These systems have quickened the pace of daily activities, affected the structure and mix of organizations, changed the type of products bought, and influenced the nature of work. Information and knowledge have become vital economic resources. Yet, along with opportunities, the dependence on information systems has brought new threats. Intensive industry innovation and academic research continually develop new opportunities while aiming to contain the threats.

Components of information systems

The main components of information systems are computer hardware and software, telecommunications, databases and data warehouses, human resources, and procedures. The hardware, software, and telecommunications constitute information technology (IT), which is now ingrained in the operations and management of organizations.

Computer hardware

Today even the smallest firms, as well as many households throughout the world, own or lease computers. These are usually microcomputers, also called personal computers. Individuals may own multiple computers in the form of smartphones and other portable devices. Large organizations typically employ distributed computer systems, from powerful parallel-processing servers located in data centres to widely dispersed personal computers and mobile devices, integrated into the organizational information systems. Together with the peripheral equipment, such as magnetic or solid-state storage disks, input-output devices, and telecommunications gear, these constitute the hardware of information systems. The cost of hardware has steadily and rapidly decreased, while processing speed and storage capacity have increased vastly. However,

hardwares use of electric power and its environmental impact are concerns being addressed by designers.

Computer software

Computer software falls into two broad classes: system software and application software. The principal system software is the operating system. It manages the hardware, data and program files, and other system resources and provides means for the user to control the computer, generally via a graphical user interface (GUI). Application software is programs designed to handle specific tasks for users. Examples include general-purpose application suites with their spreadsheet and word-processing programs, as well as vertical applications that serve a specific industry segmentfor instance, an application that schedules, routes, and tracks package deliveries for an overnight carrier. Larger firms use licensed applications, customizing them to meet their specific needs, and develop other applications in-house or on an outsourced basis. Companies may also use applications delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) over the Web. Proprietary software, available from and supported by its vendors, is being challenged by opensource software available on the Web for free use and modification under a license that protects its future availability.

Telecommunications

Telecommunications are used to connect, or network, computer systems and transmit information. Connections are established via wired or wireless media. Wired technologies include coaxial cable and fibre optics. Wireless technologies, predominantly based on the transmission of microwaves and radio waves, support mobile computing. Pervasive information systems have arisen with the computing devices embedded in many different physical objects. For example, sensors such as radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) can be attached to products moving through the supply chain to enable the tracking of their location and the monitoring of their condition. Wireless sensor networks that are integrated into the Internet can produce massive amounts of data that can be used in seeking higher productivity or in monitoring the environment.

Various computer network configurations are possible, depending on the needs of an organization. Local area networks (LANs) join computers at a particular site, such as an office building or an academic campus. Metropolitan area networks (MANs) cover a limited densely populated area. Wide area networks (WANs) connect widely distributed data centres, frequently run by different organizations. The Internet is a network of networks, connecting billions of computers located on every continent. Through networking, users gain access to information resources, such as large databases, and to other individuals, such as coworkers, clients, or people who share their professional or private interests. Internet-type services can be provided within an organization and for its exclusive use by various intranets that are accessible through a browser; for example, an intranet may be deployed as an access portal to a shared corporate document base. To connect with business partners over the Internet in a private and secure manner, extranets are established as so-called virtual private networks (VPNs) by encrypting the messages.

Databases and data warehouses

Many information systems are primarily delivery vehicles for data stored in databases. A database is a collection of interrelated data (records) organized so that individual records or groups of records can be retrieved to satisfy various criteria. Typical examples of databases include employee records and product catalogs. Databases support the operations and management functions of an enterprise. Data warehouses contain the archival data, collected over time, that can be mined for information in order to develop and market new products, serve the existing customers better, or reach out to potential new customers. Anyone who has ever purchased something with a credit cardin person, by mail order, or over the Webis included within such data collections.

Human resources and procedures

Qualified people are a vital component of any information system. Technical personnel include development and operations managers, business analysts, systems analysts and designers, database administrators, computer programmers, computer security specialists, and computer operators. In

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addition, all workers in an organization must be trained to utilize the capabilities of information systems. Billions of people around the world are learning about information systems as they use the Web.

Procedures for using, operating, and maintaining an information system are part of its documentation. For example, procedures need to be established to run a payroll program, including when to run it, who is authorized to run it, and who has access to the output.

Computer Data Storage

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. In practice, almost all computers use a storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options close to the CPU and slower but larger and cheaper options farther away. Often the fast, volatile technologies (which lose data when powered off) are referred to as "memory", while slower permanent technologies are referred to as "storage", but these terms can also be used interchangeably. In the Von Neumann architecture, the CPU consists of two main parts: control unit and arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The former controls the flow of data between the CPU and memory; the latter performs arithmetic and logical operations on data. Primary storage Direct links to this section: Primary storage, Main memory, Internal Memory. Main article: Computer memory

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Primary storage (or main memory or internal memory), often referred to simply as memory, is the only one directly accessible to the CPU. The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there and executes them as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored there in uniform manner.

Historically, early computers used delay lines, Williams tubes, or rotating magnetic drums as primary storage. By 1954, those unreliable methods were mostly replaced by magnetic core memory. Core memory remained dominant until the 1970s, when advances in integrated circuit technology allowed semiconductor memory to become economically competitive.

This led to modern random-access memory (RAM). It is small-sized, light, but quite expensive at the same time. (The particular types of RAM used for primary storage are also volatile, i.e. they lose the information when not powered).

As shown in the diagram, traditionally there are two more sub-layers of the primary storage, besides main large-capacity RAM:

Processor registers are located inside the processor. Each register typically holds a word of data (often 32 or 64 bits). CPU instructions instruct the arithmetic and logic unit to perform various calculations or other operations on this data (or with the help of it). Registers are the fastest of all forms of computer data storage.

Processor cache is an intermediate stage between ultra-fast registers and much slower main memory. It's introduced solely to increase performance of the computer. Most actively used information in the main memory is just duplicated in the cache memory, which is faster, but of much lesser capacity.

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On the other hand, main memory is much slower, but has a much greater storage capacity than processor registers. Multi-level hierarchical cache setup is also commonly usedprimary cache being smallest, fastest and located inside the processor; secondary cache being somewhat larger and slower.

Main memory is directly or indirectly connected to the central processing unit via a memory bus. It is actually two buses (not on the diagram): an address bus and a data bus. The CPU firstly sends a number through an address bus, a number called memory address, that indicates the desired location of data. Then it reads or writes the data itself using the data bus. Additionally, a memory management unit (MMU) is a small device between CPU and RAM recalculating the actual memory address, for example to provide an abstraction of virtual memory or other tasks.

As the RAM types used for primary storage are volatile (cleared at start up), a computer containing only such storage would not have a source to read instructions from, in order to start the computer. Hence, non-volatile primary storage containing a small startup program (BIOS) is used to bootstrap the computer, that is, to read a larger program from non-volatile secondary storage to RAM and start to execute it. A non-volatile technology used for this purpose is called ROM, for read-only memory (the terminology may be somewhat confusing as most ROM types are also capable of random access).

Many types of "ROM" are not literally read only, as updates are possible; however it is slow and memory must be erased in large portions before it can be re-written. Some embedded systems run programs directly from ROM (or similar), because such programs are rarely changed. Standard computers do not store non-rudimentary

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programs in ROM, rather use large capacities of secondary storage, which is nonvolatile as well, and not as costly.

Recently, primary storage and secondary storage in some uses refer to what was historically called, respectively, secondary storage and tertiary storage.[2] Secondary storage

A hard disk drive with protective cover removed.

Secondary storage (also known as external memory or auxiliary storage), differs from primary storage in that it is not directly accessible by the CPU. The computer usually uses its input/output channels to access secondary storage and transfers the desired data using intermediate area in primary storage. Secondary storage does not lose the data when the device is powered downit is non-volatile. Per unit, it is typically also two orders of magnitude less expensive than primary storage. Modern computer systems typically have two orders of magnitude more secondary storage than primary storage and data are kept for a longer time there.

In modern computers, hard disk drives are usually used as secondary storage. The time taken to access a given byte of information stored on a hard disk is typically a few thousandths of a second, or milliseconds. By contrast, the time taken to access a given byte of information stored in random-access memory is measured in billionths of a second, or nanoseconds. This illustrates the significant access-time difference which distinguishes solid-state memory from rotating magnetic storage devices: hard disks are typically about a million times slower than memory. Rotating optical storage devices, such as CD and DVD drives, have even longer access times. With disk

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drives, once the disk read/write head reaches the proper placement and the data of interest rotates under it, subsequent data on the track are very fast to access. To reduce the seek time and rotational latency, data are transferred to and from disks in large contiguous blocks.

When data reside on disk, block access to hide latency offers a ray of hope in designing efficient external memory algorithms. Sequential or block access on disks is orders of magnitude faster than random access, and many sophisticated paradigms have been developed to design efficient algorithms based upon sequential and block access. Another way to reduce the I/O bottleneck is to use multiple disks in parallel in order to increase the bandwidth between primary and secondary memory.[3]

Some other examples of secondary storage technologies are: flash memory (e.g. USB flash drives or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punched cards, standalone RAM disks, and Iomega Zip drives.

The secondary storage is often formatted according to a file system format, which provides the abstraction necessary to organize data into files and directories, providing also additional information (called metadata) describing the owner of a certain file, the access time, the access permissions, and other information.

Most computer operating systems use the concept of virtual memory, allowing utilization of more primary storage capacity than is physically available in the system. As the primary memory fills up, the system moves the least-used chunks (pages) to secondary storage devices (to a swap file or page file), retrieving them later when they are needed. As more of these retrievals from slower secondary storage are necessary, the more the overall system performance is degraded.

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Large tape library. Tape cartridges placed on shelves in the front, robotic arm moving in the back. Visible height of the library is about 180 cm. Tertiary storage or tertiary memory,[4] provides a third level of storage. Typically it involves a robotic mechanism which will mount (insert) and dismount removable mass storage media into a storage device according to the system's demands; these data are often copied to secondary storage before use. It is primarily used for archiving rarely accessed information since it is much slower than secondary storage (e.g. 560 seconds vs. 110 milliseconds). This is primarily useful for extraordinarily large data stores, accessed without human operators. Typical examples include tape libraries and optical jukeboxes.

When a computer needs to read information from the tertiary storage, it will first consult a catalog database to determine which tape or disc contains the information. Next, the computer will instruct a robotic arm to fetch the medium and place it in a drive. When the computer has finished reading the information, the robotic arm will return the medium to its place in the library. Off-line storage

Off-line storage is a computer data storage on a medium or a device that is not under the control of a processing unit.[5] The medium is recorded, usually in a secondary or tertiary storage device, and then physically removed or disconnected. It must be inserted or connected by a human operator before a computer can access it again. Unlike tertiary storage, it cannot be accessed without human interaction.

Off-line storage is used to transfer information, since the detached medium can be easily physically transported. Additionally, in case a disaster, for example a fire,

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destroys the original data, a medium in a remote location will probably be unaffected, enabling disaster recovery. Off-line storage increases general information security, since it is physically inaccessible from a computer, and data confidentiality or integrity cannot be affected by computer-based attack techniques. Also, if the information stored for archival purposes is rarely accessed, off-line storage is less expensive than tertiary storage.

In modern personal computers, most secondary and tertiary storage media are also used for off-line storage. Optical discs and flash memory devices are most popular, and to much lesser extent removable hard disk drives. In enterprise uses, magnetic tape is predominant. Older examples are floppy disks, Zip disks, or punched cards.

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