IGCSE ICT at Destiny School 20.09.

2010

Data
What do the numbers 123424331911 , 140593 or perhaps the letters 'aaabbbccd' mean to you? Probably nothing - this is because they have no specific meaning or application. They are examples of DATA. Data consist of raw facts and figures - it does not have any meaning until it is processed and turned into something useful. Data comes in many forms, the main ones being letters, numbers, images, symbols and sound. However, it is essential that DATA is available because it is the first step in creating meaningful INFORMATION.

Information
Information is data that has been processed in such a way as to be meaningful to the person who receives it.

INFORMATION = DATA + CONTEXT + MEANING

Example of Information

Data Context

21041926 It is a British date The Birth date of Queen Elizabeth II

This has no meaning or context This allows us to register it as 21st April 1926 It still has no meaning and is therefore not information This gives us all the elements required for it to be called 'information'

Meaning

Knowledge
The next level up from collecting information is having wisdom the capability of understanding the relationship between pieces of information and what to actually do with the information. This ability is called Knowledge Consider this scenario: Person puts a finger into very hot water. Data gathered: Finger nerves sends pain data to the brain. Processing: Brain considers the data and comes up with...

IGCSE ICT at Destiny School 20.09.2010

Information: Painful finger means it is not in a good place. Action: Brain tells finger to remove itself from hot water. Knowledge: Sticking finger in hot water is a bad idea.

Information processing
In order for computers to turn data into information, they must work their way through three stages. These are Input, Processing and Output.

Input
The input stage of computing is concerned with getting the data needed by the program into the computer. Input devices are used to do this. The most commonly used input devices are the mouse and the keyboard.

Processing
The program contains instructions about what to do with the input. During the processing stage the computer follows these instructions using the data which has just been input. What the computer produces at the end of this stage, the output, will only be as good as the instructions given in the program. In other words, if garbage has been put into the program, garbage is what will come out of the computer. This is known as GIGO, or 'Garbage In, Garbage Out'

Output
The output stage of computing is concerned with 'giving out' processed data as information in a form that is useful to the user. Output devices are used to do this. The most commonly used output devices are the screen, which is also called a monitor or visual display unit (VDU) and the printer.