Data itself is valueless, however when provided with context, it becomes valued, a database contains lots of raw information, and therefore it would be extremely hard to interpret anything from it, for example here is a table from a database:
| Yes | Blue | 5 | 100 | No |
Without context, its information means nothing, it could mean anything. It is abstract, however when combined with some context, it becomes useful and can be useful.
| Andrew has completed his homework | Yes |
| Andrew’s school house color | Blue |
| Andrew’s last test score | 5 |
| Andrew’s highest test score | 100 |
| Andrew is real | No |
Now that we have provided this table with some context, it makes more sense, this is the difference between information and data. Information is data that has been given meaning. Although it is odd to keep data about a fictional Andrew, it is funny to think that within this website, data is stored that will contain Andrew’s table, and only when this page is read will it make sense what the purpose of this information is for.
- Data is anything from numbers and letters to characters or metadata, it may be inputted into a computer through a form or another computer system.
- Information is data with context, it makes sense. It becomes information once you are familiar with what it is referring to.
An ICT System is something that provides information, automation, data or computation to a user. Some examples of an ICT System are:
- A School Website.
- A video rendering server.
- An online picture editor or gif creator.
- A fire alarm system.
- A sprinkler system.
ICT is visible everywhere and can be extremely beneficial to society, you reading this website is the result of hundreds of ICT systems being monitored by individuals called System Administrators or Sysadmin for short. Short of the simple systems that keep the website running, there is also the bigger picture systems, such as the time management servers, update servers for the OS of the website and your own computer, Record and bill systems checking that the server is paid for, Website analysis systems indexing this website on Google and other search engines, Security and Antivirus checking your router for bad traffic and even ISP systems, ensuring that your and this end of the connection is working, and if any of those systems were to fail, catastrophic consequences could occur.