The Continuum of Understanding
A Bit About Data
Data is the product of discovery, research, gathering, and creation. It is the raw material we find or create that we use to build our communications. Unfortunately, most of what we experience is merely data. It is fairly easy to distinguish as often it is boring, incomplete, or inconsequential. Data isn't valuable as communication because it isn't a complete message. Most of the technology we call "Information Technology" is, in fact, only data technology because understanding and communication of information is not addressed. These technologies are primarily concerned with storage, processing, and transmission. Data is useful only to producers or anyone playing a role in production. Data is not meant for "consumers" and too often we deluge our audience with data instead of information, leaving them to sort it out and make sense of it. Many providers even boast of the large amount of meaningless, contextless data they throw at their customers. CNN, for example, actually calls their data bits "factoids" and interjects them between otherwise meaningful presentations.
Successful communications do
not present data. If, for example, presenters haven't bothered
to provide context and build meaning, audiences have little patience
for doing it themselves. As designers, we constantly must ask
ourselves what service we provide.
More About Information
Information makes data meaningful for audiences because it requires the creation of relationships and patterns between data. Transforming data into information is accomplished by organizing it into a meaningful form, presenting it in meaningful and appropriate ways, and communicating the context around it. These processes are described in more detail below.
beginning
Copyright 1994 Nathan Shedroff