Differences Between Data and Information

Here we are going to discuss the differences between two typical terms of information technology: Data and Information. Data is a collection of raw facts and figures about an entity. Data may consist of numbers, characters, audio, video or pictures etc. When these data is processed according to requirements, then it is transformed into INFORMATION.

For example, consider Admission system of a Computer College. The candidates will submit admissions forms filled by them. Now all the facts and figures and picture of candidate on form is called data. These data may consist of name, father's name, date of birth, marks obtained, total marks, address, contact number and a latest photo graph of the candidate.
Now the concerned person in the college office will process these data to prepare a merit list. He may calculate percentage of obtained marks of each candidate and arrange the records in descending order by percentage. This merit list is an example of Information. Information is useful in decision making. The merit list will declare the names of students who will have a right to get admission in the college.

	DATA	INFORMATION
1	Data is collection of raw facts and figures.	Information is processed data.
2	Data is unarranged and unorganized..	Information is arranged and organized..
3	Data is un-meaningful.	Information is meaningful.
4	Data is input.	Information is out put.
5	Data is used less frequently.	Information is used frequently.
6	Data represents facts before processing.	Information represents results (obtained after processing).
7	Data is not helpful in decision-making.	Information is helpful in decision-making.
8	Data is raw material for information.	Information is the final product of data.
9	Data are unprocessed records	Information contains processed records
10	Data is in large amounts	Information is in small amounts
11	If data is lost, it is very difficult (or even impossible in some situations) to re collect.	If information is lost, it is easily derived from stored data, again.
12	Data is collected by observations, recordings, interview or survey etc. For example, if we record the temperature of each hour recorded in a particular day is called temperature data.	Now we will process these temperatures data to find useful information. For example if we arrange temperatures in ascending order, then we will find the information like: Minimum Temperature of the day= 15 C  and Maximum Temperature of the day = 25 C.
13	Data is the asset of an organization and is not available for sale to public.	Normally, information is available for sale to general public.
14	Data depends upon the sources for collecting data, the collection methods adopted and the people who will collect data.	Information depends upon data.