Question

After reading about the four major components of an information system, please write a 100- word paragraph, in your own words, about what you think the difference is between "data" and "information." Why is this distinction important to understand? Explain thoroughly

Answer 1

Data and information are two interrelated words which are mostly mistakingly and interchangeably used. Data is raw, unprocessed and unanalyzed matter which is useless and unrelated without processing or analyzing. Data is irrelevant and doesn't interpret any useful material with meaningful output. Whereas after thoroughly processing and analyzing a set of data information is derived which is perceivable, useful and interpreted as practical material which can be used in processes.

Distinction between both data and information is important because data is the basic form of information which does not makes sense on its own and is just a chunk of 0’s and 1’s and if used without analyzing or processing will produce meaningless results. Information is what we use to produce desirable outputs.