Re: It don't mean a thing ...

fOn Tue, 01 Jun 2004 15:46:06 +0200 in comp.databases.theory, mAsterdam <mAsterdam_at_vrijdag.org> wrote:

>x wrote:
> >> Well, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data ,
> >> under meaning of data and information,
> >> say "data on its own has no meaning".
>
><quote>
> Data on its own has no meaning, only
> when interpreted by some kind of data
> processing system does it take on
> meaning and become information.
></quote>

ISTM it's just the very old statement that a string of bits or bytes by itself has no semantic content, but it gains semantics when it is interpreted as a type: characters, an integer, or an FP number. In a database context, data gains additional meaning when it is stored in a column of a table, because it not only gains a type, it then also expresses a fact about some entity.

IMHO given some common knowledge about an application domain, and a data model for that application domain, the only meaning that can not be derived is the current significance of that data to the organization, and the (complex, correlated, current ;^>) rules that organization applies to the data.

-- 
Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis 	Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Brian.Inglis_at_CSi.com 	(Brian dot Inglis at SystematicSw dot ab dot ca)
    fake address		use address above to reply