Introduction

The terms ‘data’ and ‘information’ are used interchangeably in everyday speech as meaning the same thing. However, the terms have distinct meanings.Data are raw facts, figures, images or sounds collected from observations or recordings about events, objects or people, which can be stored on a manual or computer-based medium, e.g. employee’s name and number, number of hours worked in a week, inventory part numbers, or sales order. Data has little meaning or value in its own right, it only has meaning when it is processed and put into context as information.

Important of information

Information is a data that has been processed and presented in a useful format that will enable an individual to gain knowledge in order to be able to make a decision. The act of producing data does not itself produce information. Information is data that have been interpreted and understood by the recipient of the message.

Information has meaning within a specific context and is useful for making a decision, solving a problem, performing a task, etc. It is important to note that different individuals may need the same data arranged in a quite different ways to give them information. The information required varies with the type of person and his/her needs.

- - -	Payroll System	Sales Ledger System
Raw Data	Rate of pay, hours worked, deduction, etc.	Customer Sales, customer remittances, etc.
Information	Pay slip, report for management, etc.	Balance owing statements, debtors balances, etc.

Quality of Information

Good information is the one that is used and which creates value.Research shows that good information has numerous qualities as follows:

Relevance or Appropriateness:Information must be relevant to the problem being considered. Too often, reports contain irrelevant parts which make understanding more difficult and cause frustration to the user and lead to information overload.
Accuracy:Information should be sufficiently accurate for the purpose for which it is intended.The need for accuracy varies according to information usage. For example, the marketing director is only interested in sales figure +/- N15000.00?
Completeness:The information should be complete in respect of the key elements of the problem.
Timeliness:The information should be communicated in time to be used.
Reliable:The users must have confidence in the source of the information for it to be used.
Communicated to the right person:Information suppliers need to analyse the key decision points in an organization in order to direct information exactly where it is required.
Must contain the right level of detail:Information should contain the least amount of detail consistent with effective decision making. The level of detail should vary with the level in the
organization; the higher the level, the greater the degree of compression and summarization.
Communicated by an appropriate channel of communication:To be used by the manager, information must be transmitted by means of a communication process.
Communication involves the interchangeable of facts, thoughts, vale judgment and opinions:The communication process may take many forms: face-to-face conversations, telephone calls, informal and formal meetings, reports,tabulations, VDU transmissions, etc. Whatever the process, good communication results where the sender and the receiver are in accord over the meaning of a particular message.
That which is understandable by the user:Understandability is what transforms data into information. If the information is not understood, it cannot be used and thus cannot add value.

Information Levels

Information within an organization can be analysed into three levels – Strategic, Tactical and
Operational.

Strategic Information:Used by senior managers to plan the objectives of their organizations and to assess whether the objectives are being met in practice, e.g. population statistics,investment statistics, national resource availabilities. Much of this information must come from environmental sources, although internally generated information will also be used. It relates to long-term planning in an organization, typically 3-5 years.
Tactical Information:Used by middle management to ensure that the resources of the business are employed efficiently and effectively to achieve the strategic objectives of the organisation e.g. sales analyses and forecasts, production requirements, annual financial statements, predicted course/student numbers. A large proportion of this information will be generated from within the organisation. Tactical information is usually prepared regularly – perhaps weekly or monthly and it is for medium-term planning, typically 6-24 months.
Operational Information:Used by frontline managers such as foremen or head clerks to ensure that specific tasks are planned and carried out properly within a factory or office. Operational information is prepared regularly – perhaps weekly or daily and it is used for a short term planning, days, weeks, possibly hourly e.g. stock levels, overdue purchase orders, production control, and module enrolments.The destination level of information is very important as the information must be material to the user, but without going into unnecessary and time-consuming detail in order to achieve pointless accuracy to the nearest penny.Management control may be satisfied with costs to the nearest hundred or thousand dollars or naira. Greater detail would serve no purpose. Strategic planning may be satisfied with figures to the nearest ten thousand, hundred thousand or even million dollars or naira. In all cases, the information and reports must be relevant to the particular user.

Types of Information

There are five types of information: facts, concepts, procedures, processes, and principles. A description of each type of information is provided in below, as well as an example of each type.

Fact: - This is a unique bit of information that identifies an object, person, place, or date. The
description of each type of information is described below. Example is the driver’s license number.
Concept: - This is a category of items or ideas that share common features. Example is a Cheetah or a Leopard.
Procedure: - A series of steps that show how to make or do something. An example is the procedure in a brushing the teeth.
Process: - A description of how something works or operates. Example is the process of photosynthesis.
Principles: - These are rules, heuristics, guidelines, criteria that predict an outcome. An example is the preparation of a research paper using the school guidelines for writing perfect research papers.

Sources of Information

Written information can be divided into several types. It is easier to explain what kind of information the formats cover if the formats are contrasted.

Primary vs. secondary sources
Books vs. periodicals
Scholarly vs. non-scholarly
Reference vs. general books
Print vs. electronic

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

There are two kinds of sources for information, primary and secondary. Primary sources are first hand, "direct from the source" information. Secondary sources are analyses of primary sources.If you write an autobiography, that's a primary source for your life. If someone reviews or writes a criticism of that autobiography, then that's a secondary source for your life. Or if someone writes a biography of you, that would also be a secondary source.

For literature, the works by an author are primary, and the criticisms of the works are secondary.
For historical issues, letters, diaries, and contemporary accounts are primary sources, while anything written after the event is a secondary source.
For the sciences, the output from the original research on the issue (an article on a survey conducted or the study done) is the primary source, while any analysis or summaries of research done by others is a secondary source.

Books vs. Periodicals

Books

Written information can also be divided into two other forms, books and periodicals. Books themselves come in different types. Monographic books, a.k.a. monographs are "written once," or are books that stand on their own, rather than being part of a series. The information in monographs tends to be comprehensive information on a general topic, or at least more general than what is found in articles. A good monograph should give you a sense of scope, historical background, and a thorough analysis of the issue. To get the most out of monographs, you really should read it in its entirety, rather than just breezing through a few selected chapters.

But not all books follow the monographic format. Some are actually a collection of essays or articles, written by different authors. And while the articles are related somehow, the issues within the articles can be much more focused on a smaller aspect of the issue.

And occasionally you will find books that just cite sources of information on an issue,called bibliographies. Bibliographies are either comprehensive for a particular issue (within a particular date range), or attempt to be selective, just citing the "best" sources of information (again, within a date range),but most bibliographies in book format are comprehensive.

Periodicals

Periodicals are any written information that comes out periodically.Newspapers,magazines and journals are all periodicals.The articles within periodicals tend to be more specific or about certain aspects of an issue,versus monographs.Periodicals take many forms.

Newspapers usually offer articles that are factual accounts of events,but they can be an analysis of trends or issues as well. Newspaper articles usually aren't written by experts in the field and don't offer suggested readings or sources of where they got their information.Newspaper articles are great for current events and primary source material.
Popular magazines are the least scholarly and are mainly for entertainment.Articles tend to offer general tips or advice, or interviews with celebrities.Examples: Good Housekeeping, GQ, People, Road & Track, Vogue, etc.
Trade magazines are those published by associations and/or aimed at practitioners in a particular field, offering mainly practical, how-to articles, or news useful to the field.If the magazine looks like it might be scholarly, but the articles within are clearly not,then it's probably a trade magazine.Examples:Advertising Age,Computerworld,Progressive Farmer, etc.
News magazines are more similar to newspapers,in that they offer factual,current events news and analysis.Examples: Economist,Maclean's,Newsweek,Time, etc.
Opinion magazines only offer analysis of issues and trends,sometimes with a political agenda.Examples:Christianity Today,The Nation,National Review,New Republic etc.
A journal is the name given a periodical that is scholarly in nature. Articles are written by researchers or academics and should offer citations to sources consulted.How a particular article winds up in the journal depends on the kind of journal it is.
A peer-reviewed journal accepts manuscripts and farms them out to other experts in the field to judge the article,usually without the name of the author.The article is then critiqued and is either accepted, sent back to the author for revisions, or
outright rejected.
Other journals do not accept unsolicited manuscripts;rather they recruit particular individuals and ask them to contribute an article. So while this type of journal isn't peer-reviewed, it is very selective and just as prestigious to be published in.
And some journals aren't quite as rigorous as the two above.The works are scholarly but article proposals are judged in-house by the editor or the editorial board, rather than peer-reviewed.

Most journals will tell you straight out if they are peer-reviewed or not in the description of its scope,near where the journal lists the editor/editorial board.Otherwise you can consult a reference set called Ulrich's Periodical Directory, kept behind the Information Desk on Level 2.

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly

One could also divide information into two camps, scholarly and non-scholarly. Sometimes your instructors will place limits on the types of sources you may use for your research, stating that you can only use scholarly information. Periodicals can be clearly divided this way, usually referred to as journals vs. magazines. But to judge whether a book is scholarly or not, it's best to note who the author is and what his/her credentials are, and whether there is a bibliography and notes to sources consulted.

To a certain extent you can judge this also by the publisher. As a rule, university presses almost always publish scholarly works, while other presses may or may not. But whenever your instructor states that you can only use scholarly sources, be more vigilant in critiquing the information. Note the credentials of the author. And if there are no references to sources, you may want to dismiss it.

Reference vs. General Collection

Another dichotomy in information sources is reference sources vs. general collection books.Reference works are those resources that you only want to "refer" to a small section of the work,either to find a quick fact, or to get a general overview of an issue. The information sources found in the reference collection vary widely, but here are some common ones.

Encyclopaedias are the best sources for reading an overview of a topic. There are both general encyclopaedias, which try to summarize all knowledge, and subject-specific encyclopaedias, which focus only on a general topic like health or the environment, and offer overviews of aspects of the general topic. The entries within encyclopaedias can range from a paragraph to 30 pages. Most subject-specific encyclopaedias will also offer a short bibliography or suggestions for further reading.
Dictionaries offer shorter definitions and summaries of terms. Like encyclopaedias,dictionaries can be general or subject-specific. Also, just to make it even more confusing,some reference works are entitled Dictionary of something, but are in fact encyclopaedias in terms of scope and length of the entries.
Handbooks/Manuals/Guides are works that offer quick facts, formulas, equations, or names and addresses for a particular subject.
Atlases offer information in cartographic form. While you may think of atlases as just offering maps of countries or U.S. states, some atlases describe historical events or social issues in map form,e.g. the changing borders of European countries, or the percentage of people in poverty around the world.
Almanacs offer quick facts, either for all subjects, e.g. The World Almanac and Book of Facts, or subject-specific, e.g. The Almanac of Illinois Politics.
Statistical compilations describe issues with numbers. Some are general in scope, the best known being the Statistical Abstract, but there are some that only cover a general subject,such as criminal justice or economics. Most statistical compilations are published by state,federal, or international agencies, and may then be found in the Government Publications area, rather that Reference.

Print vs. Electronic

And finally, there's print vs. electronic information.Like print, electronic information encompasses all the formats mentioned above. You can find electronic books, electronic periodicals, electronic reference works, etc.

But print is not dead, for a variety of reasons.

Publishers themselves have been somewhat wary about going completely digital, and some of them package the electronic versions with purchase of print copies.
Libraries have centuries worth of print information, and a lot of it is not going to be digitized anytime soon, if ever, simply because it wouldn't be profitable to digitize it.
Some types of information don't lend themselves to being read on a computer because of the current technology, and it isn't cost effective for individuals to print out the information.Most e-books, e-journals, databases, and online encyclopaedias are not free. The library purchases them, and then gives free access to their patrons who have paid for library resources, either tax dollars for public libraries and/or tuition to academic libraries.

And then there are all those free websites. There's a lot of useful information out there in cyberspace, as well as lots of unsubstantiated, worthless information as well. You can find information on any topic, assuming that someone bothered to create the website. So why would someone take the time and effort to put the website together?

For commercial enterprises, they bothered because they want to sell you something, or they want to attract your attention to bring in advertising revenue.
For mainstream news organizations or publishers, they are already set up to make money via advertising, so they may be able afford to offer free content. But they may only have a week's worth of articles available, or selected articles to entice you to subscribe.
For federal and state government agencies, they have a legal mandate to disseminate information gathered via tax dollars back to the public.So the Internet is seen as a cheaper method of dissemination than print.
For non-profit organizations, they want to "get the word out" about their cause, so the Internet is a perfect medium to distribute their own reports.
Scholarly information generated by academics can be found,but we are still in the infancy of the Internet being used for this.There have been a number of big pushes to have more e journals to counteract the costs of scholarly journals,especially in the sciences.And there are a number of digitization projects of historical, primary documents on the Web, many of them sponsored by academic institutions.

Conclusion

Information is the cornerstone of information technology. It is the fuel that powers the digital world and drives innovation, communication, and automation. Understanding the concept of information in IT is essential for professionals and enthusiasts in the field, as it underpins the design, operation, and management of IT systems and technologies. In the age of digital transformation, information technology continues to shape the way we access, process, and utilize information, opening new possibilities and revolutionizing our world.

Exploring the Power of Information in the Digital Age