UNIT 1 DATA, INFORMATION AND

KNOWLEDGE: INTELLECTUAL
ASSETS
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Value and Importance of Information
1.2.1 Central and Pivotal Role of Information Today
1.2.2 Information – A Network of Related Concepts
1.3 Data, Information and Knowledge
1.3.1 Characteristics and Interrelationships
1.3.2 Comparative Study
1.4 Libraries and Data, Information and Knowledge
1.5 Summary
1.6 Answers to Self Check Exercises
1.7 Keywords
1.8 References and Further Reading

1.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will be able to:
l perceive the value, pervasive role and importance of information in today’s
context of national development;
l distinguish the meaning, distinctive characteristics and interrelationships
of data, information and knowledge; and
l recognise the role of libraries servicing data, information and knowledge
in different contexts.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
From the primitive days of human civilisation to the present day, information
has always been a component of growth and improvement in living standards.
In modern societies of today, however, information is closely interlocked with
growth and development which is reflected in many ways, as seen in the growth
of economic, political, social, occupational, cultural and other sectors. But the
concept of information has to be understood in its relation to many other
associative concepts such as data, fact, observation, intelligence, skill,
knowledge, experience, wisdom and similar others to perceive the impact of
information on modern societies. All these concepts, indeed, are very much
the creation of human mind. It is, in fact the combination of these concepts
and their applications for human resources development that, in effect,
contribute to the growth and prosperity of a society. Information and knowledge
are, therefore, deliberately being created to meet a variety of challenges posed 15
Information : Nature, to human living. A sea change is taking place in society due to the application
Property and Scope
of information and knowledge for development. Information Technology with
all its spectacular advances has been, in fact, the chief instrument of these
revolutionary changes, leading societies to an information age. Creation of
new knowledge and information, their processing, storage, retrieval,
dissemination, distribution, etc. have become critical areas for industrial
investments. Indeed today, information industries are emerging as a major
group among modern industries.
Being aware of these fast and sweeping changes taking place in society, libraries
are making serious efforts to gear themselves to meet the new challenges of
handling and servicing information. In this Unit, we shall study all these aspects
with particular focus on the characteristics, interrelationships and comparative
utility of data, information and knowledge and their values as human intellectual
capital in the context of servicing them through libraries.

1.2 VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF

INFORMATION
All societies ancient, medieval or modern have functioned and prospered on
the basis of information and knowledge in their various stages of developments.
In the past, the creation of new knowledge, innovations and inventions have
been the efforts of a small number of individuals with a passion for and
dedication to such activities and, therefore, growth of new knowledge has
largely been sporadic and incidental. Application of the new information and
knowledge was largely accidental; consequently, progress in terms of material
advancement of life had been slow. But from the beginning of this century,
more particularly in the last half a century, information has come to occupy
the central position, to be reckoned as a driving force for all human development.
Let us examine the causes for such a reckoning.

1.2.1 Central and Pivotal Role of Information Today

Some of the factors attributed to the current value of information and knowledge,
which have contributed so much to socio-economic developments, are discussed
below:
Research and Development (R & D)
It is increasingly realised and recognised that information and knowledge and
their application for transformation of non-resources into value-added economic
resources are the real driving power for human material progress. This
assessment has resulted in the creation of institutions exclusively for Research
and Development (R & D) in the last two centuries in the western countries,
although initially R & D activities were mostly individual efforts. The output
of these R & D activities has been the generation of new information and
knowledge. These efforts in science and technology in particular, and the
application of this new knowledge for industrial and economic development
have brought to the people of the western countries a high standard of life. The
infrastructure built for this purpose by these countries has indeed become a
model for developing countries to emulate.
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Fusion of Science and Technology (S & T) Data,Information and
Knowledge: Intellectual
In the last half a century, there has been a fusion of science and technology Assets

that has begun to transform the character of technology itself. For a long time,
science has grown independently without relation to technology. But as science
developed in association with technology, and integrated framework of
reference (conceptual as well as theoretical) resulted offering much greater
explanatory power. For instance, the development of solid-state physics, which
is the foundation of the electronic revolution, arose out of the work of
metallurgists and physicists on the structure of conductor devices. Since
technology is the instrumental mode of rational action, Daniel Bell, the well
known sociologist, has characterised this new methodological development
as “intellectual technology” which constitutes a set of algorithms that are
embodied in a computer program to represent a formalisation of judgements.
Their routine application to many situations is becoming predominant in the
management of organisations and enterprises today.
Science and Technology (S & T) and Societal Information
Another important point to note is the last quarter of a century is the increasing
emphasis on the application of science and technology to social and economic
developments. The organising principle for information systems and services
today is a mix of Science, Technology and Societal Information (STSI) for all
socio-economic developments. Development, being a complex and multi-
dimensional process, involves, information and knowledge inputs of science
and technology and their applications. They combine with other forms of
society-related information such as political, economic, sociological,
demographic, occupational, health, legal, regulatory and environmental
information to provide a complete information universe. Development is said
to be not merely cultivating the physical resources, but also human resources
as well. Any imbalance in these development approaches weakens the overall
capacity of a society to transform itself. All these aspects have further reinforced
the importance and value of information and knowledge.
Information Technology
The rapidly developing information technology has revolutionised information
processing, storage, dissemination and distribution and has been the chief
instrument and a major contributing factor to change in society. These
technologies are not merely rapidly developing, but they also are converging
and integrating, giving an unprecedented push to growth and development in
everything.
Information Demand
The demand for information from laypersons to sophisticated specialists and
scholars has phenomenally increased in recent decades. Almost every person
needs information for some purpose or the other. Access to and availability of
information, therefore, has become very crucial.
There are number of pressures that have brought about the demand for
information. Some of these pressures and their consequent demand for
information are shown in figure 1.1:
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Information : Nature,
Property and Scope
Growth of population greater complexity of administration

Social differentiation and reorganisation development of group

and class interests

Technological innovation Needs of inventors and entrepreneurs

new products and process

new occupation and skills
more leisure development of private interests

improved transport
Increasing exploration and discovery
Demand for trade new products
Information travel cultural contacts

Growth in education
needs of teachers and students
increased scholarship, science, speculation
needs of researchers
new ideas and knowledge
growing ability to learn and assimilate

Life expectancy increases longer and more diverse

careers; needs of old age

Social welfare provision needs of agencies and clients

Fig. 1.1: Pressure and Consequent Demand for Information

Power Shift
Information and knowledge have become a tremendous source of economic
and political power as they have become the principal driving force for the
acquisition of wealth, political strength and more knowledge. Information-
rich countries of today are becoming even more powerful than the colonial
powers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on account of their
expertise in creating new information and knowledge and exploiting them for
their advantages.
Self Check Exercise
1) Give at least three reasons as to why information has acquired an
importance and significance today.
Note : i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.
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1.2.2 Information – A Network of Related Concepts Data,Information and
Knowledge: Intellectual
Assets
You can easily make out from the above that information and knowledge are
as essential to development as they have been to sources of power.
Information and knowledge, however, have to be understood in their widest
connotation to grasp fully their impact on society. A network of concepts are
associated with information and knowledge, such as data, facts, intelligence,
know-how, skills, experience and wisdom. It is the combination of all these
concepts that go to provide the necessary creative capabilities and competence
to transform a non-resource into a value-added economic resource. We shall
study in the next section the essential characteristics, interrelationships, value
and use of data, information and knowledge, as these are the ones which are
most tangible and could be serviced in libraries in whatever physical form
they are available.
Self Check Exercise
2) Describe the factors contributing to the enhancement of the value of
information.
Note : i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.
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1.3 DATA, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

Data, information, knowledge and wisdom are the products of the mind that
are acquired and perfected. They are not of equal value in terms of utility and
application. Rather, they (Data, Information, Knowledge) are evaluated in an
ascending scale of values, data having the least value, wisdom the greatest.
These concepts in their totality constitute valuable human intellectual assets
and hence, serve as the most precious human capital in all developmental
processes.
1.3.1 Characteristics and Interrelationships
Data is usually an observed fact, obtained on the basis of a systematic survey
or study, relating to a certain activity. For example, social data with reference
to urban life and civic amenities, government statistics relating to trade, excise
duties, taxes, etc. census figures of population, records of scientific experimental
findings and similar others. These have value with reference to studies on
subjects connected with these data. These data are analysed and synthesised to
derive indicators, provide projections and arrive at valid inferences with 19
Information : Nature, reference to any event or activity and so on.
Property and Scope
Information is obtained through processing of data. The storage, retrieval and
processing of data become the essential resource for all economic and social
exchanges. These include:
1) Data processing of records: payrolls, government benefits (e.g., social
security), bank clearances, credit clearances and the like.
2) Databases: characteristics and features of population as shown by census
data, market research, opinion, surveys, election analysis, bibliographic
data and the like.
3) Data processing for scheduling: airline and railway reservations,
production scheduling, inventory analysis, document delivery priorities
in libraries and information centres, and the like.
Knowledge, on the other hand, is an organised set of statements of fact or an
idea, presenting a reasoned judgement or an experimental result, which is
transmitted to others through some communication medium is some systematic
form. Knowledge consists of new judgements (research and scholarship) or
presentation of older judgements as exemplified in textbooks, in teaching and
learning, and collected as library and archival materials. The interrelationship
of the three concepts could well be understood from the chart given below:

Data Raw Material Cotton

Information Intermediary Yarn
Knowledge Finished Product Cloth
Note: This example of cotton, yarn, cloth is given here merely to illustrate the
interrelationship of data, information, and knowledge. In the context of
dressmaking cloth may be a raw material, the finished product may be a suit.
It must be clear from the above descriptions of data, information and knowledge,
that these three concepts are interrelated, in the sense that one is the building
block of the other. Data is the building block for information and information
is the building block of knowledge.
Much of the confusion arises because these distinctions are ignored in common
and popular usage of these words. They are used interchangeably, very often,
information standing for knowledge or data. But as information professionals
we have to understand their distinctions and interrelationships and serve them
according to the needs of users.
Self Check Exercise
3) Distinguish between data, information and knowledge with an illustrative
example.
Note : i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.
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........................................................................................................................... Data,Information and
Knowledge: Intellectual
........................................................................................................................... Assets

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1.3.2 Comparative Study

Information is news, facts, statistics, reports of contemporary events and
activities, legislation, tax-codes, judicial decisions and the like.
Knowledge is interpretation in context, exegesis (critical explanations and
interpretations, especially of scriptures), relatedness, conceptualisation and
forms of argument. The results of knowledge are theories; the effort to establish
relevant relationships or connection between facts, data and other information
in some coherent form and to explain the reasons for these generalisations.
Both in everyday use or in the usage of these words among specialists, however,
knowledge is universally regarded as a much wider concept than information
or data. Knowledge is a summation of many bits of information or data,
organised into some sort of a coherent entity. Comprehension and understanding
result from the acquisition of information.
Fritz Machlup, the well known scholar in this field, says that information is a
process, a flow of messages involving, the act of telling or being told, and
knowledge is a state or sense of knowing, an accumulated stock. So we talk of
flow of information and stocks of knowledge.
The distinctions between information and knowledge are summed up below
as described by Fritz Machlup:
Information Knowledge
is piecemeal, fragmented, particular; is structured, coherent and often
of enduring significance;
is timely, transitory, perhaps even is a stock, largely resulting from
ephemeral; and the flow, inputs of information;
and
is flow of messages may affect the stock of
knowledge by adding to it,
restructuring it or changing it in
any way.
None of these distinctions relate to practical usefulness; neither information
nor knowledge needs to be useful or valuable in all contexts. Nor are we
concerned in libraries about popular knowledge or technical knowledge,
pedestrian or scholarly knowledge, and useful or useless knowledge. Stocks
in libraries are built up on the basis of the needs of users and not based upon
any judgement made on them, although we do recognise outdated, obsolete,
unused information and knowledge in building up collections and servicing
them in libraries in relation to user needs.
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Information : Nature, Wisdom is an individual trait which comes to one through acquisition of sound
Property and Scope
knowledge and the related virtues by age and experience. This trait among
others may comprise ability to see far ahead into the future, have a vision of
things to come and judgement in selecting the right alternatives among several
others available for making a decision and so on. While this is the highest
form of knowledge, this knowledge cannot be transferred; it is only acquired.
Self Check Exercise
4) Why does Machlup consider information as a flow and knowledge as a
stock?
Note : i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.
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1.4 LIBRARIES AND DATA, INFORMATION

AND KNOWLEDGE
In so far as libraries and information centres are concerned, while these
distinctions between data, information and knowledge are useful and necessary
to determine the types of services that can be planned and offered, user’s
information needs are really the determining factor in building up a collection
or in serving the clientele. Libraries or information centres are built in support
of information needs of the parent organisation, which is involved in some
activities. We have taken four typical areas to illustrate these points. These
are:
l Education, training and skill developments, research and development;
l Government affairs;
l Business and industry; and
l Mass communication.
We are indicating in figure 1.2 the type of data, information and knowledge
that libraries and information centres handle in organising services in the four
typical areas mentioned above. In these examples, we are indicating only the
broad canvas of data, information and knowledge rather than any specific
guidance for organising library and information services. The nature of the
end products that may be obtained as a result of the information services is
also shown in the figure.
It is also to be noted here that these data, information and knowledge discussed
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in their respective contexts are not mutually exclusive. In fact any of these
types may be of use in any other context.
 Fig. 1.2: Data, Information and Knowledge in Four Different Context
Knowledge: Intellectual

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Data,Information and

Assets
Information : Nature, Self Check Exercise
Property and Scope
5) Give examples of data, information and knowledge served by libraries
and information centres in the context of mass communication.
Note : i) Write your answer in the space given below.
ii) Check your answer with the answers given at the end of the Unit.
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1.5 SUMMARY
In this Unit, we have learnt why information has acquired a strategic significance
today, although its role in all societies throughout the past has always been to
provide for growth and development. The reasons attributed to the present
status of information are:
l The realisation and recognition of information as a vital component in
socio-economic development;
l Creation of exclusive R & D institutions, especially in science and
technology, to generate new information and knowledge;
l The fusion of science and technology and its synergetic impact under
which Information Technology is rapidly advancing;
l The organising principle of information today is a mix of science,
technology and societal information, the focus being on socio-economic
development;
l Information Technology and its fast increasing impact on changes in
society causing, in the process, to transform the society itself into an
‘Information Society’ as some scholars have maintained; and
l Ever increasing demand for, and supply of information contributes to
raising the level and reorganisation of information into a strategic source
of economic and political power.
Information has to be examined in its relationship with other concepts, which
together constitute the intellectual capital which is the driving force for changes
in the society.
While many concepts are associated with information, the three concepts of
data, information and knowledge are studied with reference to their general
meaning, interrelatedness and specific distinctions as these are the tangible
forms which can be served in libraries and information centres.
Finally, the role of libraries and information centres (that handle and service
data, information and knowledge) is analysed with reference to four typical
24 situations:
i) education, training and skill development, research and development; Data,Information and
Knowledge: Intellectual
ii) government affairs; Assets

iii) business and industry; and

iv) mass communication with reference to:
a) typical institutions in each of these four areas above;
b) categories of users in these institutions; and
c) illustrative examples of data, information and knowledge serviced
in libraries and information centres attached to these institutions.

1.6 ANSWERS TO SELF CHECK EXERCISES

1) The three reasons why information has acquired a special importance and
significance today are:
i) The realisation and recognition that a good mix of Scientific,
Technical and Societal Information is vital to socio-economic
development.
ii) The demand for information from a lay person or a sophisticated
scholar has phenomenally increased today on account of various
pressures such as population, social differentiation, technological
innovation, education and research, use of leisure, human longevity
of life, etc.
iii) Information has become the most crucial weapon for acquisition of
economic and political power.
2) The factor contributing to the enhancement of the value of information
are:
i) Research and Development: The output of various research and
development activities results in generation of new information and
knowledge. It is being increasingly realised that information and
knowledge and their application for transformation of non-resources
into value-added economic resources are the real driving power for
human material progress.
ii) Fusion of Science and Technology: Fusion of science and
technology has begun to transform the character of technology itself.
technology has become the instrumental mode of rational action and
their routine application to many situations is becoming predominant
in the management of organisations and enterprises today.
iii) Science and Technology and Societal Information: The increasing
emphasis on the application of science and technology to social and
economic developments is another factor contributing to the
enhancement of the value of information. The organising principle
for information systems and services today is a mix of Science,
Technology and Societal Information (STSI) for all socio-economic
developments.
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Information : Nature, iv) Information Technology: The rapidly developing Information
Property and Scope
Technology has revolutionised information processing, storage,
dissemination and distribution. It is the chief instrument and a major
contributing factor in the enhancement of the value of information.
v) Information Demand: The demand for information from lay persons
to specialists and scholars have increased phenomenally in recent
decades. Access to and availability of information, therefore, has
become very crucial.
vi) Power Shift: Information and knowledge have become a tremendous
source of economic and political power as they have become the
principal driving force for the acquisition of wealth, political strength
and more knowledge for development.
3) Data is undifferentiated observation of facts in terms of words, numbers,
symbols, etc. For example, scientific data collection in a laboratory
experiment, social data with reference to population, or trade statistics,
price index, etc.
Information is processed data. For example, analysis of population data
with reference to scientific and technical personnel in a country, weather
forecasting based on the data collected on atmospheric conditions built
up on the high seas, inferences obtained on the properties of materials
acquired from moon, etc.
Knowledge is consolidated and structured information as in encyclopaedic
articles, state-of-the-art reports, textbooks, etc.
4) By definition, information is piecemeal, unstructured, timely, etc. and the
main purpose of information is to inform. The communication aspect is
implied in information which flows from a sender to a receiver. Knowledge
is a consolidation of validated data and information that constitutes a body
of coherent and structured reservoir. To this body is added further
knowledge and hence, this keeps on increasing as a stock, at times leading
to modification of existing knowledge.
5) Data, e.g., trade and industrial statistics, price index, entertainment
announcements, etc.
Information, e.g., processed information of weather to warn farmers
during times of monsoons, stock exchange information for investments,
reports of music concerts, news about national and international events,
etc.
Knowledge, e.g., press responsibilities vis-à-vis democratic institutions
in the form of a report, international information order as exemplified by
the third world countries meetings, the books such as ‘Many Voices One
World’ published by UNESCO, etc.

1.7 KEY WORDS

Algorithm : Instructions for carrying out a series of
26 logical procedural steps in a specific order.
Human Intellect : Skills of all variety necessary for all round Data,Information and
Knowledge: Intellectual
development. Assets

Information Age : A period characterised by domination of

information.
Information Industry : Market place created by the convergence
of computers, telecommunication and
micro-electronics.
Information Technology : Acquisition, processing, storage and
dissemination of information by a
combination of base technologies such as
microelectronics, computers and
communications.
Synergetic Effect : An effect produced as a result of
combination of two or more forces
representing more than their mere
summation.

1.8 REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Alder, Mortimer J. (1986). A Guidebook to Learning for the Life Long Pursuit
of Wisdom. New York: Macmillan.
Bell, Daniel (1974). The Information Society: The Social Framework of the
Information Society. In Dertouzos, M.L. and Moses, J. (eds.). The Computer
Age: A Twenty Years View. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Pp 16-211.
Machlup, Fritz (1983). Semantic Quirks in Studies of Information. In Machlup,
F. and Mansfield, U. (eds.), A Study of Information, Interdisciplinary Messages.
New York: Macmillan. Pp. 641-71.
Martin, William J. (1988). The Information Society. London: Aslib.
Stewart, Thomas A. (1991). Brain Power. Fortune. June 3, 44-60.
Vickery, Brian C. and Vickery, Alina (1987). Information Science in Theory
and Practice. London: Butterworths.
Vitro, Robert A. (1988). Viewpoint: Towards a Knowledge Based Development
Strategy. National Development. 29(8), 4-5.

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