The Knowledge Repository: Organizational Memory Information Systems

in the domain of computer technologies, our understanding of knowledge is somewhat more elusive. Data and information can be exactly the same thing, since their distinction lies in the context to which they are applied. One person's data could be another person's information. Although data often refers to the raw codification of facts, usually useful to few, it could be information for someone who could apply it to a decision or problem context. Typically, data is classified, summarized, transferred, or corrected to add value, and becomes information within a certain context. This conversion is relatively mechanical, and it has long been facilitated by storage, processing, and communication technologies. These technologies add place, time, and form utility to the data. In doing so, the information serves to "inform" or reduce uncertainty within the problem domain. Therefore, information is dyadic within the attendant condition, i.e., it has only utility within the context. Data, on the other hand, is not dyadic within the context. Independent of context, data and information could be identical.