Data vs Information

I thought I'd share a quick post on the differences between data vs information since I'm majoring in Information Systems and the field is very interesting.

Image being a store manager and you have a database set up to keep track of all the purchases made via bar code scanners.  When a products are scanned at a cash register, an individual record is generated for it which contains the product name, its cost, perhaps the date purchased, a product ID number, and/or the employee who carried out the transaction.  This process is repeated until eventually you have hundreds and thousands of rows of records.  This entire sum of items is data.  Typically data comes in large sums.

Information is analyzed data which represents something of value.  For example, the Walmart in Orem typically stocks up with items such as hangers and toilet paper near the beginning of the fall.  They do this because they've analyzed previous years of data and identified that incoming students of the local colleges of BYU and UVU find they need these items when they move into their new apartments.

The major of Information Systems teaches students how to turn raw data into useful information via computer programming.  The main language is SQL (Standard Query Language), which allows you to search on whatever it is you please.  SQL statements may be simple and short, and can also fill pages with its intricate procedures.