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In today’s networked & seamless world, where data and information is available a plenty, it certainly does create a chaos in an organization if the knowledge resources are not handled in a proper and smart manner. The concept of knowledge management addresses this issue.
The concept is a recent one and is in the developmental stage, a close look at the fundamentals would enable us to appreciate its utility and effectiveness in today’s knowledge based economy.

What is knowledge?

Let us lend our thoughts to the following points: -

• Is information a simple collection of data?

• Can collection of information be termed as knowledge?

• Does a collection of knowledge constitute wisdom?

Obviously the answer to all these questions is NO!!!
The idea is, that information, knowledge & wisdom are more than simple collections. Rather, the whole represents more than sum of its parts & has a synergy of its own. Let us look closely at the terms for a deeper understanding

DATA: Data refers to simply numbers, text or any other understandable form. Broadly speaking it is just a meaningless point in space and time, without reference to either space or time. It is like an event out of context, a letter out of context, a word out of context. The key concept here is being "out of context." And, since it is out of context, it is without a meaningful relation to anything else. For example the numbers 100 or 5%, completely out of context, are just pieces of data. Interest, principal, and interest rate, out of context, are not much more than data as each has multiple meanings which are context dependent.

INFORMATION: Information relates to description, definition, or perspective (what, who, when, where). It is quite simply an understanding of the relationships between pieces of data, or between pieces of data and other information. While information entails an understanding of the relations between data, it generally does not provide a foundation for why the data is what it is, nor an indication as to how the data is likely to change over time. Thus information has a tendency to be relatively static in time and linear in nature. As in the above example if we establish a bank savings account as the basis for context, then interest, principal, and interest rate become meaningful in that context with specific interpretations.

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* Contributed by -
Vipin Arora
B.Tech. (Polymers), H.B.T.I. Kanpur,
MBA (Batch 2004-06),
Dept. of Management Studies, I.I.T. Roorkee.