The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data (plural of "datum") are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which information and then knowledge are derived. ''Raw data'', i.e. unprocessed data, refers to a collection of numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices that collect information to convert physical quantities into symbols.

Etymology

The word ''data'' ( , , or ) is the Latin plural of ''datum'', neuter past participle of ''dare'', "to give", hence "something given". In discussions of problems in geometry, mathematics, engineering, and so on, the terms ''givens'' and ''data'' are used interchangeably. Also, data is a representation of a fact, figure, and idea. Such usage is the origin of ''data'' as a concept in computer science: data are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand,

Usage in English

In English, the word ''datum'' is still used in the general sense of "an item given". In cartography, geography, nuclear magnetic resonance and technical drawing it is often used to refer to a single specific reference datum from which distances to all other data are measured. Any measurement or result is a ''datum'', but ''data point'' is more usual, albeit tautological. Both ''datums'' (see usage in datum article) and the originally Latin plural ''data'' are used as the plural of ''datum'' in English, but ''data'' is commonly treated as a mass noun and used with a verb in the singular form, especially in day-to-day usage. For example, ''This is all the data from the experiment''. This usage is inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar and traditional English (''These are all the data from the experiment''). Even when a very small quantity of data is referenced (One number, for example) the phrase ''piece of data'' is often used, as opposed to ''datum''. The debate over appropriate usage is ongoing.

The IEEE Computer Society, allows usage of ''data'' as either a mass noun or plural based on author preference. Other professional organizations and style guides require that authors treat ''data'' as a plural noun. For example, the Air Force Flight Test Center specifically states that the word ''data'' is always plural, never singular.

''Data'' is accepted as a singular mass noun in everyday educated usage. Some major newspapers such as ''The New York Times'' use it either in the singular or plural. In the ''New York Times'' the phrases "the survey data are still being analyzed" and "the first year for which data is available" have appeared within one day. In scientific writing ''data'' is often treated as a plural, as in ''These data do not support the conclusions'', but it is also used as a singular mass entity like ''information''. British usage now widely accepts treating ''data'' as singular in standard English, including everyday newspaper usage at least in non-scientific use. UK scientific publishing still prefers treating it as a plural. Some UK university style guides recommend using ''data'' for both singular and plural use and some recommend treating it only as a singular in connection with computers.

Meaning of data, information and knowledge

The terms information and knowledge are frequently used for overlapping concepts. The main difference is in the level of abstraction being considered. Data is the lowest level of abstraction, information is the next level, and finally, knowledge is the highest level among all three. Data on its own carries no meaning. For data to become information, it must be interpreted and take on a meaning. For example, the height of Mt. Everest is generally considered as "data", a book on Mt. Everest geological characteristics may be considered as "information", and a report containing practical information on the best way to reach Mt. Everest's peak may be considered as "knowledge".

Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.

Beynon-Davies uses the concept of a sign to distinguish between data and information; data are symbols while information occurs when symbols are used to refer to something.

It is people and computers who collect data and impose patterns on it. These patterns are seen as information which can be used to enhance knowledge. These patterns can be interpreted as truth, and are authorized as aesthetic and ethical criteria. Events that leave behind perceivable physical or virtual remains can be traced back through data. Marks are no longer considered data once the link between the mark and observation is broken.

''Raw data'' refers to a collection of numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, that are unprocessed. Such data is typically further processed by a human or input into a computer, stored and processed there, or transmitted (output) to another human or computer (possibly through a data cable). ''Raw data'' is a relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next.

Mechanical computing devices are classified according to the means by which they represent data. An analog computer represents a datum as a voltage, distance, position, or other physical quantity. A digital computer represents a datum as a sequence of symbols drawn from a fixed alphabet. The most common digital computers use a binary alphabet, that is, an alphabet of two characters, typically denoted "0" and "1". More familiar representations, such as numbers or letters, are then constructed from the binary alphabet.

Some special forms of data are distinguished. A computer program is a collection of data, which can be interpreted as instructions. Most computer languages make a distinction between programs and the other data on which programs operate, but in some languages, notably Lisp and similar languages, programs are essentially indistinguishable from other data. It is also useful to distinguish metadata, that is, a description of other data. A similar yet earlier term for metadata is "ancillary data." The prototypical example of metadata is the library catalog, which is a description of the contents of books.

Experimental data refers to data generated within the context of a scientific investigation by observation and recording. Field data refers to raw data collected in an uncontrolled in situ environment.

See also

Biological data

Data acquisition

Data analysis

Data cable

Data domain

Data element

Data farming

Data governance

Data integrity

Data maintenance

Data management

Data mining

Data modeling

Computer data processing

Data remanence

Data set

Data warehouse

Database

Datasheet

Environmental data rescue

Fieldwork

Metadata

Scientific data archiving

Statistics

Datastructure

References

External links

data is a singular noun (a detailed assessment)

Category:Data management

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Coordinates	19°2′2.04″N65°15′45.36″N
name	Hans Rosling
birth date	July 27, 1948
death date
workplaces	Karolinska Institute
alma mater	Uppsala University, St. John's Medical College
known for	Gapminder Foundation and Trendalyzer
signature
spouse	}}

Hans Rosling (born 27 July 1948 in Uppsala, Sweden) is a Swedish medical doctor, academic, statistician and public speaker. He is Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute and co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software system.

Study and career

From 1967 to 1974 Rosling studied statistics and medicine at Uppsala University, and in 1972 he studied public health at St. John's Medical College, Bangalore. He became a licenced physician in 1976 and from 1979 to 1981 he served as District Medical Officer in Nacala in northern Mozambique.

On 21 August 1981, Rosling discovered an outbreak of konzo, a paralytic disease, and the investigations that followed earned him a Ph.D. degree at Uppsala University in 1986. He spent two decades studying outbreaks of this disease in remote rural areas across Africa and supervised more than ten Ph.D. students. Outbreaks occur among hunger-stricken rural populations in Africa where a diet dominated by insufficiently processed cassava results in simultaneous malnutrition and high dietary cyanide intake.

Rosling's research has also focused on other links between economic development, agriculture, poverty and health in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has been health adviser to WHO, UNICEF and several aid agencies. In 1993 he was one of the initiators of Médecins Sans Frontières in Sweden. At Karolinska Institutet he was head of the Division of International Health (IHCAR) from 2001 to 2007. As chairman of Karolinska International Research and Training Committee (1998–2004) he started health research collaborations with universities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. He started new courses on Global Health and co-authored a textbook on Global Health that promotes a fact-based world view.

Rosling presented the television documentary ''The Joy of Stats'', which was broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Four in December 2010.

Gapminder

Rosling co-founded the Gapminder Foundation together with his son Ola Rosling and daughter-in-law Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Gapminder developed the Trendalyzer software that converts international statistics into moving, interactive graphics. His lectures using Gapminder graphics to visualise world development have won awards. The interactive animations are freely available from the Foundation's website. On 16 March 2007 Google acquired the Trendalyzer software with the intention to scale it up and make it freely available for public statistics. In 2008 Google made available a Motion Chart Google Gadget and in 2009 the Public Data Explorer.

Rosling is also a sword swallower, as demonstrated in the final moments of his second talk at the TED conference. In 2009 he was listed as one of 100 leading global thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine, and in 2011 as one of 100 most creative people in business by the Fast Company Magazine. In 2011 he was elected member of the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Awards

2007 – Statistician of the Year Award from the Swedish Association for Statistics

2007 – Jubilee Prize from the Swedish Medical Society

2007 – Knowledge Prize from the National Encyclopaedia of Sweden

2008 – Speaker of the Year from the Swedish Event Academy

2008 – The Big Debate Award from Dagens Medicine

2009 – Georg and Greta Borgstrom Award from the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry

2010 – Illis Quorum, Highest Award conferred by the Government of Sweden

2010 – The Grand Prize from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

2010 – Gold Medal from Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences

2010 – World Technology Award in Design together with Ola Rosling & Anna Rosling Rönnlund

2010 – The Gannon Award for the Continued Pursuit of Human Advancement (US)

2011 - Grierson 2011 Award for the Best British Science Documentary, presenter in "The Joy of Stats"

Selected publications

References

External links

Hans Rosling shows the best stats you've ever seen at the 2006 TED Conference in Monterey, CA highlighting novel ways of presenting global statistics.

Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty, from TED2007, featuring a surprise ending. (video)

Video of Hans Rosling speech at the OECD World Forum in Istanbul

Hans Rosling's blog

Ola Rosling giving a Gapminder presentation at Google (video)

Motion Chart Google Gadget

Hans Rosling: Global health expert; data visionary profile on TED.com

Category:1948 births Category:People from Uppsala Category:Karolinska Institutet faculty Category:Swedish bloggers Category:Public health education Category:Living people Category:Sword swallowers

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Coordinates	19°2′2.04″N65°15′45.36″N
Name	Dan Bull
Alt	A picture of Dan Bull in Parliament Square, holding a handheld megaphone, standing on a raised platform and addressing protesters
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Daniel Bull
Alias	Douglby, Dan Bull
Born	January 01, 1986 Bromsgrove, Worcestershire,England
Origin	Bromsgrove, Worcestershire,England
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, songwriter
Years active	2006–present
Label	Unsigned
Website	}}

Dan Bull is an English rapper and songwriter known for his politically orientated lyrics and specific addressing of high profile figures in his music. His music has been featured in the British press as part of attempts to save BBC Radio 6, campaign against the Digital Economy Bill, and protest in favour of filesharing.

Musical career

2006 - Present: ''Other Work''

Dan Bull has released songs on subjects such as digital rights, the music industry, and gaming. Bull's actions have gained attention, specifically from the company TalkTalk who requested to team up with him against the Digital Economy Bill.

2009: ''Safe''

Safe tells the story of a young man who attempts suicide at the same time as a global thermonuclear holocaust and awakens in a new, ambiguous nirvana. Along the way, Dan Bull covers such topics as summer sunshine, friendship, love and loss, alienation, politics, death, religion, suicide and insanity.

''2009 - Present: ''Upcoming Album''

Bull announced via his blog that the upcoming album would be available in early 2011. Stating that: "It’s going to be a continuation of the narrative of my first album, but will have a very different feel and mood overall."

Discography

''Safe'' (2009)

Videos

''Dear Lily'' (2009)

''Doorways'' (2009)

''Free Gary'' (2009)

''Generation Gaming'' (2009)

''Dear Andy'' (2010)

''Dear Mandy'' (2010)

''Death of ACTA'' (2010)

''Dear Auntie'' (2010)

References

External links

Official website

YouTube

Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:English rappers Category:Political music Category:People from Worcestershire

fr:Dan Bull