The Continuum of Understanding

A Bit About Data

Data is the product of research, creation, gathering, and discovery. It is the raw material we find or create that we use to build our communications. Most of what we experience, unfortunately, is merely data. It is fairly easy to distinguish: it is usually boring or incomplete. It isn't valuable as communication because it isn't a complete message. Most of the technology we call "Information Technology" is in fact, only Data Technology because they do not address understanding or the forming or communication of information. Mostly, these technologies are simply concerned with storage, processing, and transmission.

Data is useful only to producers, or to anyone playing a production role. Everyone does this to some extent, whether professional or personally, in print, electronic, or spoken forms. but, it is not meant for "consumers" and too often we deluge our audience with data instead of information, leaving them to sort it out and make sense of it. Many providers even brag of the amount of meaningless, contextless data they throw at their customers. CNN, for example, actually calls their bits "factoids" and slides them between otherwise, meaningful presentations.

Successful communications do not present data. If, for example, presenters haven't bothered to provide context and build meaning, audiences have little patience for doing it themselves. As designers, we must ask ourselves constantly what service yourself what service we provide.

More About Information

Information is the first level appropriate to communicate with audiences and represents the communication of thoughtful messages because it requires the relationships and patterns between data (the context) to be revealed. Transforming data into information is done by organizing it into a meaningful form, presenting it in meaningful and appropriate ways, and communicating the context around it. These processes are described in more detail below.

 

The Experience of Knowledge

Knowledge is the pay-off of any experience. It is the understanding gained through experiences, whether bad or good. Knowledge is communicated by building compelling interactions with others or with tools so that the patterns and meanings in their information can be learned. There are many types of experiences, some knowledge is personal, having meaning only to one person because of that persons' unique experiences, thoughts, or point of view. Local knowledge is that shared by a few people because of shared experiences, while global knowledge (at the other end of the spectrum) is more general and limited and more process-based since it relies on such heavy levels of shared understandings and agreements about communication. Effective communication must take into account the audience's level of knowledge, which makes it more difficult to communicate to larger audiences because the pool of shared knowledge is less detailed and more generalized.

Knowledge is gained through a process of integration, both in the presentation and in the mind of the participant. Information forms the stimulus of an experience while Wisdom can be the understanding of the message gained through the experience. Knowledge is fundamentally participatory and a level we should all target for our communications because it is the one that allows the most valuable messages to be conveyed. It is also the last level which we can directly affect since it is still in the local or global range.

What is Wisdom?

Wisdom is the most vague and intimate form of understanding. It is much more abstract and philosophical than the other levels and less is known about how to create or affect it. Wisdom is a kind of metaknowledge of processes and relationships gained through experiences. It is the result of contemplation, evaluation, retrospection, and interpretation-all of which are particularly personal processes. We cannot create wisdom like we can data and information, and we cannot share it with others like we can knowledge. We can only create experiences that offer opportunities and describe processes. Ultimately, it is an understanding that must be gained by one's self.

next
beginning

Copyright 1994 Nathan Shedroff

 

Home | Search | Feedback | Projects + Vision | vividians
Form + Function | PR | Culture Shock | Vivid Travel Network