18.546 knowledge, wisdom, data, information?

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 546.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 06:31:45 +0000
         From: Vika Zafrin <amarena_at_gmail.com>
         Subject: What is knowledge?

I wasn't *actually* going to start another thread, but this quote from
Bruce Horn (the programmer behind the Mac Finder) seems perfect:

"...[D]ata is not information, which is not knowledge, which is not wisdom."

I wonder whether practicing humanities computing has changed people's
perceptions with regard to the distinctions among these terms. Has it
changed yours? What *are* the distinctions?

My own answer isn't quite formulated. I'm unclear, for example, on
the difference between data and information, and on whether one can
talk about a generalized difference between information and knowledge,
without referring to one or more specific cases.

-Vika

--
Vika Zafrin
Director, Virtual Humanities Lab
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/vhl/
Brown University Box 1942
Providence, RI 02912 USA
(401)863-3984