Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Biomed Inform. 2009 Aug 13;43(1):104. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2009.08.006

Table 1. Alternative views of data, information and knowledge.

Ackoff’s hierarchy Philosophy of information
Data Symbols Lack of uniformity
Information Data that have been processed to be useful (answers to: who, what, when or where questions) Data + Meaning
Knowledge Application of data and information to answer “how” questions Justified, true belief
Wisdom Understanding and appreciation of “why” questions