1) Data refers to raw unprocessed symbols or numbers, information refers to data that has been organized and given meaning, and knowledge refers to the highest level of processed understanding gained from information. 2) For data to become information, it must be interpreted and given meaning by people or computers who impose patterns on the data. 3) Information can be used to enhance knowledge through interpreting patterns found in data as truths or criteria.

1. Meaning of data, information and knowledgea
The terms information and knowledge are frequently usedfor overlapping concepts. The maindifference 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.[citation needed]
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 consideredas "data",
a book on Mt. Everestgeological characteristics may be considered as "information",
and a report containing practical informationon the best way to reach Mt. Everest's peak may be considered as
"knowledge".
Information as a conceptbears 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 conceptof a sign to distinguish between data and information;data are symbols while
information occurs when symbols are used to refer to something.[15] [16]
It is people and computers who collectdata and imposepatterns on it. These patterns are seenas information which can
be usedto enhance knowledge. These patterns can be interpretedas truth, and are authorized as aesthetic and ethical
criteria. Events that leave behind perceivable physical or virtual remains can be tracedback through data. Marks are no
longer considered data once the link betweenthe mark and observationis broken.[17]
Rawdata refers to a collectionof numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices to convert physical
quantities into symbols, that are unprocessed. Such data is typically further processedby a humanor inputinto
a computer,storedand processedthere, or transmitted(output)to another humanor computer (possiblythrough a data
cable). Rawdata is a relative term;data processingcommonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage
may be considered the "raw data" of the next.
Mechanical computingdevices are classified according to the means by whichthey 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 mostcommon digital computers use a binary alphabet,
that is, an alphabet of twocharacters, typically denoted"0" and "1". More familiar representations, suchas numbers or
letters, are thenconstructed from the binary alphabet.
Some special forms of data are distinguished. A computer program is a collectionof data, whichcan be interpreted as
instructions. Most computer languages makea distinctionbetween programs and the other data on which programs
operate, butin some languages, notablyLisp and similar languages, programs are essentially indistinguishable from other

2. data. It is also useful to distinguish metadata, thatis, a descriptionof other data. A similar yetearlier 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 generatedwithinthe contextof a scientific investigationby observation and
recording. Field data refers to raw data collectedin an uncontrolled in situ environmen