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org/wiki/Data
Data (/ˈdeɪtə/ DAY-tə, US also /ˈdætə/ DAT-ə) are a collection of discrete or continuous
values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic
units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted formally.
A datum is an individual value in a collection of data. Data are usually organized into
structures such as tables that provide additional context and meaning, and may themselves
be used as data in larger structures. Data may be used as variables in a computational
process.[1][2] Data may represent abstract ideas or concrete measurements.[3]
Data are commonly used in scientific research, economics, and virtually every other form of
human organizational activity. Examples of data sets include price indices (such as the
consumer price index), unemployment rates, literacy rates, and census data. In this context,
data represent the raw facts and figures from which useful information can be extracted.

Data are collected using techniques such as measurement, observation, query, or analysis,
and are typically represented as numbers or characters that may be further processed. Field
data are data that are collected in an uncontrolled, in-situ environment. Experimental data
are data that are generated in the course of a controlled scientific experiment. Data are
analyzed using techniques such as calculation, reasoning, discussion, presentation,
visualization, or other forms of post-analysis. Prior to analysis, raw data (or unprocessed
data) is typically cleaned: Outliers are removed, and obvious instrument or data entry
errors are corrected.

Data can be seen as the smallest units of factual information that can be used as a basis for
calculation, reasoning, or discussion. Data can range from abstract ideas to concrete
measurements, including, but not limited to, statistics. Thematically connected data
presented in some relevant context can be viewed as information. Contextually connected
pieces of information can then be described as data insights or intelligence. The stock of
insights and intelligence that accumulate over time resulting from the synthesis of data into
information, can then be described as knowledge. Data has been described as "the new oil of
the digital economy".[4][5] Data, as a general concept, refers to the fact that some existing
information or knowledge is represented or coded in some form suitable for better usage or
processing.

Advances in computing technologies have led to the advent of big data, which usually refers
to very large quantities of data, usually at the petabyte scale. Using traditional data analysis
methods and computing, working with such large (and growing) datasets is difficult, even
impossible. (Theoretically speaking, infinite data would yield infinite information, which
would render extracting insights or intelligence impossible.) In response, the relatively new
field of data science uses machine learning (and other artificial intelligence (AI)) methods
that allow for efficient applications of analytic methods to big data.

The Latin word data is the plural of datum, "(thing) given," and the neuter past participle of
dare, "to give".[6]
The first English use of the word "data" is from the 1640s. The word "data" was first used to
mean "transmissible and storable computer information" in 1946. The expression "data
processing" was first used in 1954.[6]

When "data" is used more generally as a synonym for "information", it is treated as a mass
noun in singular form. This usage is common in everyday language and in technical and
scientific fields such as software development and computer science. One example of this
usage is the term "big data".
When used more specifically to refer to the processing and analysis of sets of data, the term
retains its plural form.
This usage is common in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, software
development and computer science, and grew in popularity in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Some style guides do not recognize the different meanings of the term and simply
recommend the form that best suits the target audience of the guide. For example, APA
style as of the 7th edition requires "data" to be treated as a plural form.[7]

Data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are closely related concepts, but each has its role
concerning the other, and each term has its meaning. According to a common view, data is
collected and analyzed; data only becomes information suitable for making decisions once it
has been analyzed in some fashion.[8] One can say that the extent to which a set of data is
informative to someone depends on the extent to which it is unexpected by that person. The
amount of information contained in a data stream may be characterized by its Shannon
entropy.

Knowledge is the awareness of its environment that some entity possesses, whereas data
merely communicates that knowledge. For example, the entry in a database specifying the
height of Mount Everest is a datum that communicates a precisely-measured value. This
measurement may be included in a book along with other data on Mount Everest to
describe the mountain in a manner useful for those who wish to decide on the best method
to climb it. Awareness of the characteristics represented by this data is knowledge.

Data are often assumed to be the least abstract concept, information the next least, and
knowledge the most abstract.[9] In this view, data becomes information by interpretation;
e.g., the height of Mount Everest is generally considered "data", a book on Mount Everest
geological characteristics may be considered "information", and a climber's guidebook
containing practical information on the best way to reach Mount Everest's peak may be
considered "knowledge". "Information" bears a diversity of meanings that range from
everyday usage to technical use. This view, however, has also been argued to reverse how
data emerges from information, and information from knowledge.[10] 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 differentiate between data
and information; data is a series of symbols, while information occurs when the symbols are
used to refer to something.[11][12]

Before the development of computing devices and machines, people had to manually collect
data and impose patterns on it. With the development of computing devices and machines,
these devices can also collect data. In the 2010s, computers were widely used in many fields
to collect data and sort or process it, in disciplines ranging from marketing, analysis of
social service usage by citizens to scientific research. These patterns in the data are seen as
information that can be used to enhance knowledge. These patterns may be interpreted as
"truth" (though "truth" can be a subjective concept) and may be authorized as aesthetic and
ethical criteria in some disciplines or cultures. 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.[13]

Mechanical computing devices are classified according to how they represent data. An
analog computer represents a datum as a voltage, distance, position, or other physical
quantity. A digital computer represents a piece of data 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, that 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.

Whenever data needs to be registered, data exists in the form of a data document. Kinds of
data documents include:
Some of these data documents (data repositories, data studies, data sets, and software) are
indexed in Data Citation Indexes, while data papers are indexed in traditional bibliographic
databases, e.g., Science Citation Index.

Gathering data can be accomplished through a primary source (the researcher is the first
person to obtain the data) or a secondary source (the researcher obtains the data that has
already been collected by other sources, such as data disseminated in a scientific journal).
Data analysis methodologies vary and include data triangulation and data percolation.[14]
The latter offers an articulate method of collecting, classifying, and analyzing data using five
possible angles of analysis (at least three) to maximize the research's objectivity and permit
an understanding of the phenomena under investigation as complete as possible: qualitative
and quantitative methods, literature reviews (including scholarly articles), interviews with
experts, and computer simulation. The data is thereafter "percolated" using a series of pre-
determined steps so as to extract the most relevant information.

An important field in computer science, technology, and library science is the longevity of
data. Scientific research generates huge amounts of data, especially in genomics and
astronomy, but also in the medical sciences, e.g. in medical imaging. In the past, scientific
data has been published in papers and books, stored in libraries, but more recently
practically all data is stored on hard drives or optical discs. However, in contrast to paper,
these storage devices may become unreadable after a few decades. Scientific publishers and
libraries have been struggling with this problem for a few decades, and there is still no
satisfactory solution for the long-term storage of data over centuries or even for eternity.

Data accessibility. Another problem is that much scientific data is never published or
deposited in data repositories such as databases. In a recent survey, data was requested
from 516 studies that were published between 2 and 22 years earlier, but less than one out
of five of these studies were able or willing to provide the requested data. Overall, the
likelihood of retrieving data dropped by 17% each year after publication.[15] Similarly, a
survey of 100 datasets in Dryad found that more than half lacked the details to reproduce
the research results from these studies.[16] This shows the dire situation of access to
scientific data that is not published or does not have enough details to be reproduced.

A solution to the problem of reproducibility is the attempt to require FAIR data, that is, data
that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Data that fulfills these
requirements can be used in subsequent research and thus advances science and
technology.[17]
Although data is also increasingly used in other fields, it has been suggested that the highly
interpretive nature of them might be at odds with the ethos of data as "given". Peter
Checkland introduced the term capta (from the Latin capere, "to take") to distinguish
between an immense number of possible data and a sub-set of them, to which attention is
oriented.[18] Johanna Drucker has argued that since the humanities affirm knowledge
production as "situated, partial, and constitutive," using data may introduce assumptions
that are counterproductive, for example that phenomena are discrete or are observer-
independent.[19] The term capta, which emphasizes the act of observation as constitutive,
is offered as an alternative to data for visual representations in the humanities.

The term data-driven is a neologism applied to an activity which is primarily compelled by