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Data, information and knowledge: have we got it right?

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  • Max Boisot
  • Agustí Canals

Abstract

Economists make the unarticulated assumption that information is something that stands apart from and is independent of the processor of information and its internal characteristics. We argue that they need to revisit the distinctions they have drawn between data, information, and knowledge. Some associate information with data, and others associate information with knowledge. But since none of them readily conflates data with knowledge, this suggests too loose a conceptualisation of the term ‘information’. We argue that the difference between data, information, and knowledge is in fact crucial. Information theory and the physics of information provide us with useful insights with which to build an economics of information appropriate to the needs of the emerging information economy. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2004

Suggested Citation

  • Max Boisot & Agustí Canals, 2004. "Data, information and knowledge: have we got it right?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 43-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joevec:v:14:y:2004:i:1:p:43-67
    DOI: 10.1007/s00191-003-0181-9
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. de Pedraza, Pablo & Vollbracht, Ian, 2020. "The Semicircular Flow of the Data Economy and the Data Sharing Laffer curve," GLO Discussion Paper Series 515, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Valtteri Kaartemo & Helena Känsäkoski, 2018. "Information and Knowledge Processes in Health Care Value Co-Creation and Co-Destruction," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(4), pages 21582440188, December.
    3. Goodridge, PR & Haskel, J, 2015. "How much is UK business investing in big data?," Working Papers 25159, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
    4. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2017. "The Impact of Knowledge Management Models for the Development of Organizations," MPRA Paper 83089, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Feb 2017.
    5. José Bayoán Santiago Calderón & Dylan G. Rassier, 2023. "Valuing the US Data Economy Using Machine Learning and Online Job Postings," NBER Chapters, in: Technology, Productivity, and Economic Growth, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Uwe Cantner, 2017. "Foundations of Economic Change: An Extended Schumpeterian Approach," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 9-49, Springer.
    7. Don Lamberton, 2004. "The Knowledge Economy: Joel Mokyr, The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2002," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 11(4), pages 363-366.
    8. Goodridge, PR & Haskel, J, 2015. "How does big data affect GDP? Theory and evidence for the UK," Working Papers 25156, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
    9. Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel & Harald Edquist, 2022. "We See Data Everywhere Except in the Productivity Statistics," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(4), pages 862-894, December.
    10. Steve J. Bickley & Benno Torgler, 2021. "Behavioural Economics, What Have we Missed? Exploring “Classical” Behavioural Economics Roots in AI, Cognitive Psychology, and Complexity Theory," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-21, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    11. Carbone, Anna & Jensen, Meiko & Sato, Aki-Hiro, 2016. "Challenges in data science: a complex systems perspective," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1-7.
    12. Berna Beyhan Bozkiroglu, 2006. "The Characteristics of Knowledge in Evolutionary Economics," STPS Working Papers 0613, STPS - Science and Technology Policy Studies Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Mar 2006.
    13. Anthony Cawley & Kevin Heanue & Rachel Hilliard & Cathal O’Donoghue & Maura Sheehan, 2023. "How Knowledge Transfer Impact Happens at the Farm Level: Insights from Advisers and Farmers in the Irish Agricultural Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-24, February.
    14. Child, John & Hsieh, Linda H.Y., 2014. "Decision mode, information and network attachment in the internationalization of SMEs: A configurational and contingency analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 598-610.
    15. J Bayoán Santiago Calderón & Dylan Rassier, 2022. "Valuing the U.S. Data Economy Using Machine Learning and Online Job Postings," BEA Working Papers 0204, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    16. Teruaki Hayashi & Hiroki Sakaji & Hiroyasu Matsushima & Yoshiaki Fukami & Takumi Shimizu & Yukio Ohsawa, 2021. "Data Combination for Problem-Solving: A Case of an Open Data Exchange Platform," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 521-534, November.
    17. Amandine Pascal & Catherine Thomas & Georges A.L. Romme, 2009. "Méthodologie de « Design Collaboratif » : une approche intégrative," Post-Print halshs-00374980, HAL.
    18. Guinevere Nell, 2010. "Competition as market progress: An Austrian rationale for agent-based modeling," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 127-145, June.

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