What Is The Definition Of Data & Its Characteristics?

What Is The Definition Of Data & Its Characteristics?

It is a well-known fact that in today’s world “Information is power”. A person or entity who has control over organized information wields a lot of power. Therefore it’s essential to understand what is data and its characteristics.

In computing, data is defined as any form of information that has been gathered and organized in a meaningful format wherein they could be processed further. In other words, Data are known facts that can be recorded and have implicit meaning.

Data definition & characteristics is one of the most basic database concepts that should be crystal clear in your head.

Data could be in the form of audio files, text documents, software programs, images etc. It is stored on the computer hard disk in binary digital format meaning it can be stored and processed digitally as well as could be transferred from one system to another. One of the most useful aspects of digitally stored data is that they do not deteriorate gradually with time although they need to be curated from time to time.

Five Characteristics Of Good Quality Data!

One of the most important things to always remember is that not all data could be considered of fine quality hence making them limited in their usefulness. In order to fully realize the benefits of data, it has to be of high quality. This means that one should look out for certain characteristics in the data. These are:

  1. Data should be precise which means it should contain accurate information. Precision saves time of the user as well as their money.
  2. Data should be relevant and according to the requirements of the user. Hence the legitimacy of the data should be checked before considering it for usage.
  3. Data should be consistent and reliable. False data is worse than incomplete data or no data at all.
  4. Relevance of data is necessary in order for it to be of good quality and useful. Although in today’s world of dynamic data any relevant information is not complete at all times however at the time of its usage, the data has to be comprehensive and complete in its current form.
  5. A high quality data is unique to the requirement of the user. Moreover it is easily accessible and could be processed further with ease.

Data – An Indispensable Commodity In The Digital World!

The father of information theory Claude Shannon is responsible for the origins of the concept of Data in computing. Since then there has been a breakthrough in terms of data consolidation and processing. A whole industry on digital data processing has emerged serving private as well as government corporations. A collection of relevant data is called a database which forms the base of data computing and consolidation. We will learn more about it in the next blog.

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