While listening to WBEZ, the Chicago NPR affiliate, begin their non-pledge-drive-pledge-drive, I was surprised to hear a new version of the data-information-knowledge discussion. It went something like this:
It's about clarity. You are overwhelmed with data from 24-hour news networks and the internet, but there is too much. At WBEZ, we analyze all this information to bring you clarity about the news of the world.
And they aren't too far off. Clarity is one of those components of knowledge that makes knowledge so difficult to quantify. Other components include context, understanding, attention (thanks Tom Davenport), history... Interesting.