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Re: [ontolog-forum] What is Data? What is a Datum? 2013-01-09-0930

To: <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:02:45 -0500
Message-id: <50EF4895.5010009@xxxxxxxx>
OK.  FWIW, I agree with John's three categories below.  But for me, kind (3), a bucket of values, is not "data".  It is just "values".  And following the Gillman thread, it is not even clear that it is "values", if you don't know what type the values are supposed to represent.  Is 220449999 an integer?  a naming string from some registry like tax-id or DUNSid?  a code?  It is just a sequence of characters until we have some indication of how to interpret it.  And I don't see how that is a 'datum'.  Even Dan Gillman's definition requires that we know what kind of individual it represents.

-Ed


On 1/10/2013 5:41 PM, John F Sowa wrote:
Ed,

The distinction I am making is in what the datum is.  I argue that
a datum is a proposition.  A value without any interpretation is not
a datum.  It is a child without a meaning.
That is a reasonable definition.  I stated the etymology in my note:
"A datum is anything that is given."  Somebody might give you a list
of values without telling you what they mean.

JFS
I would also add that not all data is propositional.  For example,
the list of names and numbers in a telephone book consists of paired
instances of two kinds of data.  Each pair becomes a proposition
when the instances are inserted in an appropriate schema:

     "The person named _________ has the telephone number ________."
EB
I disagree.  That is, the meaning of each pair in the telephone
directory is a proposition of that form, and the pair is a datum. It is
not necessary to express the sentence per se.
A telephone book gives us a list of paired values.  The intended
propositions are derived by combining the values with some relations.

Instead of quibbling about some email note(s), I suggest that we
classify the kinds of data:

  1. Explicit statements of propositions in some language.

  2. Values (names, numerals, strings, etc.) in some kind of
     structures (tables, lists, graphs) together with some
     schema (implicit or explicit) for interpreting the
     structures of values as propositions.

  3. Values that have become detached from their explanations and
     present a puzzle to be solved before they can be interpreted
     as propositions.

  4. Etc.

John

 
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-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Systems Integration Division, Engineering Laboratory
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