Lesson 1-1
Information and Media
Information and Communication Technology — Baccalaureate Year 1
Textbook pages pp. 4–7Published
Data, information and knowledge are three different things; information persists, copies itself and spreads. The first lesson of the first year, and the vocabulary every later lesson leans on.
Learning objectives
- 01Distinguish data, information and knowledge, and sort everyday items into the three.
- 02Name the three characteristics of information — persistence, reproducibility, propagation — and recognise each in a situation.
- 03Distinguish primary from secondary information, and explain why secondary information needs cross-checking.
- 04Classify a medium as expression, transmission or recording media.
- 05Define media literacy and say why it is needed.
Summary
The lesson begins by separating three words students use as if they meant the same thing. Data is facts represented with numbers, characters or symbols — a column of temperatures. Information is what holds meaning or value for the person receiving it and can serve as a basis for a decision — 'it will be cold tomorrow, take a coat'. Knowledge is information that has been analysed and systematised so it helps solve problems — knowing which clothes suit which weather. The order matters: data becomes information for a recipient, and information becomes knowledge once it is organised.
Information also behaves unlike an object: it has no form. Three characteristics follow from that, and they run through the whole year. Persistence — once created, information cannot be completely erased. Reproducibility — it can be copied easily and in large quantities, at no real cost. Propagation — it is easy to convey and spread, through mass media such as newspapers and television and through the internet. A photograph posted once is the standard example of all three at the same time.
Then the lesson divides information by where it came from. Primary information is obtained by yourself — direct experience, research, an experiment, the tabulation of a questionnaire you ran. Secondary information reaches you through a third party — a book, a newspaper, a television programme. Secondary information can differ from the original or carry someone's added interpretation, which is why it is cross-checked: compared from several perspectives with other information to judge its accuracy and reliability.
Media is the last idea: the means by which information is conveyed to people, in three kinds. Expression media are how information is expressed — text, images, audio, video. Propagation or transmission media carry it — television, the internet, paper. Recording media store it. Reading all of this well has a name: media literacy, the ability to receive what media carries and judge it rather than absorb it.
Key terms
- Data
- Facts or matters represented using numbers, characters or symbols.
- Information
- Something that holds meaning or value for the recipient and can serve as a basis for a decision. Unlike an object, information has no form.
- Knowledge
- Information that has been analysed and systematised so that it helps in solving problems.
- Persistence
- Once created, information cannot be completely erased — the reason a deleted post is not really gone.
- Reproducibility
- Information can be copied easily and in large quantities.
- Propagation
- Information is easy to convey and spread, through mass media and through the internet.
- Primary and secondary information
- Primary information is obtained by yourself, through direct experience or research; secondary information reaches you through a third party, such as a book or a broadcast — and is cross-checked against other sources to judge its accuracy and reliability.
- Media literacy
- The ability to read what media carries and judge it, rather than receive it as it comes.
Sample questions
- 01A weather station records the temperature every hour. Say what in that situation is data, what becomes information, and what would count as knowledge.Understand
- 02A student deletes a photo an hour after posting it, but classmates already have it. Which characteristics of information explain what happened, and why does deletion not undo it?Analyse
- 03Two accounts of the same event reach you: a video filmed by someone who was there, and a summary in a magazine. Judge which is primary and which is secondary, and say what you would check before believing either.Evaluate
Answers are on the portal, graded there.
Questions students ask
Information and Media
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