Is Information Knowledge?

Discussion Question that was posted on July 18, 2014

Is information knowledge? Why or why not? How has the advent of the Internet changed the way we think about information and knowledge? What constitutes plagiarism and what steps should you take to avoid plagiarism

In response to the question:

    

    Yes, Information is knowledge, and more precisely they are correlated but not exactly equal to each other. Any information can be knowledge, but not every knowledge is information. Information usually comes into our possession by looking, reading, hearing or touching. When we speak of knowledge however, experiencing, understanding and realizing come into play. Means knowledge sometimes naturally comes into our possession without any intention. In everyday life someone’s knowledge becomes information and the information becomes the other’s knowledge.

    Just like I mentioned in the first question, sharing information and knowledge between each other occurs every second in our life. Internet is a form of transportation for this. It made the transaction lot quicker, wider, easier and cheaper. Therefore people are becoming more informed and aware with considerably less effort. The information itself can still be valuable but the way we think about them becomes less valuable when we can almost effortlessly acquire them.

    Plagiarism is usually committed to take advantage of someone else’s idea and get credit without actually working for it rather than mainly to share the information. We need to be well aware of the fact that it will not benefit anyone and the best practice is to always mention the origin of the source.