What is Trusted Information?

Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. Before 1920.

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What is Trusted Information? « Craig Rhinehart’s Soapbox.

I’ve always defined information as the combination of two types which can be expressed as aData + Content = Information. Data, also known as structured data is what can usually found in rows and tables of databases. Content is defined as unstructured data (or everything not living in databases). In simple terms, content can be images, media files, documents, spreadsheets, PDFs … you get the idea. I’ve heard it said before that structured data can tell you the who, what, where and when of what happened but only unstructured can tell you the how and why … which is usually the most important part. Together they represent the full context of any information scenario. If you are reading this, you probably already subscribe to this line of thinking and also agree the two worlds are colliding as enterprises mature in how they manage and govern both types of information. Over the next few blog postings, I plan to discuss Information Governance … the how … and the why … the two worlds are coming together and key strategies to address it.

You’ve probably all seen the statistics … 42% of managers say they inadvertently use the wrong information at least once per week and so on. In this day and age … how is this possible? Would you want your doctor making a decision about your life based on the wrong, or older version, of treatment guidance? “Oh nurse, where did we put that updated information on how to treat this illness?” It sounds absurd, but that’s exactly how most enterprises manage their information assets, particularly their content. What are we missing here?

Continues @ http://craigrhinehart.wordpress.com/