On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:10:08 +0100, smr 
wrote:

>jms wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:51:14 +0100, smr 
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Judith M Smith wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:55:52 +0100, Rob Morley 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:24:27 -0700 (PDT)
>>>>> Ste  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 12 Oct, 00:38, Rob Morley  wrote:
>>>>>>> On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:12:33 +0100
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> real-not-anti-spam-addr...@apple-juice.co.uk (D.M. Procida) wrote:
>>>>>>>> That 'data' is plural, but only pedants observe this.
>>>>>>> Of course some of us may suggest that only the lazy and ignorant
>>>>>>> treat it as singular ...
>>>>>> I think of it more as efficiency. "Data" has become synonymous with
>>>>>> "information", but with an emphasis on the information being in a
>>>>>> mathematical or digital form.
>>>>> That's just wrong - data are recorded measurements, while information
>>>>> is meaning /extracted from/ those measurements by analysis.
>>>>
>>>> OED:
>>>>
>>>> Datum : A thing given or granted; something known or assumed as fact,
>>>> and made the basis of reasoning or calculation; an assumption or
>>>> premiss from which inferences are drawn.
>>>>
>>>> No mention of recorded measurements
>>>>
>>> Are measurements not known or assumed as fact and made on the basis of
>>> reasoning or calculation?
>> 
>> the point is that data does not have to be "recorded measurements" -
>> it can just be information
>> 
>> But you knew that didn't you?
>> 
>
>Ah, I'd been following the other line of the thread, apologies. Yeah,
>you really can't be too restrictive about what data can consist of,
>recorded measurements are a type of data rather than data is recorded
>measurements.


Yes - agreed.

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