What's fresh on my iPod...

Joe Jaffe's utterly fabulous, Across the Sound podcast- definitely check it out, it's a must listen to each week.  Truth be told, I only got through half the show today, on my race from Penn Station to have a conference call with a new partner doing some fascinating "usability" testing (I use the quoted term very loosely, but more on that later this week), but as I was walking in the door, Jaffe dropped this on me, and I stopped immediately.  I couldn't help but wonder, WWMBT? (what would Matt Belkin think ;)

Joe said (and in fairness, I'm sure he had help coming up with the idea but added enough significant value in his own right - I'm loosely attributing it to him here, because he definitely introduced me to it):

1. Data is "the sun rises at 5:12 AM"
2. Information is "the sun rises from the East, at 5:12 AM"
3. Knowledge is "If you're lost in the woods without a compass, follow the direction of the sun to find your direction"
4. Finally, wisdom is "Don't get lost in the woods"

I love it... and it's a perfect anecdote for the dangers in pure data reporting over the knowledge (dare I say wisdom) acquired from true analysis.