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Information about Data

For other uses, see Data (disambiguation).


Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa (or DATA) is a multinational non-government organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign.

It was created for the purpose of obtaining equality and justice for Africa through debt relief, adjusting trade rules which burden Africa, eliminating the African AIDS epidemic, strengthening democracy, more accountability by the wealthiest nations and African leaders and transparency towards the people.

Start-up funds came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, financier George Soros, and technology entrepreneur Edward W. Scott.[1]

DATA is currently placing most of its resources into supporting the ONE Campaign.

The project receives support from the Christian rock/Alternative rock bands Switchfoot and Third Day.

See also

References

1. ^ Josh Tyrangiel. "The Constant Charmer", Time Magazine, December 19th, 2005. 
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ "Sometimes scientists think of data as plural, as in These data do not support the conclusions. But more often scientists and researchers think of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage."[2]
4. ^ New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1999
5. ^ "...in educated everyday usage as represented by the Guardian newspaper, it is nowadays most often used as a singular."[3]

External links





Data in everyday language is a synonym for information.[2] In the exact sciences there is a clear distinction between data and information, where data is a measurement that can be disorganized and when the data becomes organized it becomes information. Data may relate to reality, or to fiction as in a fictional movie. Data about reality consists of propositions. A large class of practically important propositions are measurements or observations of a variable. Such propositions may comprise numbers, words or images.

Etymology

The word data is the plural of Latin datum, neuter past participle of dare, "to give", hence "something given". The past participle of "to give" has been used for millennia, in the sense of a statement accepted at face value; one of the works of Euclid, circa 300 BC, was the Dedomena (in Latin, Data). In discussions of problems in geometry, mathematics, engineering, and so on, the terms givens and data are used interchangeably. Such usage is the origin of data as a concept in computer science: data are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand. Pronounced dey-tuh, dat-uh, or dah-tuh.

Experimental data are data generated within the context of a scientific investigation.

Usage in English

In English, the word datum is still used in the general sense of "something given", and more specifically in cartography, geography, geology, NMR and drafting to mean a reference point, reference line, or reference surface. More generally speaking, any measurement or result can be called a (single) datum, but data point is more common[4]. Both datums (see usage in datum article) and the originally Latin plural data are used as the plural of datum in English, but data is more commonly treated as a mass noun and used in the singular, especially in day-to-day usage. For example, "This is all the data from the experiment". This usage would be inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar, which would instead suggest "These are all the data from the experiment", but these are English sentences, so Latin grammar rules do not apply. Many British and UN academic, scientific, and professional style guides (e.g., see page 43 of the World Health Organization Style Guide) request that authors treat data as a plural noun. Nevertheless, it is now usually treated as a singular mass noun in both informal and educated usage, but usage in scientific publications shows a strong UK/U.S divide. U.S. usage prefers treating data in the singular in all contexts, including serious and academic publishing.[3] UK usage now widely accepts treating data as singular in standard English[4], including educated everyday usage[5] at least in non-scientific use.[5] UK scientific publishing usually still prefers treating it as a plural.[6]. Some UK university style guides recommend using data for both singular and plural use[7] and some recommend treating it only as a singular in connection with computers.[8]

Uses of data in science and computing

Main article: Data (computing)


Raw data are numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, in a very broad sense. Such data are typically further processed by a human or input into a computer, stored and processed there, or transmitted (output) to another human or computer. Raw data is a relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next.

Mechanical computing devices are classified according to the means by which they represent data. An analog computer represents a datum as a voltage, distance, position, or other physical quantity. A digital computer represents a datum as a sequence of symbols drawn from a fixed alphabet. The most common digital computers use a binary alphabet, that is, an alphabet of two characters, typically denoted "0" and "1". More familiar representations, such as numbers or letters, are then constructed from the binary alphabet.

Some special forms of data are distinguished. A computer program is a collection of data, which can be interpreted as instructions. Most computer languages make a distinction between programs and the other data on which programs operate, but in some languages, notably Lisp and similar languages, programs are essentially indistinguishable from other data. It is also useful to distinguish metadata, that is, a description of other data. A similar yet earlier term for metadata is "ancillary data." The prototypical example of metadata is the library catalog, which is a description of the contents of books.

Meaning of data, information and knowledge

The terms information and knowledge are frequently used for overlapping concepts. These three concepts are ill- or ambiguously defined in the subject matter literature . However, in recent interdisciplinary research a few independent specializations of these terms have been proposed.

See also

References

<references />
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.
Data consist of propositions that reflect reality, such as measurements or observations of a variable.

Data may also refer to:
  • Data (computing), in computer science, often distinguished from code or software
  • Data (Euclid), a book by Euclid

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The word multinational can refer to:
  • A Multinational corporation
  • A Multinational State
  • International

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non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by private persons or organizations with no participation or representation of any government.
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January 2002 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December

Events

See also:
  • Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (January 2002)

January 1, 2002


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London
Canary Wharf is the centre of London's modern office towers
London shown within England
Coordinates:
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
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Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known as Bono, is the lead singer and principal lyricist of the Irish rock band U2.[] Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his wife, Ali Hewson, and the
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Robert Sargent "Bobby" Shriver III (born April 28, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois), nicknamed Bobby Shriver, is a graduate of Yale University, where he became a member of Scroll and Key, and is a Yale Law School graduate and former part-owner of Baltimore Orioles.
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Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument.
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Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries calling for cancellation of unpayable third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church.
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Drop the Debt was a short-lived British NGO formed after the dissolution of Jubilee 2000. Using Jubilee 2000's best known slogan (and what was often assumed to be that movement's name) as its name, Drop the Debt existed to work in the run-up to the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, and
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Social equality is a social state of affairs in which certain different people have the same status in a certain respect, at the very least in voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights as well as the access to education, health care and other
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For other uses, see justice (disambiguation).


JUSTICE is a human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, the international human rights organisation of
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. It concerns in particular the Third World debt, which started exploding with the Latin American debt crisis (Mexico 1982, etc.).
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Trade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services.
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The HIV/AIDS epidemics spreading through the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are highly varied. Although it is not correct to speak of a single African epidemic, Africa is without doubt the region most affected by the virus.
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Democracy describes small number of related forms of government. The fundamental feature is competitive elections. Competitive elections are usually seen to require freedom of speech (especially in political affairs), freedom of the press, and some degree of rule of law.
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Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, enforcement, responsibility, blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving.
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Transparency, as used in the humanities, implies openness, communication, and accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the meaning used in the physical sciences: a "transparent" object is one that can be seen through.
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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Founder Bill & Melinda Gates

Founded 2000
Headquarters Seattle, Washington
Key people Bill Gates, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
Melinda French Gates, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
William H. Gates, Sr.
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George Soros (pronounced [ʃoroʃ]) (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary, as György Schwartz) is an American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist, and political activist.
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Edward W. Scott is an American businessman and philanthropist. Along with Bill Coleman and Alfred Chuang, he founded enterprise software company BEA Systems.

He was educated at Michigan State University where he received a B.A. and an M.A. in political science.
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ONE Campaign

Motto The Campaign to Make Poverty History
Formation May 16, 2004
Type Development Advocacy
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Location United States
Membership 2.
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Christian rock (occasionally abbreviated CR) is a form of rock music played by bands whose members are Christian and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith.
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Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s.
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Switchfoot is a Grammy-nominated alternative rock band from San Diego, California, United States. The band's members are Jon Foreman (vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), and Drew Shirley
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Third Day is a Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia during the 1990s. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell and guitarist Mark Lee. The other band members are Tai Anderson (bass), David Carr (drums), Brad Avery (guitars), and Scott Wilbanks (keyboards).
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The economy of Africa consists of the trade, industry, and resources of the peoples of Africa. As of July 2005, approximately 887 million people were living in 54 different states.
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Product Red, styled as (PRODUCT) RED , is a for-profit brand which is licensed to partner companies such as American Express, Apple Inc., Converse, Motorola, Gap and Emporio Armani.
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For the taxonomical term, see .


Synonyms (in ancient Greek, συν ("syn") = plus and όνομα ("onoma") = name
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