Introduction to information systems T. Cornford, M. Shaikh is1 060 2013

Data: Numbers, characters or images that designate an attribute of a 
phenomenon.
Information: Data becomes Information when they are combined 
together in ways that have the potential to reveal patterns in the 
phenomenon.
Knowledge: Information yields knowledge when it supports non-trivial, 
true claims about a phenomenon.
(See: The Royal Society, Science as an Open Enterprise, June 2012.
Available at: http://royalsociety.org/policy/projects/science-public-
enterprise/report/ Note that you are not being recommended to read this 
report. But it is always good practice to cite the sources you use when 
writing.)
This is a report written by scientists and it reflects the way that they saw 
the concepts we have discussed here. Do you see their definitions as fully 
compatible with the discussion here? To what extent do their definitions 
reflect their being scientists? How does this contrast with our status as 
‘managers’ or ‘social scientists’?
To be a knowledge worker, does your knowledge mostly come in the form 
of knowledge of some theory, or does it come in the form of practice and 
experience? Use examples to explain your answer.
3.3 Systems
Reading activity
Read Section 1.1, Chapter 1 of Laudon and Laudon (2013) and Section 1.4, Chapter 1 of 
Curtis and Cobham (2008). 
You are also recommended to look at Chapter 6 of Avgerou and Cornford (1998).
Many introductory texts choose not to spend much time considering what 
a system is and why we speak about information systems. However, you 
should have a basic notion of the concept and you should be able to apply 
it to various situations. A common definition is that a system is a collection 
of components that interact together and can be seen as collectively 
undertaking a common purpose. Systems can be closed systems that 
have no interaction beyond themselves or open systems that interact 
with and change their environment (beyond their own boundary). Figure 
3.1 schematically shows a system made up of interacting components and 
taking inputs from its environment and providing output to it. The system 
is controlled by some feedback process that ensures that as far as possible 
the desired output is produced. 
Activity
Consider an air-conditioning system. Its main components are a compressor unit, a fan, 
ducting and a thermostat that senses the temperature and controls the compressor – 
turning it on or off. Explain this system in terms of it being an open or closed system, the 

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Chapter 3: Core concepts: information, data and systems
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inputs and outputs involved and the control process or feedback that steers the system. 
What would you see as the ‘purpose’ of the system…what does it strive to achieve? How 
does the output of the system change the environment and thus the input?
Input
Output
Feedback
System boundary