BITS OF INFORMATION

BY: JUNNAVARRA, JMSOFT SYSTEMS

When you hear the word “information”, what comes into your mind? Is it the latest
news you just heard from the radio or the interesting article you have read from a
magazine? Or is it the documentary episode you have watched on TV or the book
that contributed much to your intelligence? Whatever it is, this information has been
stored in your brain and somehow has helped you in your thinking.

Let’s shift our focus on the computer. How does a computer store and organize
information into its memory? Does it have a filing system? The answer is a big yes.
All information that you store in the computer are saved and recorded in files. By the
way, files have many forms or types. It could be text or document, graphic or image,
sound or audio, movie or video, and application or program. A computer virus also
attaches itself in a file or even disguises itself as a file!

At the lowest and technical level, information is stored in the computer as series of
binary digits or simply called as bits. A bit can be one or zero (1 or 0), on or off state
in an electronic circuit. But mind you, these bits are the foundation for representing
any information stored in the computer. I’ll show you in the next paragraph how bits
have evolved into information.

8 bits = 1 byte. File size, memory and storage capacity are measured in bytes such
as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte. 1 byte equals 1 character. A
character represents a letter, number, special symbol, and also space. If you
combine the characters, it becomes a string of characters which will be the basis of
textual or numerical data. Most of the data are stored in a database and these are
organized for efficient storage and retrieval. In the database, actual data is stored in
a data field. Fields also known as columns are grouped together to become records
also known as rows in a table. Tables have relationships or associations and are
logically linked together in the database. The database is stored in the computer as a
database file. Databases are managed by database management systems.
SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises) and big companies have invested a lot
just to secure and protect their data. They maintain data archives for future use.
They also perform data warehousing and data mining activities. Information systems
that highly depend on databases are being used to generate meaningful information.
This information will eventually be used by decision makers to come up with good
decisions.

The convergence of two major technologies such as the computer and the telephone
has created the Internet which now provides vast amount of information right within
our fingertips. When you search information on the web, you may use a search
engine like Google to get the information that you want for your assignment, report,
or research work. You must provide certain keywords specific to the topic you want
to search to filter your search results, otherwise, you will get thousands or millions of
links to figure out.

Information overload is inevitable. How do we make use of these overwhelming

information? I find that some information on the web are redundant, but in most
cases, are good and helpful. Evaluating your information needs will guide you to sort
out all of these things.

In conclusion, bits are the lowest form of data representation in a digital or electronic
device such as the computer. Most organizations store and manage their data in a
database. Information is then derived from these data. The Internet also provides us
a world wide web of information that could add up to our stock of knowledge. One
big challenge for us is the application of these knowledge to develop good insight
and make sound judgement.

I hope this piece of article has provided you some understanding on how information
is represented and used by computers, people and business organizations.

Thanks for reading. :-)