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.