Hi Folks,
I seek your thoughts on the difference (if any) between data and data formats.
Here’s how I see it. I could be wrong.
Data and data formats are different. I believe that data formats is a subset of data:
I think of data formats as a format that has been standardized, either by a standards organization (W3C, ISO, IETF, etc.) or by a corporation. Data, on the other hand, is any format: single-time-use formats, quickly cobbled together formats,
1-1 data exchange formats between a small group, and also standardized formats.
Do you agree that data is a broader, more general concept than data format?
I would not use the terms in that way at all.
"data" is the information content, a list of numbers representing prices, a list of strings representing names, or whatever.
You can't standardise "data" as it is the specific data of some instance of whatever is under consideration.
A "data format" is the format the data is stored in, could be an excel spreadsheet, or a csv file or some XML document valid to a specified schema or...
The data is "just" information so the person receiving the doesn't need prior knowledge of it.
The data format must be understood by the sender and the receiver to understand the data, so standardising the format is useful.
David
