What is data?

I have come across many projects where the terms data and information were used interchangeably, and this was fine in most cases, but in the same way that we established a common understanding of the term architecture, it would be prudent to do the same here.

Data is a representation of facts that are either stored digitally or on other media, such as physical photos or paper. It is important to acknowledge that not everything presented as data is factual, with factual here meaning that because it's the truth when seen in combination with other data elements, it will convey the full picture of the truth. Data shouldn't be reviewed without considering the context of the data, because data without context causes confusion and opens the door to misinterpretation. Consider how many ways there are in which dates can be presented. In fact, it is a common source of confusion when you see a date written like 12-09-2020. Are the first two characters representing the...