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Activity 1 - READ and WATCH

Data has no meaning when presented on its own.

Information is data with meaning.

If I said "23", this number has no meaning so it is data.

If I said "I live at number 23" then I have added meaning to that piece of data and now it becomes information.

Data can be the 1's and 0's used in computing. If we look at the binary number 11001100 then it is just a piece of data without any meaning. If I say this number represents 204 in decimal and 204 is the number of miles left on a journey then it becomes information.

We can get data from sensors and input devices. Below is a video showing how sensors are used in the real world for forecasting the weather:

Activity 2

Here is some data (SOURCE: snapshot of weather data from: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?tags=temperature ):

date  temperaturemin temperaturemax precipitation snowfall snowdepth avgwindspeed fastest2minwinddir fastest2minwindspeed

08/04/2015 62.1 84 0 0 0 5.82 40 29.97

20/04/2015 63 78.1 0.28 0 0 11.86 180 21.92

26/04/2015 45 54 0.02 0 0 5.82 50 12.97

28/04/2015 39 69.1 0 0 0 2.68 40 12.08

03/05/2015 46.9 79 0 0 0 2.68 200 12.08

23/05/2015 48 80.1 0 0 0 2.91 50 14.99

27/05/2015 69.1 87.1 0.3 0 0 6.71 180 17

31/05/2015 69.1 89.1 0 0 0 6.93 170 12.97

09/06/2015 66.9 89.1 0.31 0 0 7.61 230 18.12

13/06/2015 73.9 95 0 0 0 4.92 40 10.07

22/06/2015 70 96.1 0 0 0 2.24 210 10.07

28/06/2015 64 84 0 0 0 5.82 230 16.11

16/07/2015 72 86 0 0 0 6.71 40 16.11

25/07/2015 64 88 0 0 0 2.24 130 10.07

26/07/2015 66 89.1 0 0 0 3.13 170 8.95

27/07/2015 72 90 0 0 0 4.25 130 10.07

02/08/2015 64.9 90 0 0 0 3.58 50 12.08

06/08/2015 71.1 95 1.68 0 0 2.68 230 25.95

19/08/2015 72 89.1 0.19 0 0 6.49 190 21.92

21/08/2015 70 88 0 0 0 5.59 40 16.11

23/08/2015 61 87.1 0 0 0 1.34 170 8.95

09/09/2015 71.1 91 0.21 0 0 6.04 230 25.95

12/09/2015 68 78.1 0.34 0 0 6.26 260 18.12

13/09/2015 55 75.9 0 0 0 4.25 310 14.09

17/09/2015 60.1 84 0 0 0 1.57 90 8.95

20/09/2015 62.1 86 0 0 0 4.7 30 12.97

24/09/2015 60.1 75.9 0.2 0 0 9.17 50 18.12

27/09/2015 64 77 0.03 0 0 10.96 40 18.12

01/10/2015 57.9 66 0.34 0 0 10.74 50 19.91

03/10/2015 53.1 68 1.23 0 0 12.08 50 19.91

17/10/2015 39 66.9 0 0 0 3.13 350 12.08

There are lots of pieces of data here. We can take the full set of data and turn it into information by giving it meaning. Here is how:

First, download this .csv file that contains all of the data. (CSV stands for Comma Seperated Values and it is a method for storing data that can be interpreted by a spreadsheet easily)

Then...

• In Google Sheets

• In Microsoft Excel

Try it out yourself!

See what weather data you can find on the Internet to download and present as information. There are lots of websites to help with this but be careful to download from a reputable site. Government sites should be trustworthy places to get weather data from.