Significant threads: The nature of data

In a previous paper we used the backdrop of the Inca Empire for consideration of an appropriate locus for the discipline of informatics. The term informatics is used as a convenient umbrella term to stand for the overlapping disciplinary areas of Information Systems, Information Management and Information Technology. In this paper we consider one element from this case in more detail: that of the quipu. This enigmatic group of artefacts, consisting of complex assemblages of knotted cord, has been the subject of much debate. In this paper we interpret the case of the quipu as a non-familiar example of a data structure. This interpretation allows us to propose a number of essential or universal characteristics of data. It also permits us to provide greater clarity to the distinction between data and information.