# Exploiting preserved information

Data is valuable, as illustrated by the quote: [data is the new gold](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_11_872) - but gold is valuable because it is rare and does not combine (rust), whereas information is plentiful and is more valuable when combined. Howver it would be more accurate to say "[Information is the new gold](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2020/06/18/information-is-the-new-gold/)" since "data" is just the bits whereas one needs bits plus "metadata" i.e. information.

Combining different sets of information whether new or old or from different domains produces new, and if done well, more valuable information. However take the [simple example of two spreadsheets](https://docs.libnova.com/labdrive/concepts/oais-and-iso-16363/understanding-oais-and-iso-16363#rationale-for-the-oais-information-model), if one does not know the units and meanings associated with the numbers in the columns then it will not be possible to combine the information in the two spreadsheets in a sensible way. For example it would make no sense to add two lengths together if one had the units of miles and the other had the units of cm.

In Astronomy, combining information from from images taken at different wavelengths produces new information which allows one to calculate temperatures and suppgest physical processes. For example the following [image ](https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2017/21/4027-Image.html?news=true)shows the false color image of the Crab Nebula created by combining image from radio, infrared, visible and X-ray wavelength ranges.

![](/files/DlWZvGxJF8ISeNlICWqR)

There are [many tools ](https://hevodata.com/blog/data-integration-tools/)for combining data, sometimes referred to as data merging. Some are open source, others are proprietary, some run locally, others run on the cloud.

Scientific software tools in all disciplines process and combine information.

Texts which have information encoded within may be combined in many ways including:

* with computers, by treating text as data, with [text analysis](https://www.ontotext.com/knowledgehub/fundamentals/text-analysis/);
* by a human brain, as long as the human can understand the text i.e. the language, typographical conventions and special terminology.


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