Information:
Any communication or representation of knowledge such as facts, data or opinions in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative or audiovisual. National Institute of Standards and Technology
Information is the output that results from analyzing, contextualizing, structuring, interpreting or in other ways processing data. Information infuses meaning and value into the data… Information brings context to the data, turning what would otherwise be meaningless content into something comprehensible and usable. TechTarget
Information [may be] factual or analytical. Factual information is based only on known and proven facts, while analytical information is the interpretation of factual data. It considers what is inferred or implied by the data by applying methods of reason or deduction. TCTC Learning Commons
If we limit access to information only to that we decide is true or acceptable, we limit the ability of [others] to engage with available materials themselves. We limit their capacity to process and analyze what they encounter. We limit their meaning-making and therefore limit how they can know. Obille, K. Truth and Agency: Rethinking the Definition of Information.
My take-away: Established facts are truth-y. Extrapolating or drawing conclusions from facts not so much: they are opinions. Statements of fact can be accurate or inaccurate. Opinions are more or less consistent with some subset of facts. Reserve accusations of misinformation to statements of fact. Simply disagree with statements of opinion. Then explain why your opinion is more consistent with a subset of facts and why those facts are the ones that matter.
I suspect that much of what’s called misinformation are actually opinions that some people don’t want to hear about anymore.