Data and information are two very different things. Data has some semantic context to determine what it means, but the concept of information omits semantic context. Data depends upon consciousness but information is mind independent. Focus upon communication as an engineering problem has shed light on this previously unappreciated aspect of existence, its information content. But what is being measured and how to measure it? From the first pages of Claude Shannon's paper
A Mathematical Theory of Communication by C. E. SHANNON from The Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 27, pp. 379–423, 623–656, July, October, 1948.
But is it physical? From
The Physical Nature of Information by Rolf Landauer from Physics Letters A 217 (1996) 188-193 (a link to a copy)
A discussion of Maxwell's demon (not to be confused with Descartes' demon) in popular science literature is available here: (Quanta Magazine: How Maxwell's Demon Continues to Startle Scientists) Maxwell's demon has been reduced to experimental forms and demonstrates the physical nature of information.
A philosophical implication is that the Pythagorean/Platonic notion of mathematics being an independent or a priori realm apart from physical reality is refuted. This satisfies my confirmation bias as an Objectivist that Existence exists is the broadest possible axiom and that mathematics must be about and within a prior Existence.