Chapter1 : Data,Information,Knowledge,Wisdom

Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom

   There is probably no segment of activity in the world attracting as much attention at present as that

of knowledge management. Yet as I entered this arena of activity I quickly found there didn't seem

to be a wealth of sources that seemed to make sense in terms of defining what knowledge actually

was, and how was it differentiated from data, information, and wisdom. What follows is the current

level of understanding I have been able to piece together regarding data, information, knowledge,

and wisdom. I figured to understand one of them I had to understand all of them.

According to Russell Ackoff, a systems theorist and professor of organizational change, the content

of the human mind can be classified into five categories:

Data

... data is raw. It simply exists and has no significance beyond its existence (in and of itself). It

can exist in any form, usable or not. It does not have meaning of itself. In computer parlance, a

spreadsheet generally starts out by holding data.

Information

... information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection.

This "meaning" can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database

makes information from the data stored within it.

Knowledge

... knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that it's intent is to be

useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone "memorizes" information (as lessaspiring

test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has

useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, an integration such as would

infer further knowledge. For example, elementary school children memorize, or amass knowledge

of, the "times table". They can tell you that "2 x 2 = 4" because they have amassed that knowledge

(it being included in the times table). But when asked what is "1267 x 300", they can not respond

correctly because that entry is not in their times table. To correctly answer such a question requires

a true cognitive and analytical ability that is only encompassed in the next level... understanding. In

computer parlance, most of the applications we use (modeling, simulation, etc.) exercise some type

of stored knowledge.

Understanding

... understanding is an interpolative and probabilistic process. It is cognitive and

analytical. It is the process by which I can take knowledge and synthesize new knowledge from the

previously held knowledge. The difference between understanding and knowledge is the difference

between "learning" and "memorizing". People who have understanding can undertake useful actions

because they can synthesize new knowledge, or in some cases, at least new information, from what

is previously known (and understood). That is, understanding can build upon currently held

information, knowledge and understanding itself. In computer parlance, AI systems possess

understanding in the sense that they are able to synthesize new knowledge from previously stored

information and knowledge.

Wisdom

... wisdom is an extrapolative and non-deterministic, non-probabilistic process. It calls

upon all the previous levels of consciousness, and specifically upon special types of human

programming (moral, ethical codes, etc.). It beckons to give us understanding about which there has

previously been no understanding, and in doing so, goes far beyond understanding itself. It is the

essence of philosophical probing. Unlike the previous four levels, it asks questions to which there is

no (easily-achievable) answer, and in some cases, to which there can be no humanly-known answer

period. Wisdom is therefore, the process by which we also discern, or judge, between right and

wrong, good and bad. I personally believe that computers do not have, and will never have the

ability to posses wisdom. Wisdom is a uniquely human state, or as I see it, wisdom requires one to

have a soul, for it resides as much in the heart as in the mind. And a soul is something machines

will never possess (or perhaps I should reword that to say, a soul is something that, in general, will

never possess a machine).

Personally I contend that the sequence is a bit less involved than described by Ackoff. The

following diagram represents the transitions from data, to information, to knowledge, and finally to

wisdom, and it is understanding that support the transition from each stage to the next.

Understanding is not a separate level of its own.

Data represents a fact or statement of event without relation to other things.

Ex: It is raining.

Information embodies the understanding of a relationship of some sort, possibly cause and effect.

Ex: The temperature dropped 15 degrees and then it started raining.

Knowledge represents a pattern that connects and generally provides a high level of predictability as

to what is described or what will happen next.

Ex: If the humidity is very high and the temperature drops substantially the atmospheres is often

unlikely to be able to hold the moisture so it rains.

Wisdom embodies more of an understanding of fundamental principles embodied within the

knowledge that are essentially the basis for the knowledge being what it is. Wisdom is essentially

systemic.

Ex: It rains because it rains. And this encompasses an understanding of all the interactions that

happen between raining, evaporation, air currents, temperature gradients, changes, and raining.

Yet, there is still a question regarding when is a pattern knowledge and when is it noise. Consider

the following:

- Abugt dbesbt regtc uatn s uitrzt.

- ubtxte pstye ysote anet sser extess

- ibxtedstes bet3 ibtes otesb tapbesct ehracts

      It is quite likely this sequence represents 100% novelty, which means it's equivalent to noise. There

is no foundation for you to connect with the pattern, yet to me the statements are quite meaningful

as I understand the translation with reveals they are in fact Newton's 3 laws of motion. Is something

knowledge if you can't understand it?

Now consider the following:

- I have a box.

- The box is 3' wide, 3' deep, and 6' high.

- The box is very heavy.

- The box has a door on the front of it.

- When I open the box it has food in it.

- It is colder inside the box than it is outside.

- You usually find the box in the kitchen.

- There is a smaller compartment inside the box with ice in it.

- When you open the door the light comes on.

- When you move this box you usually find lots of dirt underneath it.

- Junk has a real habit of collecting on top of this box.

What is it?

A refrigerator. You knew that, right? At some point in the sequence you connected with the pattern

and understood it was a description of a refrigerator. From that point on each statement only added

confirmation to your understanding.

If you lived in a society that had never seen a refrigerator you might still be scratching your head as

to what the sequence of statements referred to.

Also, realize that I could have provided you with the above statements in any order and still at some

point the pattern would have connected. When the pattern connected the sequence of statements

represented knowledge to you. To me all the statements convey nothing as they are simply 100%

confirmation of what I already knew as I knew what I was describing even before I started.

References:

- Ackoff, R. L., "From Data to Wisdom", Journal of Applies Systems Analysis, Volume 16,

1989 p 3-9.

- Gadomski, Adam Maria, Information, Preferences and Knowledge, An Interesting Evolution

in Thought

- Sharma, Nikhil, The Origin of the Data Information Knowledge Wisdom Hierarchy

Source: http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm