Posted by Reilly Atkinson on September 27, 2002 at 14:58:59:

In Reply to: Re: definition of knowledge with respect to the KM posted by Barry on September 27, 2002 at 10:12:32:

Barry -- Your definition has some serious problems, characterisitc of virtually all attempts to define knowledge. Your definition amounts to explaining one concept, knowledge, in terms of two concepts, information and understanding, neither of which are well defined. You start with one problem, knowledge, and end up with two problems, information and understanding.

Something to note: information is always embedded in some context -- the mode of transmission, the surrounding language, the person/s who transmit, the state of the receiver' mind and body, and on and on.

Understanding? I think this is even a tougher concept than knowledge. The notion of understanding subsumes knowledge -- knowledge is one of the things we try to understand, as are information and data. One can argue that understanding leads to new knowledge, or personally altered knowledge. So using "understanding" as a characteristic of knowledge is somewhat circular.

Most of us know and/or recognize knowledge when we encounter it. Why is it so important to devise a crisp definition of knowledge? In my work as a research physicist, and a quantitative business analyst I've never encountered a need for such a definition. Nor is there much evidence that the World has suffered because knowledge remains an elusive notion, and not a crisp one.

If you disagree, let me pose a challenge: take any hour in your day, and record all the knowledge you use during that hour. An exercise like this should convince you of the difficulty of tracking and identifying specific knowledge.

Regards,
Reilly Atkinson

---

Follow Ups:

• Re: definition of knowledge with respect to the KM Mezei 13:27:11 09/28/02 (0)
• Re: definition of knowledge with respect to the KM Barry 13:22:35 09/28/02 (0)

---

Click Here to Post Follow Up in New Forums

    Knowledge Management Think Tank (New)

  

 Subject: 

Message: