Knowledge
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Contents
Definition
Knowledge is A mix of experiences, values, contextual information and expert insight for acquiring, understanding and interpreting information. Together with attitudes and skills, it forms a capacity for effective actions.
Summary
Knowledge is a mix of experiences, values, contextual information and expert insight for acquiring, understanding and interpreting information. Together with attitudes and skills, it forms a capacity for effective action. It is part of the data-information-knowledge-wisdom value-added chain. Knowledge has several dimensions: types (explicit, implicit, tacit), holders (individual, group, organizational, sector), levels (know-why, know-what, know-how). Knowledge is an asset, it is not static and continually progresses through a lifecycle.
Description
Since the time of the earliest philosophers men and women have attempted to both understand and define the concept of knowledge. Knowledge is often used to refer to a body of facts and principles accumulated by humankind over the course of time. However, no single definition of knowledge exists that has been generally agreed upon. Table 1 shows some of the definitions:
For our purpose, the following definition will be used:
Knowledge is a mix of experiences, values, contextual information and expert insight for acquiring, understanding and interpreting information. Together with attitudes and skills, it forms a capacity for effective action.
It is important to recognize the distinction between knowledge, information and data. Raw data become information in the context of creation, information becomes knowledge in the context of use, meaning that a human agent (the recipient) with the appropriate background is required (who might act based on this knowledge). Knowledge may eventually lead to wisdom. Fig. 1 shows these relationships.
Knowledge is considered an asset to be managed, it could be an input, it may be embedded in work methods (i.e. part of a process) or it can be a product (i.e. an output). Knowledge may often be time dependent or contextual, and must be maintained and renewed.
Knowledge is not static, it goes through different stages of a lifecycle (i.e. creating, using, sharing, preserving)
In the concept of knowledge, different dimensions should be considered: types, holders, levels (know-why, know-what, know-how), etc.
Types of knowledge
There are three types of knowledge that are widely recognized — explicit, implicit and tacit — as depicted in the diamond model in Fig. 2,. The top half of the diamond represents explicit knowledge — or conscious level knowledge — which has either already been codified or could be codified. The bottom half of the diamond represents unconscious knowledge — both implicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. The former can be codified if brought to the conscious level. However, the latter cannot be codified directly because it is at the deep-unconscious level. Fig. 3, the Iceberg model of knowledge, is a popular representation of the relationship between explicit and tacit knowledge (the implict knowledge is subsumed under tacit knowledge, a simplification often found in the literature).
As seen in Fig.2. only some part of the explicit knowledge is codified, i.e. documented. All other types of knowledges are undocumented. Therefore undocumented knowledge can be of any type: explicit, implicit or tacit
Knowledge holders
Knowledge exists in different forms and at different levels: individual (link), group, organization, sector (e.g. Nuclear knowledge). Although it originates in the minds of individuals, in organizations it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices, and norms.
Dialectical identification of knowledge
Sometimes the identification of knowledge is dialectical. For example, "1+1=2" is common sense to senior high school students. However, it could be knowledge to elementary pupils. Calculus is knowledge to senior high school students, but makes no sense to the persons who don't have a necessary mathematical background. The meaning is, when identifying knowledge in an organization, the final result should meet the needs from the largest possible scope of employees and users. All nuclear knowledge needs to be transfered to young generations and new comers. It's really difficult for them to finish their work with only a little key knowledge.
References
[1] KURONEN, BIT Research Center, Helsinki University of Technology, “What is tacit knowledge in NPP maintenance and what are the prerequisites for sharing it?”, CSNI International Workshop, Ottawa, Canada, 3-5 October 2005.
[2] DAVENPORT, T.H., PRUSAK, L., Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA (2000).
[3] INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON ARCHIVES, Radioactive Waste Information: Meeting Our Obligations to Future Generations with Regard to Safety of Waste Disposal Facilities, ICA Study 18, ICA, Paris (2006).
[4] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist missions for Nuclear Organizations, IAEA-TECDOC-1586, IAEA, Vienna (2008).
[5] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Knowledge Management for Nuclear Industry Operating Organizations, IAEA-TECDOC-1510, IAEA, Vienna (2006).
