A body of knowledge (BOK or BoK) is the complete set of concepts, terms and activities that make up a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

domain, as defined by the relevant

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...

.Oliver, G.R. (2012). ''Foundations of the Assumed Business Operations and Strategy Body of Knowledge (BOSBOK): An Outline of Shareable Knowledge'', p. 3. It is a type of

knowledge representation Knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR, KR&R, KR²) is the field of artificial intelligence (AI) dedicated to representing information about the world in a form that a computer system can use to solve complex tasks such as diagnosing a medic ...

by any

knowledge organization Knowledge organization (KO), organization of knowledge, organization of information, or information organization is an intellectual discipline concerned with activities such as document description, indexing, and classification that serve to ...

. Several definitions of BOK have been developed, for example: * "Structured

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

that is used by members of a discipline to guide their practice or work." "The prescribed aggregation of knowledge in a particular area an individual is expected to have mastered to be considered or certified as a practitioner." (BOK-def). Waite's pragmatic view is also worth noting (Ören 2005): "BOK is a stepping stone to unifying community" (Waite 2004). * The systematic collection of activities and outcomes in terms of their values, constructs, models, principles and instantiations, which arises from continuous discovery and validation work by members of the profession and enables self-reflective growth and reproduction of the profession (Romme 2016). * A set of accepted and agreed upon standards and nomenclatures pertaining to a field or profession (

INFORMS The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. It was established in 1995 with the merger of ...

2009). * A set of knowledge within a profession or subject area which is generally agreed as both essential and generally known (Oliver 2012). A body of knowledge is the accepted ontology for a specific domain. A BOK is more than simply a collection of terms; a professional reading list; a library; a website or a collection of websites; a description of professional functions; or even a collection of information. A

landscape of practice A landscape of practice (LoP) is a social sciences concept introduced by Etienne Wenger-Trayner and Beverly Wenger-Trayner in a 2014 book. The concept is related to networks of practice (often abbreviated as NoP), originated by John Seely Brown a ...

(LoP) refers to a number of related

communities of practice A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educati ...

(CoPs) working on a body of knowledge. Participation in a LoP involves members of the CoPs developing competence in their area of interest and keeping up to date with knowledgeability relevant to the LoP.

Examples

The following are examples of bodies of knowledge from professional organisations: *

Business Process Management Common Body of Knowledge Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

(BPMCBOK) from the Association of Business Process Management Professionals International (ABPMP) *

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge ''A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge'' (BABOK) is a guide about business analysis, issued by the International Institute of Business Analysis (''IIBA''), attempting to reflect current best practice and to provide a framework that ...

(BABOK) from the

International Institute of Business Analysis The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) is a professional association formed in October 2003 with the stated goal of supporting and promoting the discipline of business analysis. IIBA offers help and information to business analys ...

(IIBA) * Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (BIZBOK) from the

Business Architecture Guild William M. Ulrich (born c. 1956) is an American business architecture consultant, consultant at Cutter Consortium, director and lecturer, known for development of 'The Systems Redevelopment Methodology' (TSRM) in the 1990s, on legacy systems in th ...

* Business Relationship Management Body of Knowledge (BRMBOK) from the Business Relationship Management Institute *

Canadian IT Body of Knowledge Canadian Information Technology Body of Knowledge (CITBOK) is the project sponsored and undertaken by Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) to define and outline the body of knowledge that defines a Canadian Information Systems Profession ...

(CITBOK) – for

Canadian Information Processing Society CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society) is the professional association of IT professionals in Canada. Since 1958 CIPS has helped strengthen the Canadian IT industry by establishing standards and sharing best practices for the benefit of ind ...

Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge The Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge is a body of knowledge, set forth in a proposal by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) entitled ''Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st century''. This proposal seeks to identify and ...

Common Body of Knowledge Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

(CBK) – for international

information security Information security, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorize ...

professionals *

Data Management Body of Knowledge The Data Management Association (DAMA), formerly known as the Data Administration Management Association, is a global not-for-profit organization which aims to advance concepts and practices about information management and data management. It de ...

(DMBOK) - for the profession of

data management Data management comprises all disciplines related to handling data as a valuable resource. Concept The concept of data management arose in the 1980s as technology moved from sequential processing (first punched cards, then magnetic tape) to r ...

from

DAMA International The Data Management Association (DAMA), formerly known as the Data Administration Management Association, is a global not-for-profit organization which aims to advance concepts and practices about information management and data management. It des ...

, The Global Data Management Community * Enterprise Architecture Body of Knowledge (EABOK) – for the enterprise architecture (EA) discipline *

Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge __NOTOC__ The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) is a reference document produced by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) as the first product of its Model Curricula project, st ...

(GISTBoK) – for the geospatial realm * Industrial Engineering Body of Knowledge (IEBOK) – for the profession of industrial engineering *

Project Management Body of Knowledge The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is a set of standard terminology and guidelines (a body of knowledge) for project management. The body of knowledge evolves over time and is presented in ''A Guide to the Project Management Body of ...

(PMBOK Guide) – from the

Project Management Institute The Project Management Institute (PMI, legally Project Management Institute, Inc.) is a U.S.-based not-for-profit professional organization for project management. Overview PMI serves more than five million professionals including over 680,00 ...

(PMI) for project managers * Product Management Body of Knowledge (ProdBOK Guide) – from the Association of International Product Marketing & Management (AIPMM) for product professionals *

Scrum Body of Knowledge Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * M ...

(SBoK) – for the agile project/product management *

Software Engineering Body of Knowledge The ''Software Engineering Body of Knowledge'' (SWEBOK ( )) is an international standard ISO/ IEC TR 19759:2005 specifying a guide to the generally accepted software engineering body of knowledge. The Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Know ...

(SWEBOK) – for the profession of software engineering * Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBOK) – for the profession of systems engineering

References

{{reflist, 2 Epistemology Knowledge

Examples

See also

References