![DIKW Pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/DIKW_Pyramid.svg)
The DIKW pyramid, also known variously as the DIKW hierarchy, wisdom hierarchy, knowledge hierarchy, information hierarchy, information pyramid, and the data pyramid,
refers loosely to a class of models
for representing purported
structural
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such ...
and/or
functional
Functional may refer to:
* Movements in architecture:
** Functionalism (architecture)
** Form follows function
* Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules
* Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis:
** Functional sy ...
relationships between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. "Typically information is defined in terms of data, knowledge in terms of information, and wisdom in terms of knowledge".The DIKW acronym has worked into the rotation from knowledge management. It demonstrates how the deep understanding of the subject emerges, passing through four qualitative stages: "D" – data, "I" – information, "K" – knowledge and "W" – wisdom
Not all versions of the DIKW model reference all four components (earlier versions not including data, later versions omitting or downplaying wisdom), and some include additional components. In addition to a
hierarchy
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
and a pyramid, the DIKW model has also been characterized as a chain,
as a framework,
as a series of graphs, and as a
continuum
Continuum may refer to:
* Continuum (measurement), theories or models that explain gradual transitions from one condition to another without abrupt changes
Mathematics
* Continuum (set theory), the real line or the corresponding cardinal number ...
.
History
Danny P. Wallace, a professor of
library and information science
Library and information science(s) or studies (LIS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that deals generally with organization, access, collection, and protection/regulation of information, whether in physical (e.g. art, legal proceedings, e ...
, explained that the origin of the DIKW pyramid is uncertain:
The presentation of the relationships among data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...
, information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
, 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 ...
, and sometimes wisdom
Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
in a hierarchical
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
arrangement has been part of the language of information science
Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...
for many years. Although it is uncertain when and by whom those relationships were first presented, the ubiquity of the notion of a hierarchy is embedded in the use of the acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
DIKW as a shorthand representation for the data-to-information-to-knowledge-to-wisdom transformation.
Many authors think that the idea of the DIKW relationship originated from two lines in the poem "Choruses", by
T. S. Eliot, that appears in the pageant play
''The Rock'', in 1934:
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
Data, Information, Knowledge
In 1955, English-American economist and educator
Kenneth Boulding
Kenneth Ewart Boulding (; January 18, 1910 – March 18, 1993) was an English-born American economist, educator, peace activist, and interdisciplinary philosopher.David LatzkoKenneth E. Boulding Commentsat personal.psu.edu. Accessed 24 April 200 ...
presented a variation on the hierarchy consisting of "signals, messages, information, and knowledge".
However, "
e first author to distinguish among data, information, and knowledge and to also employ the term '
knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
' may have been American educator Nicholas L. Henry",
in a 1974 journal article.
Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom
Other early versions (prior to 1982) of the hierarchy that refer to a data tier include those of Chinese-American geographer
Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan (; December 5, 1930 – August 10, 2022) was a Chinese-born American geographer. He was one of the key figures in human geography and arguably the most important originator of humanistic geography.
Early life and education
Born in ...
and sociologist-historian
Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading Am ...
.
.
In 1980, Irish-born engineer
Mike Cooley invoked the same hierarchy in his critique of automation and computerization, in his book ''Architect or Bee?: The Human / Technology Relationship''.
Thereafter, in 1987, Czechoslovakia-born educator
Milan Zeleny
Milan Zeleny (born January 22, 1942) is a Czech American economist, currently a professor of management systems at Fordham University, New York City. He has done research in the field of decision-making, productivity, knowledge management, and b ...
mapped the elements of the hierarchy to knowledge forms: ''know-nothing'', ''know-what'', ''
know-how
Know-how (or knowhow, or procedural knowledge) is a term for practical knowledge on how to accomplish something, as opposed to "know-what" (facts), "know-why" (science), or "know-who" (communication). It is also often referred to as street smart ...
'', and ''know-why''.
Zeleny "has frequently been credited with proposing the
epresentation of DIKW as a pyramid .. although he actually made no reference to any such graphical model."
The hierarchy appears again in a 1988 address to the
International Society for General Systems Research
The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is a worldwide organization for systems sciences. The overall purpose of the ISSS is:
:"to promote the development of conceptual frameworks based on general system theory, as well as their ...
, by American organizational theorist
Russell Ackoff
Russell Lincoln Ackoff (February 12, 1919 – October 29, 2009) was an American organizational theorist, consultant, and Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Ackoff was a pione ...
, published in 1989.
Subsequent authors and textbooks cite Ackoff's as the "original articulation"
of the hierarchy or otherwise credit Ackoff with its proposal.
[ ] Ackoff's version of the model includes an ''understanding'' tier (as Adler had, before him
), interposed between ''knowledge'' and ''wisdom''. Although Ackoff did not present the hierarchy graphically, he has also been credited with its representation as a pyramid.
In 1989,
Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
veteran
Robert W. Lucky
Robert Wendell Lucky (January 9, 1936 – March 10, 2022) was an electrical engineer, inventor, and research manager at Bell Labs and Bell Communications Research (Bellcore). He is best known for his writings and speeches about technology, soci ...
wrote about the four-tier "information hierarchy" in the form of a pyramid in his book Silicon Dreams.
In the same year as Ackoff presented his address, information scientist Anthony Debons and colleagues introduced an extended hierarchy, with "events", "symbols", and "rules and formulations" tiers ahead of data.
In 1994 Nathan Shedroff presented the DIKW hierarchy in an information design context which later appeared as a book chapter.
Jennifer Rowley noted in 2007 that there was "little reference to wisdom" in discussion of the DIKW in recently published college
textbook
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...
s,
and does not include wisdom in her own definitions following that research.
Meanwhile, Zins' extensive analysis of the conceptualizations of data, information, and knowledge, in his 2007 research study, makes no explicit commentary on wisdom,
although some of the citations included by Zins do make mention of the term.
Description
The DIKW model "is often quoted, or used implicitly, in definitions of data, information and knowledge in the
information management
Information management (IM) concerns a cycle of organizational activity: the acquisition of information from one or more sources, the custodianship and the distribution of that information to those who need it, and its ultimate disposal throug ...
,
information systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems a ...
and
knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
literatures, but there has been limited direct discussion of the hierarchy".
Reviews of textbooks
and a survey of scholars in relevant fields
indicate that there is not a consensus as to definitions used in the model, and even less "in the description of the processes that transform elements lower in the hierarchy into those above them".
This has led Israeli researcher Chaim Zins to suggest that the data–information–knowledge components of DIKW refer to a class of no less than five models, as a function of whether data, information, and knowledge are each conceived of as ''subjective'', ''objective'' (what Zins terms, "universal" or "collective") or both. In Zins's usage, subjective and objective "are not related to
arbitrariness
Arbitrariness is the quality of being "determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle". It is also used to refer to a choice made without any specific criterion or restraint.
Arbitrary decisions are not necess ...
and
truth
Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...
fulness, which are usually attached to the concepts of
subjective knowledge and
objective
Objective may refer to:
* Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
* ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film
* Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object
* Objective Productions, a Brit ...
knowledge".
Information science
Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...
, Zins argues, studies data and information, but not knowledge, as knowledge is an internal (subjective) rather than an external (universal–collective) phenomenon.
Data
In the context of DIKW, data is conceived of as
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
s or
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
s, representing
stimuli
A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to:
* Stimulation
** Stimulus (physiology), something external that influences an activity
** Stimulus (psychology), a concept in behaviorism and perception
* Stimulus (eco ...
or signals,
that are "of no use until ... in a usable (that is, relevant) form".
Zeleny characterized this non-usable characteristic of data as "know-nothing"
.
In some cases, data is understood to refer not only to symbols, but also to signals or stimuli referred to by said symbols—what Zins terms ''subjective data''.
Where ''universal data'', for Zins, are "the product of ''observation''"
(italics in original), subjective data are the observations. This distinction is often obscured in definitions of data in terms of "
fact
A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...
s".
Data as fact
Rowley, following her study of DIKW definitions given in textbooks,
characterizes data "as being discrete, objective facts or observations, which are unorganized and unprocessed and therefore have no meaning or value because of lack of context and interpretation."
In Henry's early formulation of the hierarchy, data was simply defined as "merely raw facts",
while two recent texts define data as "chunks of facts about the state of the world"
and "material facts",
respectively.
Cleveland does not include an explicit data tier, but defines information as "the sum total of ... facts and ideas".
Insofar as
fact
A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...
s have as a fundamental property that they are
true
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* ...
, have
objective
Objective may refer to:
* Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
* ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film
* Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object
* Objective Productions, a Brit ...
reality, or otherwise can be
verified, such definitions would preclude
false, meaningless, and
nonsensical
Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous. Many poets, novelists and songwriters have ...
data from the DIKW model, such that the principle of
garbage in, garbage out
In computer science, garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is the concept that flawed, or nonsense (garbage) input data produces nonsense output. Rubbish in, rubbish out (RIRO) is an alternate wording.
The principle applies to all logical argumentati ...
would not be accounted for under DIKW.
Data as signal
In the subjective domain, data are conceived of as "sensory stimuli, which we perceive through our senses",
or "signal readings", including "sensor and/or sensory readings of light, sound, smell, taste, and touch".
Others have argued that what Zins calls subjective data actually count as a "signal" tier (as had Boulding
), which precedes data in the DIKW chain.
American information scientist Glynn Harmon defined data as "one or more kinds of energy waves or particles (light, heat, sound, force, electromagnetic) selected by a conscious organism or intelligent agent on the basis of a preexisting frame or inferential mechanism in the organism or agent."
[Harmon, Glynn, as cited by Zins, ''id.'', at p. 483.]
The meaning of sensory stimuli may also be thought of as subjective data:
Information is the meaning of these sensory stimuli (''i.e.'', the empirical perception). For example, the noises that I hear are data. ''The meaning of these noises'' (''e.g.'', a running car engine) ''is information''. Still, there is another alternative as to how to define these two concepts—which seems even better. Data are sense stimuli, or their meaning (''i.e.'', the empirical perception). Accordingly, in the example above, the loud noises, ''as well as the perception of a running car engine'', are data. (Italics added. Bold in original.)
Subjective data, if understood in this way, would be comparable to
knowledge by acquaintance
In philosophy, a distinction is often made between two different kinds of knowledge: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Whereas knowledge by description is something like ordinary propositional knowledge (e.g. "I know that ...
, in that it is based on direct experience of stimuli. However, unlike knowledge by acquaintance, as described by
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
and others, the subjective domain is "not related to ... truthfulness".
Whether Zins' alternate definition would hold would be a function of whether "the running of a car engine" is understood as an objective fact or as a contextual interpretation.
Data as symbol
Whether the DIKW definition of data is deemed to include Zins's subjective data (with or without meaning), data is consistently defined to include "symbols",
or "sets of
signs that represent
empirical
Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
stimuli or
perceptions
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
",
of "a property of an object, an event or of their environment".
Data, in this sense, are "recorded (captured or stored)
symbols
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
", including "words (text and/or verbal), numbers, diagrams, and images (still &/or video), which are the building blocks of communication", the purpose of which "is to record activities or situations, to attempt to capture the true picture or real event," such that "all data are
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
, unless used for illustrative purposes, such as
forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...
."
Boulding's version of DIKW explicitly named the level below the information tier ''message'', distinguishing it from an underlying ''signal'' tier.
Debons and colleagues reverse this relationship, identifying an explicit ''symbol'' tier as one of several levels underlying data.
Zins determined that, for most of those surveyed, ''data'' "are characterized as phenomena in the universal domain". "Apparently," clarifies Zins, "it is more useful to relate to the data, information, and knowledge as sets of signs rather than as meaning and its building blocks".
Information
In the context of DIKW, information meets the definition for
knowledge by description
In philosophy, a distinction is often made between two different kinds of knowledge: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Whereas knowledge by description is something like ordinary propositional knowledge (e.g. "I know that ...
("information is contained in ''descriptions''"
), and is differentiated from data in that it is "useful". "Information is inferred from data",
in the process of answering
interrogative
An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
questions (''e.g.'', "who", "what", "where", "how many", "when"),
thereby making the data useful
for "decisions and/or action".
"Classically," states a 2007 text, "information is defined as data that are endowed with meaning and purpose."
Structural vs. functional
Rowley, following her review of how DIKW is presented in textbooks,
describes information as "organized or structured data, which has been processed in such a way that the information now has relevance for a specific purpose or context, and is therefore meaningful, valuable, useful and relevant." Note that this definition contrasts with Rowley's characterization of Ackoff's definitions, wherein "
e difference between data and information is structural, not functional."
In his formulation of the hierarchy, Henry defined information as "data that changes us",
this being a functional, rather than structural, distinction between data and information. Meanwhile, Cleveland, who did not refer to a data level in his version of DIKW, described information as "the sum total of all the facts and ideas that are available to be known by somebody at a given moment in time".
American educator Bob Boiko is more obscure, defining information only as "matter-of-fact".
Symbolic vs. subjective
Information may be conceived of in DIKW models as: (i) universal, existing as symbols and signs; (ii) subjective, the meaning to which symbols attach; or (iii) both.
Examples of information as both symbol and meaning include:
* American information scientist Anthony Debons's characterization of information as representing "a state of awareness (
consciousness
Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
) and the physical manifestations they form", such that "
formation, as a phenomenon, represents both a process and a product; a cognitive/
affective
Affect, in psychology, refers to the underlying experience of feeling, emotion or mood.
History
The modern conception of affect developed in the 19th century with Wilhelm Wundt. The word comes from the German ''Gefühl'', meaning "feeling."
...
state, and the physical counterpart (product of) the cognitive/affective state."
* Danish information scientist Hanne Albrechtsen's description of information as "related to meaning or human intention", either as "the contents of databases, the web, ''etc.''" (italics added) or "the meaning of statements as they are intended by the speaker/writer and understood/misunderstood by the listener/reader."
Zeleny formerly described information as "know-what",
but has since refined this to differentiate between "what to have or to possess" (information) and "what to do, act or carry out" (wisdom). To this conceptualization of information, he also adds "why is", as distinct from "why do" (another aspect of wisdom). Zeleny further argues that there is no such thing as
explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge (also expressive knowledge) is knowledge that can be readily articulated, codified, stored and accessed. It can be expressed in formal and systematical language and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, specifications, ...
, but rather that knowledge, once made explicit in symbolic form, becomes information.
Knowledge
The knowledge component of DIKW is generally agreed to be an elusive concept which is difficult to define. The DIKW
definition of knowledge
Definitions of knowledge try to determine the essential features of knowledge. Closely related terms are conception of knowledge, theory of knowledge, and analysis of knowledge. Some general features of knowledge are widely accepted among philoso ...
differs from that used by
epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
. The DIKW view is that "knowledge is defined with reference to information."
Definitions may refer to information having been processed, organized or structured in some way, or else as being applied or put into action.
Zins has suggested that knowledge, being subjective rather than universal, is not the subject of study in
information science
Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, Categorization, classification, manipulation, storage, information retrieval, retrieval, movement, dissemin ...
, and that it is often defined in
propositional
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
terms,
while Zeleny has asserted that to capture knowledge in symbolic form is to make it into information, ''i.e.'', that "All knowledge is
tacit
Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...
".
"One of the most frequently quoted definitions"
of knowledge captures some of the various ways in which it has been defined by others:
Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations it often becomes embedded not only in documents and repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices and norms.
Knowledge as processed
Mirroring the description of information as "organized or structured data", knowledge is sometimes described as:
* "synthesis of multiple sources of information over time"
* "organization and processing to convey understanding, experience
ndaccumulated learning"
* "a mix of contextual information, values, experience and rules"
One of Boulding's definitions for knowledge had been "a mental structure"
and Cleveland described knowledge as "the result of somebody applying the
refiner's fire to
nformation selecting and organizing what is useful to somebody".
A 2007 text describes knowledge as "information connected in relationships".
Knowledge as procedural
Zeleny defines knowledge as "know-how"
(''i.e.'',
procedural knowledge
Procedural knowledge (also known as Know-how, knowing-how, and sometimes referred to as practical knowledge, imperative knowledge, or performative knowledge) is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge ( ...
), and also "know-who" and "know-when", each gained through "practical experience".
"Knowledge ... brings forth from the background of experience a coherent and self-consistent set of coordinated actions.".
Further, implicitly holding information as descriptive, Zeleny declares that "Knowledge is action, not a description of action."
Ackoff, likewise, described knowledge as the "application of data and information", which "answers 'how' questions",
that is, "know-how".
Meanwhile, textbooks discussing DIKW have been found to describe knowledge variously in terms of
experience
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...
,
skill
A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...
,
expertise
An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...
or capability:
* "study and experience"
* "a mix of contextual information, expert opinion, skills and experience"
* "information combined with understanding and capability"
* "perception, skills, training, common sense and experience".
Businessmen James Chisholm and Greg Warman characterize knowledge simply as "doing things right".
Knowledge as propositional
Knowledge is sometimes described as "belief structuring" and "
internalization
Internalization ( or internalisation) is the process of making something internal, with more specific meanings in various fields. It is the opposite of externalization.
Psychology and sociology
In psychology, internalization is the outcome of ...
with reference to cognitive frameworks".
One definition given by Boulding for knowledge was "the subjective 'perception of the world and one's place in it'",
while Zeleny's said that knowledge "should refer to an observer's distinction of '
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ...
s' (wholes, unities)".
Zins, likewise, found that knowledge is described in
proposition
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
al terms, as justifiable beliefs (subjective domain, akin to
tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...
), and sometimes also as signs that represent such beliefs (universal/collective domain, akin to
explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge (also expressive knowledge) is knowledge that can be readily articulated, codified, stored and accessed. It can be expressed in formal and systematical language and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, specifications, ...
). Zeleny has rejected the idea of explicit knowledge (as in Zins' universal knowledge), arguing that once made symbolic, knowledge becomes information.
Boiko appears to echo this sentiment, in his claim that "knowledge and wisdom can be information".
In the subjective domain:
Knowledge is a thought
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, a ...
in the individual's mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
, which is characterized by the individual's justifiable belief
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take i ...
that it is true
True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality.
True may also refer to:
Places
* True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States
* ...
. It can be empirical and non-empirical, as in the case of logical and mathematical knowledge (''e.g.'', "every triangle has three sides"), religious knowledge (''e.g.'', " God exists"), philosophical knowledge (''e.g.'', "''Cogito ergo sum
The Latin , usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am", is the "first principle" of René Descartes's philosophy. He originally published it in French as , in his 1637 ''Discourse on the Method'', so as to reach a wider audien ...
''"), and the like. Note that knowledge is the content of a thought in the individual's mind, which is characterized by the individual's justifiable belief that it is true, while "knowing" is a state of mind which is characterized by the three conditions: (1) the individual believe that it is true, (2) S/he can justify it, and (3) It is true, or it ppearsto be true. (Italics added. Bold in original.)
The distinction here between subjective knowledge and subjective information is that subjective knowledge is characterized by justifiable belief, where subjective information is a type of knowledge concerning the meaning of data.
Boiko implied that knowledge was both open to rational
discourse
Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...
and justification, when he defined knowledge as "a matter of dispute".
Wisdom
Although commonly included as a level in DIKW, "there is limited reference to wisdom"
in discussions of the model. Boiko appears to have dismissed wisdom, characterizing it as "non-material".
Ackoff refers to understanding as an "appreciation of 'why'", and wisdom as "evaluated understanding", where ''understanding'' is posited as a discrete layer between knowledge and wisdom.
Adler had previously also included an understanding tier,
while other authors have depicted understanding as a dimension in relation to which DIKW is plotted.
Cleveland described wisdom simply as "integrated knowledge—information made super-useful".
Other authors have characterized wisdom as "knowing the right things to do"
and "the ability to make sound judgments and decisions apparently without thought".
Wisdom involves using knowledge for the greater good. Because of this, wisdom is deeper and more uniquely human. It requires a sense of good and bad, right and wrong, ethical and unethical.
Zeleny described wisdom as "know-why",
but later refined his definitions, so as to differentiate "why do" (wisdom) from "why is" (information), and expanding his definition to include a form of know-what ("what to do, act or carry out").
According to Nikhil Sharma, Zeleny has argued for a tier to the model beyond wisdom, termed "
enlightenment".
Representations
Graphical representation
![DIKW (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/DIKW_%281%29.png)
DIKW is a
hierarchical
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
model often depicted as a pyramid,
with ''data'' at its base and ''wisdom'' at its apex. In this regard it is similar to
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is an idea in psychology proposed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in the journal ''Psychological Review''. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his o ...
, in that each level of the hierarchy is argued to be an essential precursor to the levels above. Unlike Maslow's hierarchy, which describes relationships of priority (lower levels are focused on first), DIKW describes purported
structural
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such ...
or
functional
Functional may refer to:
* Movements in architecture:
** Functionalism (architecture)
** Form follows function
* Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules
* Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis:
** Functional sy ...
relationships (lower levels comprise the material of higher levels). Both Zeleny and Ackoff have been credited with originating the pyramid representation,
although neither used a pyramid to present their ideas.
DIKW has also been represented as a two-dimensional
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
or as one or more flow diagrams.
In such cases, the relationships between the elements may be presented as less hierarchical, with feedback loops and control relationships.
Debons and colleagues
may have been the first to "present the hierarchy graphically".
Throughout the years many adaptations of the DIKW pyramid have been produced. One evolving adaptation, in use by knowledge managers in the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
, attempts to show the progression transforming data to information then knowledge and finally wisdom to enable effective decisions, as well as the activities involved to ultimately create shared understanding throughout the organization and managing decision risk.
Computational representation
Intelligent
decision support systems
A decision support system (DSS) is an information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations and planning levels of an organization (usually mid and higher management) and h ...
are trying to improve
decision making
In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rati ...
by introducing new technologies and methods from the domain of modeling and simulation in general, and in particular from the domain of intelligent
software agent
In computer science, a software agent or software AI is a computer program that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency, which derives from the Latin ''agere'' (to do): an agreement to act on one's behalf. Such "action on behal ...
s in the contexts of
agent-based modeling
An agent-based model (ABM) is a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) in order to understand the behavior of a system and wha ...
.
![Ackoff Sim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Ackoff_Sim.png)
The following example describes a military decision support system, but the architecture and underlying conceptual idea are transferable to other application domains:
* The value chain starts with ''data quality'' describing the information within the underlying command and control systems.
* ''Information quality'' tracks the completeness, correctness, currency, consistency and precision of the data items and information statements available.
* ''Knowledge quality'' deals with procedural knowledge and information embedded in the command and control system such as templates for adversary forces, assumptions about entities such as ranges and weapons, and doctrinal assumptions, often coded as rules.
* ''Awareness quality'' measures the degree of using the information and knowledge embedded within the command and control system. Awareness is explicitly placed in the cognitive domain.
By the introduction of a
common operational picture A common operational picture (COP) is a single identical display of relevant (operational) information (e.g. position of own troops and enemy troops, position and status of important infrastructure such as bridges, roads, etc.) shared by more than ...
, data are put into context, which leads to information instead of data. The next step, which is enabled by service-oriented web-based infrastructures (but not yet operationally used), is the use of models and simulations for decision support. Simulation systems are the prototype for procedural knowledge, which is the basis for knowledge quality. Finally, using intelligent software agents to continually observe the battle sphere, apply models and simulations to analyse what is going on, to monitor the execution of a plan, and to do all the tasks necessary to make the decision maker aware of what is going on, command and control systems could even support situational awareness, the level in the value chain traditionally limited to pure cognitive methods.
Criticisms
Rafael Capurro
Rafael may refer to:
* Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin
* Rafael, California
* Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology
* Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane
Fiction
* Rafa ...
, a philosopher based in Germany, argues that data is an abstraction, information refers to "the act of communicating meaning", and knowledge "is the event of meaning selection of a (psychic/social) system
from its 'world' on the basis of communication". As such, any impression of a logical hierarchy between these concepts "is a fairytale".
Rafael Capurro
Rafael may refer to:
* Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin
* Rafael, California
* Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology
* Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane
Fiction
* Rafa ...
, as cited in Zins, ''id.'', at p. 481
One objection offered by Zins is that, while knowledge may be an exclusively cognitive phenomenon, the difficulty in pointing to a given fact as being distinctively information or knowledge, but not both, makes the DIKW model unworkable.
Albert Einstein's famous equation "E = mc2" (which is printed on my computer screen, and is definitely separated from any human mind) information or knowledge? Is "2 + 2 = 4" information or knowledge?
Alternatively, information and knowledge might be seen as
synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
.
[Poli, Roberto, as cited in Zins, ''id.'', at p. 485.] In answer to these criticisms, Zins argues that,
subjectivist
Subjectivism is the doctrine that "our own mental activity is the only unquestionable fact of our experience", instead of shared or communal, and that there is no external or objective truth.
The success of this position is historically attribute ...
and
empiricist
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
philosophy aside, "the three fundamental concepts of data, information, and knowledge and the relations among them, as they are perceived by leading scholars in the information science academic community", have meanings open to distinct definitions.
Rowley echoes this point in arguing that, where definitions of knowledge may disagree, "
ese various perspectives all take as their point of departure the relationship between data, information and knowledge."
American philosophers
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
and
Arthur Bentley, in their 1949 book ''
Knowing and the Known
''Knowing and the Known'' is a 1949 book by John Dewey and Arthur Bentley.
Overview
As well as a Preface, an Introduction and an Index, the book consists of 12 chapters, or papers, as the authors call them in their introduction. Chapters 1 (Vag ...
'', argued that "knowledge" was "a vague word", and presented a complex alternative to DIKW including some nineteen "terminological guide-posts".
Information processing
Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that ''describes'' everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in posit ...
theory argues that the physical world is made of information itself. Under this definition, ''data'' is either made up of or synonymous with physical information. It is unclear, however, whether information as it is conceived in the DIKW model would be considered derivative from physical-information/data or synonymous with physical information. In the former case, the DIKW model is open to the fallacy of
equivocation
In logic, equivocation ("calling two different things by the same name") is an informal fallacy resulting from the use of a particular word/expression in multiple senses within an argument.
It is a type of ambiguity that stems from a phrase havin ...
. In the latter, the data tier of the DIKW model is preempted by an assertion of
neutral monism
Neutral monism is an umbrella term for a class of metaphysical theories in the philosophy of mind. These theories reject the dichotomy of mind and matter, believing the fundamental nature of reality to be neither mental nor physical; in other words ...
.
Educator Martin Frické has published an article critiquing the DIKW hierarchy, in which he argues that the model is based on "dated and unsatisfactory philosophical positions of
operationalism
In research design, especially in psychology, social sciences, life sciences and physics, operationalization or operationalisation is a process of defining the measurement of a phenomenon which is not directly measurable, though its existence is in ...
and
inductivism
Inductivism is the traditional and still commonplace philosophy of scientific method to develop scientific theories.James Ladyman, ''Understanding Philosophy of Science'' (London & New York: Routledge, 2002), p51€“58 Inductivism aims to neutrally o ...
", that information and knowledge are both weak knowledge, and that wisdom is the "possession and use of wide
practical
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...
knowledge.
David Weinberger
David Weinberger (born 1950) is an American author, technologist, and speaker. Trained as a philosopher, Weinberger's work focuses on how technology — particularly the internet and machine learning — is changing our ideas, with books about the ...
argues that although the DIKW pyramid appears to be a logical and straight-forward progression, this is incorrect. "What looks like a logical progression is actually a desperate cry for help."
He points out there is a discontinuity between Data and Information (which are stored in computers), versus Knowledge and Wisdom (which are human endeavours). This suggests that the DIKW pyramid is too simplistic in representing how these concepts interact. "...Knowledge is not determined by information, for it is the knowing process that first decides which information is relevant, and how it is to be used."
See also
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References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dikw
Information science
Knowledge management
Information systems
Stage theories