DIKW
Encyclopedia
The "DIKW Hierarchy", also known variously as the "Wisdom Hierarchy", the "Knowledge Hierarchy", the "Information Hierarchy", and the "Knowledge Pyramid", refers loosely to a class of models for representing purported structural and/or functional
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".
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
and a pyramid, the DIKW model has also been characterized as a chain, as a framework, and as a continuum
.
, information
, knowledge
, and sometimes wisdom
in a hierarchical arrangement has been part of the language of information science
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 DIKW as a shorthand representation for the data-to-information-to-knowledge-to-wisdom transformation."
, later to be formalized as "goods of the mind", in 1970--"knowledge, understanding, prudence, and even a modicum of wisdom"--and later revised, in 1986, as follows:
"As health, strength, vigor and vitality are bodily goods, so information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom are goods of the mind - goods that acquired, perfect it."
The earliest formalized distinction between wisdom, knowledge, and information may have been made by poet and playwright T.S. Eliot:
Nearly half a century later, American composer Frank Zappa
articulated an extended version of the information-knowledge-wisdom hierarchy:
-- from Frank Zappa, "Packard Goose"
Thereafter, American author and educator Harlan Cleveland
cited Eliot in his 1982 article discussing the hierarchy.
and sociologist-historian Daniel Bell
.. 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 mapped the elements of the hierarchy to knowledge forms: know-nothing, know-what, know-how, and know-why. Zeleny "has frequently been credited with proposing the [representation 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, by American organizational theorist Russell Ackoff, 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 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.
' may have been American educator Nicholas L. Henry", in a 1974 journal article.
Jennifer Rowley notes that there is "little reference to wisdom" in discussion of the DIKW in recently published college textbooks, 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 recent research study, makes no explicit commentary on wisdom, although some of the citations included by Zins do make mention of the term.
, information systems
and knowledge management
literatures, but there has been limited direct discussion of the hierarchy". Reviews of textbook
s 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
and truth
fulness, which are usually attached to the concepts of subjective
knowledge and objective
knowledge". Information science
, Zins argues, studies data and information, but not knowledge, as knowledge is an internal (subjective) rather than an external (universal–collective) phenomenon.
s or signs
, representing stimuli
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 distinct is often obscured in definitions of data in terms of "fact
s".
Insofar as fact
s have as a fundamental property that they are true
, have objective
reality, or otherwise can be verified
, such definitions would preclude false, meaningless, and nonsensical data from the DIKW model, such that the principle of Garbage In, Garbage Out
would not be accounted for under DIKW.
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 defines 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."
The meaning of sensory stimuli may also be thought of as subjective data:
Subjective data, if understood in this way, would be comparable to knowledge by acquaintance
, in that it is based on direct experience of stimuli. However, unlike knowledge by acquaintance, as described by Bertrand Russell
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.
that represent empirical
stimuli or perceptions", of "a property of an object, an event or of their environment". Data, in this sense, are "recorded (captured or stored) symbols", 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, unless used for illustrative purposes, such as forecasting
."
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 is contained in descriptions [Italics in original]), and is differentiated from data in that it is "useful". "Information is inferred from data", in the process of answering interrogative questions (e.g., "who", "what", "where", "how many", "when"), thereby making the data useful for "decisions and/or action". "Classically," states a recent text, "information is defined as data that are endowed with meaning and purpose."
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
".
and the physical manifestations they form", such that "[i]nformation, as a
phenomenon, represents both a process and a product; a cognitive/affective state, and the physical counterpart (product of)
the cognitive/affective state."
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
, but rather that knowledge, once made explicit in symbolic form, becomes information.
Zins has suggested that knowledge, being subjective rather than universal, is not the subject of study in information science
, and that it is often defined in propositional 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
".
"One of the most frequently quoted definitions" of knowledge captures some of the various ways in which it has been defined by others:
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 [information], selecting and organizing what is useful to somebody". A recent text describes knowledge as "information connected in relationships".
), 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
, skill
, expertise or capability:
Businessmen James Chisholm and Greg Warman characterize knowledge simply as "doing things right".
with reference to cognitive fameworks". 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
s' (wholes, unities)".
Zins, likewise, found that knowledge is described in proposition
al terms, as justifiable beliefs (subjective domain, akin to tacit knowledge
), and sometimes also as signs that represent such beliefs (universal/collective domain, akin to explicit knowledge
). 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:
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 discourse
and justification, when he defined knowledge as "a matter of dispute".
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 University of Michigan
Ph.D. candidate Nikhil Sharma
, Zeleny has argued for a tier to the model beyond wisdom, termed "enlightenment
".
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. Rowley attributes the following definition of wisdom to Ackoff:
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".
, 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 or functional
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
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".
from its ‘world’ on the basis of communication". As such, any impression of a logical hierarchy between these concepts "is a fairytale".
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.
Alternatively, information and knowledge might be seen as synonyms. In answer to these criticisms, Zins argues that, subjectivist
and empiricist 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, "[t]hese various perspectives all take as their point of departure the relationship between data, information and knowledge."
American philosophers John Dewey
and Arthur Bentley, arguing that "knowledge" was "a vague word", presented a complex alternative to DIKW including some nineteen "terminological guide-posts".
Information processing
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 the latter, the data tier of the DIKW model is preempted by an assertion of neutral monism
.
Educator Martin Frické has submitted an article critiquing the DIKW hierarchy for publication, in which he argues that the model is based on "dated and unsatisfactory philosophical positions of operationalism and inductivism
", that information and knowledge are both weak knowledge, and that wisdom is the "possession and use of wide practical knowledge.
Function model
A function model or functional model in systems engineering and software engineering is a structured representation of the functions within the modeled system or subject area....
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".
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
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
and a pyramid, the DIKW model has also been characterized as a chain, as a framework, and as a continuum
Continuum (theory)
Continuum theories or models explain variation as involving a gradual quantitative transition without abrupt changes or discontinuities. It can be contrasted with 'categorical' models which propose qualitatively different states.-In physics:...
.
History
"The presentation of the relationships among dataData
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
, information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
, knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
, and sometimes wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
in a hierarchical arrangement has been part of the language of information science
Information science
-Introduction:Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information...
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 DIKW as a shorthand representation for the data-to-information-to-knowledge-to-wisdom transformation."
Information, Knowledge, Wisdom
Educator Danny P. Wallace traces the earliest conception of a hierarchy involving knowledge and wisdom to 1927 and 1941, in early works of American philosopher Mortimer AdlerMortimer Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
, later to be formalized as "goods of the mind", in 1970--"knowledge, understanding, prudence, and even a modicum of wisdom"--and later revised, in 1986, as follows:
"As health, strength, vigor and vitality are bodily goods, so information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom are goods of the mind - goods that acquired, perfect it."
The earliest formalized distinction between wisdom, knowledge, and information may have been made by poet and playwright T.S. Eliot:
-- from T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from 'The Rock'"
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
Nearly half a century later, American composer Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
articulated an extended version of the information-knowledge-wisdom hierarchy:
Information is not knowledge,
Knowledge is not wisdom,
Wisdom is not truth,
Truth is not beauty,
Beauty is not love,
Love is not music,
and Music is THE BEST.
-- from Frank Zappa, "Packard Goose"
Thereafter, American author and educator Harlan Cleveland
Harlan Cleveland
Harlan Cleveland was an American diplomat, educator, and author. He served as Lyndon Johnson's U.S. Ambassador to NATO, 1965–1969, and earlier as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 1961-1965...
cited Eliot in his 1982 article discussing the hierarchy.
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 TuanYi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
and sociologist-historian Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell
Daniel Bell was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor emeritus at Harvard University, best known for his seminal contributions to the study of post-industrialism...
.. In 1980, Irish-born engineer Mike Cooley
Mike Cooley
Mike Cooley is an Irish-born engineer and former trade union leader, best known for his involvement in workplace activism at the British company Lucas Aerospace in the late 1970s. In 1981, he was a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award. Cooley was born in Tuam, Ireland, and studied engineering...
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 mapped the elements of the hierarchy to knowledge forms: know-nothing, know-what, know-how, and know-why. Zeleny "has frequently been credited with proposing the [representation 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, by American organizational theorist Russell Ackoff, 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 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.
Data, Information, Knowledge
In 1955, English-American economist and educator Kenneth Boulding presented a variation on the hierarchy consisting of "signals, messages, information, and knowledge". However, "[t]he first author to distinguish among data, information, and knowledge and to also employ the term 'knowledge managementKnowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
' may have been American educator Nicholas L. Henry", in a 1974 journal article.
Jennifer Rowley notes that there is "little reference to wisdom" in discussion of the DIKW in recently published college textbooks, 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 recent 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 managementInformation management
Information management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information...
, information systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
and knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
literatures, but there has been limited direct discussion of the hierarchy". Reviews of textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s 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
Arbitrary
Arbitrariness is a term given to choices and actions subject to individual will, judgment or preference, based solely upon an individual's opinion or discretion.Arbitrary decisions are not necessarily the same as random decisions...
and truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
fulness, which are usually attached to the concepts of subjective
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
knowledge and objective
Objectivity (philosophy)
Objectivity is a central philosophical concept which has been variously defined by sources. A proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are met and are "mind-independent"—that is, not met by the judgment of a conscious entity or subject.- Objectivism...
knowledge". Information science
Information science
-Introduction:Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information...
, 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 symbolSymbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
s or signs
Sign (semiotics)
A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It is defined as "something that stands for something, to someone in some capacity" It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be...
, representing stimuli
Stimulus (physiology)
In physiology, a stimulus is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is called sensitivity....
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 distinct is often obscured in definitions of data in terms of "fact
Fact
A fact is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be shown to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts...
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
Fact
A fact is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be shown to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts...
s have as a fundamental property that they are true
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
, have objective
Objectivity (philosophy)
Objectivity is a central philosophical concept which has been variously defined by sources. A proposition is generally considered to be objectively true when its truth conditions are met and are "mind-independent"—that is, not met by the judgment of a conscious entity or subject.- Objectivism...
reality, or otherwise can be verified
Verification theory
The verification theory is a philosophical theory proposed by the logical positivists of the Vienna Circle. A simplified form of the theory states that a proposition's meaning is determined by the method through which it is empirically verified. In other words, if something cannot be empirically...
, such definitions would preclude false, meaningless, and nonsensical data from the DIKW model, such that the principle of Garbage In, Garbage Out
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Garbage in, garbage out is a phrase in the field of computer science or information and communication technology. It is used primarily to call attention to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output...
would not be accounted for under DIKW.
Data as Signal
In the subjective domain, data are conceived of as "sensory stimuli, which we perceivethrough 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 defines 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."
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
Knowledge by acquaintance
The contrasting expressions "knowledge by acquaintance" and "knowledge by description" were promoted by Bertrand Russell, who was extremely critical of the equivocal nature of the word know, and believed that the equivocation arose from a failure to distinguish between the two fundamentally...
, in that it is based on direct experience of stimuli. However, unlike knowledge by acquaintance, as described by Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
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 signsSign (semiotics)
A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It is defined as "something that stands for something, to someone in some capacity" It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be...
that represent empirical
Empirical
The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....
stimuli or perceptions", of "a property of an object, an event or of their environment". Data, in this sense, are "recorded (captured or stored) symbols", 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, unless used for illustrative purposes, such as forecasting
Forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making statements about events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A commonplace example might be estimation for some variable of interest at some specified future date. Prediction is a similar, but more general term...
."
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 descriptionKnowledge by description
The contrasting expressions "knowledge by description" and "knowledge by acquaintance" were promoted by Bertrand Russell, who was extremely critical of the equivocal nature of the word know, and believed that the equivocation arose from a failure to distinguish between the two fundamentally...
("information is contained in descriptions [Italics in original]), and is differentiated from data in that it is "useful". "Information is inferred from data", in the process of answering interrogative questions (e.g., "who", "what", "where", "how many", "when"), thereby making the data useful for "decisions and/or action". "Classically," states a recent 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 "[t]he 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
Matter of Fact
A Matter of Fact, in the Humean sense, is the type of knowledge that can be characterized as arising out of one's interaction with and experience in the external world . In a Kantian framework, it is equivalent to the synthetic a posteriori.Examples:-The sun will come out tomorrow. -There are...
".
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 (consciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
)
and the physical manifestations they form", such that "[i]nformation, as a
phenomenon, represents both a process and a product; a cognitive/affective 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
Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been or can be articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others. The information contained in encyclopedias are good examples of explicit knowledge....
, 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. Knowledge is typically 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
-Introduction:Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information...
, and that it is often defined in propositional 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
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient...
".
"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 [and] accumulated 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 [information], selecting and organizing what is useful to somebody". A recent text describes knowledge as "information connected in relationships".
Knowledge as Procedural
Zeleny defines knowledge as "know-how" (i.e., procedural knowledgeProcedural knowledge
Procedural knowledge, also known as imperative knowledge, is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. See below for the specific meaning of this term in cognitive psychology and intellectual property law....
), 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
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
, skill
Skill
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
, expertise 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 "internalizationInternalization
Internalization has different definitions depending on the field that the term is used in. Internalization is the opposite of externalization.- General :...
with reference to cognitive fameworks". 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 (philosophy)
An object in philosophy is a technical term often used in contrast to the term subject. Consciousness is a state of cognition that includes the subject, which can never be doubted as only it can be the one who doubts, and some object or objects that may or may not have real existence without...
s' (wholes, unities)".
Zins, likewise, found that knowledge is described in proposition
Proposition
In logic and philosophy, the term proposition refers to either the "content" or "meaning" of a meaningful declarative sentence or the pattern of symbols, marks, or sounds that make up a meaningful declarative sentence...
al terms, as justifiable beliefs (subjective domain, akin to tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient...
), and sometimes also as signs that represent such beliefs (universal/collective domain, akin to explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been or can be articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others. The information contained in encyclopedias are good examples of explicit knowledge....
). 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 thoughtThought"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...
in the individual’s
mindMindThe concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
, which is characterized by the individual’s justifiable
beliefBeliefBelief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
that it is trueTruthTruth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
. 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 sumCogito ergo sumis a philosophical Latin statement proposed by . The simple meaning of the phrase is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking — However this "I" is not the more or less permanent person we call "I"...
"), 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[s] that it is true, (2) S/he
can justify it, and (3) It is true, or it [appears] to 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 discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
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".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 University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Ph.D. candidate Nikhil Sharma
Nikhil Sharma
Nikhil Sharma is a fictional character, from the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale, played by Rik Makarem. He made his first on-screen appearance on 11 September 2009.-Character creation and casting:...
, Zeleny has argued for a tier to the model beyond wisdom, termed "enlightenment
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
".
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. Rowley attributes the following definition of wisdom to Ackoff:
Wisdom is the ability to increase effectiveness. Wisdom adds value, which requires the mental function that we call judgment. The ethical and aesthetic values that this implies are inherent to the actor and are unique and personal.
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".
Representations
DIKW is a hierarchical 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 needsMaslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity...
, 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 or functional
Function model
A function model or functional model in systems engineering and software engineering is a structured representation of the functions within the modeled system or subject area....
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
Chart
A chart is a graphical representation of data, 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"...
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".
Criticisms
Raphael Capurro, 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) systemfrom its ‘world’ on the basis of communication". As such, any impression of a logical hierarchy between these concepts "is a fairytale".
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.
[I]s 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. In answer to these criticisms, Zins argues that, subjectivist
Subject (philosophy)
In philosophy, a subject is a being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness or a relationship with another entity . A subject is an observer and an object is a thing observed...
and empiricist 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, "[t]hese various perspectives all take as their point of departure the relationship between data, information and knowledge."
American philosophers John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
and Arthur Bentley, arguing that "knowledge" was "a vague word", presented a complex alternative to DIKW including some nineteen "terminological guide-posts".
Information processing
Information processing
Information processing is the change of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process which describes everything which happens in the universe, from the falling of a rock to the printing of a text file from a digital computer system...
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
Physical information
In physics, physical information refers generally to the information that is contained in a physical system. Its usage in quantum mechanics In physics, physical information refers generally to the information that is contained in a physical system. Its usage in quantum mechanics In physics,...
. 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
Equivocation
Equivocation is classified as both a formal and informal logical fallacy. It is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning or sense...
. In the latter, the data tier of the DIKW model is preempted by an assertion of neutral monism
Neutral monism
Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysical view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the same elements, which are themselves "neutral," that is, neither physical nor mental. This view denies that the mental and the physical are two fundamentally...
.
Educator Martin Frické has submitted an article critiquing the DIKW hierarchy for publication, in which he argues that the model is based on "dated and unsatisfactory philosophical positions of operationalism and inductivism
Inductivism
In the philosophy of science inductivism exists both in a classical naive version, which has been highly influential, and in various more sophisticated versions...
", that information and knowledge are both weak knowledge, and that wisdom is the "possession and use of wide practical knowledge.
External links
- The Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom Chain: The Metaphorical link by Jonathan HeyJonathan HeyJonathan Hey is an expert in connecting the abstract concepts of knowledge management with other levels of experiences like language and sensual interaction with the physical world, thus providing not only better understanding of these concepts but key elements of their more precise definition as...