In this video we're going to look at the different levels of knowing and understanding. In everyday language, knowledge is a word that means different things to different people. Some people regard it synonymously with information, while others see it as something more. In the online Oxford dictionary, it is defined as facts, information and skills acquired through experience or education, the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
In other words, it covers just about anything. However, in business and in other disciplines we tend to differentiate more concretely between data, information, and knowledge. Let's start with data.
Data is the lowest form and refers to unstructured facts and figures which lack any kind of organization. The next level is information. Information refers to data that has been organized, condensed, contextualized and so on.
The data now has a direction and a purpose. For example, data is generated when a product is manufactured and marketed. There'll be lots of numbers and facts regarding cost, pricing, income, market research and so on.
This data becomes information once it actually conveys something specific. For example, once it answers the question what was our profit last year? last quarter, or which of these two products performs better, or which facility was most cost-effective.
Knowledge, on the other hand, represents a deeper level of understanding and know-how. It is very much based on experience and rooted in context. Davenport and Prusak define it as 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. Examples of knowledge could be how to fix a machine, how to organize a project, how to market a product, the wisdom embedded in the procedure, even if the person does not know what it is, and so on.
You will also notice that knowledge can come in substantially varying degrees. For instance, you may have someone who is good at marketing, or you may have someone who is a true marketing whiz. You may have a newly graduated IT support worker, and you could have a highly experienced professional whose years of work provide invaluable insight and intuition into solutions.
solving problems. In a later video I'll look more specifically at the types of knowledge and what they imply to knowledge management. So, to recap, data refers to unstructured facts and figures, information refers to structured, organized and or condensed data, while knowledge refers to a deeper level of understanding and know-how. Thank you for watching. If you haven't done so already don't forget to like and subscribe for more videos on knowledge in KM.
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