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?
T. S. Eliot
Is there a difference between information and knowledge? Media and Education scholars have been battling this question for decades. Some believe that knowledge is information, and vice versa, while others insist that information is only a part of knowledge.
Karl M. Wiig, from the Knowledge Research Institutte (http://www.krii.com/) offers the following working definitions of knowledge vs. information:
Knowledge consists of facts, truths, and beliefs, perspectives and concepts, judgments and expectations, methodologies and know-how.
Knowledge is accumulated and integrated and held over time to handle specific situations and challenges.
Information consists of facts and data organized to describe a particular situation or condition.
We use knowledge to determine what a specific situation means. Knowledge is applied to interpret information about the situation and to decide how to handle it.”
To illustrate, a customer contacts his/her broker to conduct a transaction and the distinctions between information and knowledge for this interchange are:
Customer: “I have an account with you, its number is 4567. What is my balance?”
– this is INFORMATION
Maarten Sierhuis, from NYNEX Science and Technology, Inc adds that “…The question about knowledge vs. information is very clear. We can represent knowledge as information (i.e symbols), but that is *not* the same as knowledge. Knowledge is fluid, tacit, and forever changing. We cannot recall knowledge, as we can recall information, we can only experience a situation as similar and react to it in a similar way.
Daniel Burrus, a technology forecaster and business strategist says that information is not knowledge until and unless it’s applied effectively.
Is information something that’s raw and hasn’t been acted upon or utilized, and knowledge is something that manipulates information for future uses? Then how does wisdom fit into this equation? Does wisdom require knowledge or is it something that one acquires with experience?
What do you think? We welcome your comments.
