Thinking About Knowledge Learning and Wisdom

This book is an informed discussion about knowledge, learning and wisdom from an author who has worked directly in a knowledge study capacity for over 20 years. The intention of the book is to discuss the concepts of knowledge, learning and wisdom in such a way as to encourage thought in others and of course to clarify ideas by making them clear. The book does not set out to provide answers or definitive statements about these concepts but it does allow reasoned explanation to be drawn from the discussion and certainly makes it clear where the author's views lie. Whilst it would be rather satisfying to think that the information contained in this book is convincing enough to persuade readers that the ideas expressed are valid and sound, it will be at least agreeable to think that the information and the way it is presented can provoke deeper thought by the reader and allow him or her to clarify their own views about the important concepts of knowledge, learning and wisdom. The first chapter of the book is provided to allow the reader to examine the foundations of the views and information contained in this work. This is important if opinions are to be formed or clarified as the book is read. People take a lot more from communication with others than simply exchanging some data. We like to see how the person that we are communicating with has come to their opinion and perhaps to see how much background we have in common and where paths through life have been quite different. This all helps us to draw conclusion and form opinion. The information in chapter 1 is rather unscientific and author centred but the intention of it is as stated above. The next two chapters concern two of the three primary concepts of the book directly. They address knowledge and learning respectively. The information contained within them is a mix of views held by others and views formed by the author throughout his lifetime. However, one must acknowledge, even the views which are held by the author have actually come in some way from other people, either directly or very indirectly through interaction or influence. The commonly held views about knowledge and learning are considered as well as an exploration the basis of these concepts. The next two chapters address applied knowledge and then expertise. Applied knowledge is addressed separately because it is the use we make of knowledge that is important to us and to other people rather than just the things we know. Expertise is also addressed separately for two main reasons. The first reason is that expertise is perhaps a goal state for knowledge and knowledge acquisition. Expertise is something that is said about levels of knowledge. The second reason is that expertise has been and probably still is an important link between human knowledge and the ways we are attempting to give machines knowledge and make them act in an intelligent way. A separate chapter on wisdom addresses the third main concept of this book. In truth, the addition of this third concept came after the earlier material about knowledge and learning had already been started. It became clear that wisdom says something different about people than knowledge and learning and yet it is inseparably linked to those concepts. It seemed important to discuss wisdom as a separate concept as well as use it to try to clarify the meaning of knowledge and learning. In much of the book, knowledge, learning and wisdom are discussed together but are intended to represent different things. They are part of each other yet distinctive in their own rights. The chapter on representing knowledge is a further attempt to clarify meaning. This time by trying to see how knowledge, not just information, could actually be held outside the brain of a person. The chapter considers knowledge representation methods that have been used to hold (so called) knowledge in machines and it also considers how the brain itself represents, or rather, may represent knowledge. Whilst looking at representation, some attempt is also made to consider how other concepts such as truth and belief could be represented in machines. The next four chapters deal with knowledge structure maps to some degree. An initial chapter introduces the idea of the knowledge structure map as a follow on from knowledge representation. This chapter provides the necessary background which will allow the reader to make the most of the other 3 chapters. The next chapter takes the reader through the construction of a knowledge structure map and in doing so, tries to highlight some of the important ideas of human knowledge and also of the method. This chapter also addresses the business value of knowledge and how business or organisations and society can begin to manage the human knowledge resource more effectively. The next chapter is a review of the ideas and an attempt to clarify the value of such knowledge study whilst the final chapter in the set of four gradually leaves the knowledge structure map by showing more of its links to knowledge and learning for humans. Chapter 12 discusses the idea that knowledge is really a personal matter. This idea has been welling up in the book and now comes into full view in this chapter. This chapter turns the debate away from a more business focus and back to a primarily human perspective on knowledge. However, the value that organisations can gain from understanding the personal nature of knowledge is also considered here. Chapter 13 looks at how the gaps between knowledge, learning and wisdom can be bridged whilst accepting that the concepts may not be moved closer together than they already are. Seeing gaps and looking for bridges is perhaps a good way to prevent the concepts merging into a single entity through misuse and over-generalisation. The final chapter is intended to encourage more thought without providing too many answers. What answers there were in this book have already been provided by now. The final act is to think more about the whole idea of knowledge, learning and wisdom and what it means to each reader across the diverse reaches of their own life.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Chapter 1: A background of learning - My Way. Chapter 2: Knowledge. Chapter 3: Knowledge Acquisition (Learning) . Chapter 4: Applied Knowledge. Chapter 5: Becoming Clever (Expertise) . Chapter 6: Wisdom. Chapter 7: Representing Knowledge. Chapter 8: Knowledge Structure and Maps. Chapter 9: Building a Knowledge Structure Map. Chapter 10: Reviewing the Map and its Parameters. Chapter 11: Studying Knowledge with Knowledge Structure Maps. Chapter 12: Knowledge is Personal. Chapter 13: Vision: Bridging the gap from Knowledge to Wisdom. Chapter 14: Thinking about Knowledge. Appendix 1: The Knowledge Family. Appendix 2: Table of node names and definitions. References and further reading.

About the Author :
Dr John L Gordon has pursued a life-long passion for learning and self-development and it is against this backdrop that Knowledge Structure Mapping was born. His early background in electrical power and telecommunications progressed into microprocessor engineering and onward into artificial intelligence in which he gained his PhD in Small Building Management at Liverpool John Moores University. John wrote many technical and leisure software articles for computer and engineering journals and a range of academic papers on the use of Artificial Intelligence and the study of the organisational knowledge resource. He also developed a complete 'intelligent house system' for research work that is still in operation. With his passion for learning came a desire to share knowledge and so he designed and produced many special courses for industry in areas such as microprocessor engineering and knowledge based systems. Designing several business based collaborative projects for knowledge and innovation was a logical progression and resulted in facilitating many seminars and workshops. Developing an effective method and software tool for the study of knowledge was again a logical progression and John has undertaken many Knowledge Resource study and analysis projects in business. Pursuing John's interest in Artificial Intelligence, something he still retains, (John is the current co-organiser of the BCS Machine Intelligence Competition), John formed the North West Artificial Intelligence Applications Group whilst working at Blackburn College. This group worked with Industry and had an Industrial Steering Committee, from 1988 to 2000. In 2000, it became the Applied Knowledge Research Institute (AKRI). During this time John headed several research projects aimed at improving innovation in organisations. All of this work had business and industrial participation and backing delivering several software tools and report findings in the process. John was the Head of Research and Development at Blackburn College and Director of AKRI. The Applied Knowledge Research Institute continued to have strong links with industry but shifted its focus from intelligent systems towards the organisational knowledge resource. When the Institute was 'closed' in 2005 because of financial difficulties at the college, John set up AKRI Ltd, conveniently focussing on Applied Knowledge Research and Innovation. Since then, he has worked mainly with large companies such as Airbus and Rolls-Royce but the methods are just as appropriate for smaller organisations, government bodies, or anyone else that values its knowledge resource and the methodology and toolset described in this website became reality. John's main interests are Knowledge and Intelligence, in both human and artificial forms and in the study and understanding of related concepts. The book "Thinking about Knowledge Learning and Wisdom" has become a central motivator for AKRI Ltd.