DIKW pyramid when working with genies
…classification of different types of understanding
Curtis shared the DIKW pyramid, that I hadn’t heard of, and said that he feels that the genies helps him process the first two layers much more quickly than he can alone, that it can somewhat help penetrate into knowledge but not much. Which allows him to spend less time in D/I (collection) and then more to then K/W (processing?)
This is true, I have felt that if I provide enough information when trying to find something I can get out reams of useful and contextual D/I, but the biggest problem is attribution: I don’t know if it’s real or hallucinations, and you need to make sure you get the references so you can confirm it. BUT, I am spending less time reading wide because it can help narrow it. (which sounds like the ideal librarian who can help you find just that book you need based on what you explained).
Time to figure out what these layers actually mean.
Climbing the pyramid
Reading the DIKW page and was curious about the definitions, my gut for what data/information is was correct, but I see it seems to get vaguer with knowledge.
Zeleny has asserted that to capture knowledge in symbolic form is to make it into information, i.e., that “All knowledge is tacit”.
this feels correct somehow. But also this:
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.
It feels like knowledge is personal. Also why I like the idea of knowledge “made specific” becomes information, and then needs to be contextualized into someones situation as knowledge → and then that combination can then be “made specific” again into information that others can use in that context.
No idea if that makes sense 🙂
Wisdom even fluffier, but I kinda wonder if that’s moving from tacit → explicit, but the difference from information
is that it’s not only contextual to one concrete situation, it’s when you can teach/identify the meta “skill” of whatever you have knowledge?
Then again, I also like the simple version of “knowledge is that a tomato is a fruit. wisdom is to not put it in a fruit salad.” (and talking it through with a genie it pointed out that while funny the classification is wrong, tomato is a fruit is information, and not using it in a fruit salad is knowledge because how it’s contextualized)
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”). And, as noted by Nikhil Sharma, Zeleny has argued for a tier to the model beyond wisdom, termed “enlightenment”.
I like the “why do” definition of wisdom, and I think that connects well to the “meta skill” above.
I wanted to see if I had gotten the full idea after the tomato in my face, so I focused on my coffee habit, and tried to put it into the pyramid to conceptualize it for myself:
- Data: today
- Bought 1 coffee x $5.5
- Got 1 machine coffee in office x $0
- Information: I usually buy two coffees for a total of $10
- Knowledge: I’m trying to spend less so halving the cost helps me get there, while also giving me some good coffee per day
- Wisdom: If I make a thermos of good coffee at home and bring to the office, then I’ll get two good cups and it’s cheaper
I started a chat with Gemini and shared all the notes above (transcript), and it felt this was a good example of wisdom, and when I asked Claude it felt my answer was too strategic and that I wasn’t explaining the full “why do”, and suggested:
Wisdom: “Small daily expenses compound dramatically over time, so sustainable cost-cutting requires finding cheaper alternatives that I’ll actually stick with (hence keeping good coffee, just changing the source).”
And that connects in a whole other way, I’ll keep that in mind for next time, and it also highlights some unspoken context that was tacit, the habit is one I could likely sustain because it’s small and something I do most days when working from home, but I didn’t call it out.