By : Dr Md Santo

KNOWLEDGE DEFINITION FROM SCHOLAR (WESTERN) VIEWS

Knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or ... (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge)

Relevant information that one is able to recall from memory; All cognitive expectancies that an individual or organization actor uses to interpret situations and to generate activities; A specific body of knowledge of any kind, on some subject or in some field; Awareness resulting from ... (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/knowledge)

Knowledge is part of the hierarchy made up of data, information and knowledge. Data are raw facts. Information is data with context and perspective. Knowledge is information with guidance for action based upon insight and experience... (www.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/knowledgebase/itservices/a-z/k.html)

KNOWLEDGE COMPREHENSION FROM THEOLOGICAL (EASTERN) CONCEPT AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE INDONESIAN CULTURE

‘Ilm in Islamic theology referred to Knowledge in broad meaning as ‘Knowledge and beyond’ including Wisdom and Ma’rifah or Gnosis (describing mystical intuitive knowledge, knowledge of spiritual truth as reached through ecstatic experiences rather than revealed or rationally acquired). Knowledge is considered to be derived from two sources: 'aql (mind) and 'ilm huduri (in the sense of unmediated and direct knowledge acquired through mystic experience a.k.a. as physiognomy : the ability to prophesy the future). The term Hikmah (God’s Will) derived from ‘ilm huduri’.

'Ilm is referred to in many Quranic verses as 'light' (nur) This light does not shine for ever for all the believers. If is hidden sometimes by the clouds of doubt arising from the human mind. Doubt is sometimes interpreted in the Quran as darkness, and ignorance also is depicted as darkness in a number of its verses.

The above comprehension to great extend influencing Indonesian culture in looking for the meaning between Ilmu Pengetahuan (Science) with Pengetahuan (Knowledge) on the other hand. Instead both are included as ‘Ilm but they are frequently mixed with confused meaning. To get clarified on this issue see the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/clarifying-the-domain-of - CLARIFYING THE DOMAIN OF SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

EMERGENT PROPERTY FACTOR : THREE POSTULATES OF KNOWLEDGE

Human as well as human organization considered as Complex (Adaptive) System characterized with so called Emergent Property. That means the system has a unique behavior feature which will be exposed all in a sudden as the impact of the network effect. The new behavior is more than the sum of its parts. We are convinced that the Emergent Property of Complex System acting in between the domain of scientific method (bottom up paradigm) and the domain of physiognomy plus the ability to prophesy the future method (top down paradigm).

The new emergent Knowledge is more than the sum of their cummulative Information! (see also http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/the-latest-paradigms-and - THE LATEST PARADIGMS AND TRENDS IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (KM) – especially Attachment 1)

From this point, our deductive as well as our inductive thinking come up with three postulated results. First, Knowledge acting as Subject resulting from Emergent Property as its behavior (see the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/clarifying-the-domain-of ). Second, the emerging Knowledge is part of Human Enlightment Process (see the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/human-enlightment-staging ). Third, we strongly believe that an analogy and similarity between K(M) and Human Body Genome exist regarding its structure, function as well as process (see the link http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/analogy-study-of-human-... )

TOWARDS HYBRID UNDERSTANDING OF KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN “EAST AND WEST”

We prefer eclectic approach on the issue of how to develop definition of Knowledge regarding universal and (inter) objective consideration. One of our articles posted at http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com which is most relevant of the approach just mention is the link : http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/why-knowledge-managemen... : ‘WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IS HUMAN ENLIGHTMENT (TO LIGHT HUMAN LIFE) PROCESS ? : FROM INFORMATION THEORY AND NOOR ASPECT’ Our effort here is to make irrelevant the Rudyard Kipling’s ….. OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet….., thanks to Social Media Platform (Web 2.0 platform) to develop Social Constructivism globally or doing Social Learning or Social Networking it is possible to clarify further and more in depth the basic issues of Knowledge. Let’s see the following matrix diagram of structure-based as well as functional-based definitions of the elements in human life :

STRUCTURE-BASED DEFINITION OF THE ELEMENTS IN HUMAN LIFE :

• Wisdom = existing Wisdom + Knowledge + Informasi + Data + Physical Reality
• Knowledge = existing Knowledge + Informasi + Data + Physical Reality
• Information = existing Information + Data + Physical Reality
• Data = existing Data + Physical Reality
• Physical Reality = Space + Time + Senses Perceiving – based existence

FUNCTIONAL-BASED DEFINITION OF THE ELEMENTS IN HUMAN LIFE :

• Data = Numerical and Symbolic Facts
• Information = Collection of Data with meaning but treated as object only
• Knowledge = Collection of Information with meaning and treated as dynamic subject having consciousness and giving us deterministic Action & Performance
• Wisdom = Knowledge with highest effective complexity

THE RATIONALES OF OUR VERSION OF KM DEFINITION

We as MOBEE KNOWLEDGE CoP – KM 2.0 have released our own version of KM Definition we called it as “Human Enlightment Process-based KM Definition” through the link : http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/human-enlightment-staging and http://www.knowledge-management-online.com/human-enlightment-proces... in which KM defined as follow :

1. KM is the staging of Human Enlightment Process
2. The process is to managing the transformation of Information content into Knowledge and beyond
3. The goals are towards Learning, Growth and Innovation
4. The management should leveraged by KM Standards, KM Tools and KM Process Frameworks

HYBRID DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE

Taking into consideration from the Scholar (Western) view, the Theological (Eastern) concept, as well as the Emergent property of Complex System acting as bridging between ‘Western’ thinking and ‘Eastern’ thinking, we come up with ‘HYBRID DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE’ as follows :

Knowledge is where Information being transformed embedded within human body as emergent property having consciousness and free will (mind and value) as well as behaving dynamically as subject

Your comment (if any) will be appreciated

Dr Md Santo
• Knowledge Management facilitator
• E-mail : moesdar@gmail.com
• URL http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com
• Follow me on Twitter : http://twitter.com/md_santo
• Connect with me on Linkedin : http://www.linkedin.com/in/bluemoonmobee

Tags: complexadaptivesystem, complexsystem, emergentproperty, hybriddefinition, hybriddefinitionofkm, kmdefinition, knowledge, threepostulatesofknowledge