What is the difference between information and knowledge?
In everyday language, the words “knowledge and “information” are used loosely and interchangeably.
Knowledge is frequently defined something like this:
Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating new experience and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers.
In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices, and norms.
As Knowledge Management (KM) definitions go, this is a good one. But if we are to manage information and knowledge, I think it is essential to make a clean, clear, crisp distinction between the two concepts.
Difference between Knowledge and Information
Some people say that knowledge can only exist in people’s heads. Anything else, such as stuff written or stored in databases, including voice, video, etc., is information.There’s no such thing as knowledge management; there are only knowledgeable people.
Information only becomes knowledge in the hands of someone who knows what to do with it.
Others make a distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is stored in people’s heads. In contrast, explicit knowledge is stored elsewhere, such as on paper or digitally in a computer system, and is in various ways different from information. Larry Prusak makes that distinction above.
But the distinction is never straightforward, and so-called explicit knowledge is always tangled up with data and information.
Tom Wilson clearly and eloquently distinguishes between knowledge and information below. He is referencing human knowledge as many other creatures also have minds and knowledge.
Knowledge only exists in the human mind. Everything else, however, is information.
Knowledge is defined as what we know: knowledge involves the mental processes of comprehension, understanding, and learning that go on in the mind and only in the mind, however much they involve interaction with the world outside the mind and interaction with others.
Whenever we wish to express what we know, we can only do so by uttering messages of one kind or another – oral, written, graphic, gestural or even through ‘body language’.
Such messages do not carry ‘knowledge’, they constitute ‘information’, which a knowing mind may assimilate, understand, comprehend and incorporate into its own knowledge structures.
Credit: The nonsense of ‘knowledge management’ by Thomas D. Wilson
But there is no right or wrong definition. As human beings, we get to choose how we define things.
And there is nothing wrong in living with two or more definitions — using the one most appropriate to the context in which we are working. It is a little like scientists living with the dual nature of light – both a particle and a wave simultaneously.
It’s nice also to minimize the use of the terms explicit and tacit knowledge. There is nothing wrong with the terms, but the additional jargon tends to alienate many people.
We would also remember that our brain is not a computer. Our brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories like a computer.
Difference between Knowledge Management and Information Management
So if we take the definition that knowledge only exists in the human mind and everything else is information, what is the difference between Information Management (IM) and Knowledge Management (KM)? Well:
Information Management is practiced by improving the systems that capture, store, categorize and transmit information.
It’s about databases, records management, libraries, books, reports, document repositories, videos, taxonomies, and the like. And although information exists in many forms other than digital, it is very much about Information Technology (IT). On the other hand:
Knowledge Management is practiced through activities that support better decision-making and innovation.
It’s about understanding information, making better sense of the world, improving decision-making, creativity, and innovation. This is something only human beings do. Computers can do none of these things. Putting it simply, IM is about technology, and KM is about people.
Reports aren’t knowledge.
But of course, to do a good job of KM, you need to focus on people, but you also need a good IM foundation. Does everyone in the KM world agree on this? No. Will they ever agree? No. Does it matter? I don’t think so.
You can make sense of things on your own by reading, observing, and thinking. But as individuals, our capabilities are limited, and we have many biases and flaws in our thinking.
If we wish to make real sense of the world, we need to pool our minds and think together. We do this through conversation. Let’s take an example.
Many organizations have a small team dedicated to what is often called market or business intelligence.
Knowledge is the capacity for effective action.
There is no capacity for effective action in a database.
They look out into the big wide world and note new technologies, new products and services, new competitors, changes in regulations, risks, etc.
They then produce a regular report that they circulate to relevant people in the organization. This is mostly IM – getting high-quality information to the right people.
But this is all they do. Often this is seen as a KM role. It is not – it is an IM role.
The smarter organizations add an additional step to this work. When they discover things of significance, they convene a Knowledge Café to make sense of the changes.
Now, this is the KM part, and it can only be done by people in conversation.
We need both – IM and KM to do good KM. IM on its own is just that IM!
For all our knowledge, we have no idea what we're talking about.
We don't understand what's going on in our business, our market, and our world.
Knowledge Management shouldn't be about helping us to know more. It should be about helping us to understand.
So, how do we understand things? It's through stories that we understand how the world works.
Knowledge only exists in the mind. Anything written down or stored in a computer or any other way is information.
Information Management is practiced by improving the systems that capture, store, categorize and transmit information – in other words, about IT. While Knowledge Management is practiced through activities that support better decision-making and innovation – work that only people can do.
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- Knowledge only exists in the mind.
- Information Management is practiced by improving the systems that capture, store, categorize and transmit information, while Knowledge Management is practiced through activities that support better decision-making and innovation.
Things To Do
- Reflect: Read the resources below, then reflect on the difference between information and knowledge.
Resources
- Article: The Future of Knowledge: Can It Exist Without a Human Mind?
- Article: Can only humans have knowledge?
- Blog Post: You don’t have to be human to have knowledge
Detailed Resources
- Article: Embodied Cognition by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2021)
Posts that link to this post
- The Global Information Ecosystem We live in a vast sea of information
- Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Distinguishing Knowledge Management from Information Management
- The Four Levels of Knowledge Management The relation between Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management
- Knowledge and Information ** Knowledge and information are different substances
- Data, Information and Knowledge What's the difference?
- The Importance of Tacit Knowledge Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is difficult to transfer
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Tags: David Weinberger (14) | extended mind (9) | information (26) | information management (5) | knowledge (59) | knowledge management (51) | Larry Prusak (2) | mind (34) | Peter Senge (17) | tacit knowledge (8) | Thomas D. Wilson (2)
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