Some Basic Aspects of Knowledge

Basic Aspects of Knowledge 1

by K Abhary, H K Adriansen, F Begovac, D Djukic, B Qin, S Spuzic, D Wood, K Xing

Some Basic Aspects of Knowledge

aUniversity of South Australia, bUniversity of Aarhus, cUniversity of Zenica, dMassey University, eRenmin University of China

Presented at the World Conference on Educational Sciences http://www.wces2009.org/February 04-07, Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract: http://spuzic.synthasite.com/knowledge_-basics.php

Live presentation (Youtube): http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwYGXuVhqo

http://people.unisa.edu.au/Kazem.Abhary

http://www.dpu.dk/site.aspx?p=6604&init=hkoa&msnr=1&lang=eng


by K Abhary, H K Adriansen, F Begovac, D Djukic, B Qin, S Spuzic, D Wood, K Xing

Some Basic Aspects of Knowledge

University of Aarhus, Massey University, Renmin University of China, University of South Australia, University of Zenica


Understanding the impediments to sharing and use of knowledge is fundamental

for the future of our society.

We face a proliferation of homonyms, synonyms and other ambiguities.

Concepts needed to define knowledge are discussed within Ontology, Epistemology, Sociology,

Psychology, Philosophy...



Ideally a consensus regarding concepts such as ‘definition’, ‘knowledge’, ‘logistic’, ‘structure’ and ‘ontology’ would be

expected to emerge on the grounds of such broad treatment.

Inconsistent concepts include ‘technology’, ‘metal’, ‘vector’, ‘element’. Developments such as iPod, nano-tubes, webcast, have overtaken state-of-the-art within their own disciplines. The expeditive institutions compose terms such as ‘knowledge

bank’ or ‘data mining’, allocate new meanings to ‘port’ and ‘pipeline’, and invent new terms such as ‘snippet’.


IT provides information searching, decoding and knowledge discovery. This opens shiny perspective for endless permutations of IT services.

The solution is to address causes rather than indulge in multiplying

superficial remedies.

Tolerance of conceptual misalignments and unruly nomenclatures increase information entropy and decrease intellectual synergy.


Accumulating evidence points at susceptibility of perceptions to background concepts.

The root causes for these impediments include knowledge gaps, conflict of intentions and differences in beliefs.

This can be ascribed to insufficient communication between branches of science.

Construction of scientific knowledge can be seen as a struggle over who should define the terms and conditions

of legitimate fields of research.


Solving problems usually requires combining knowledge from several disciplines.


Some authors posit that “Knowledge cannot be stored in computers; it can only be stored in the human brain.”

This statement spurs questions about definition of ‘knowledge’.

Many believe that a growing stock of knowledge is stored in libraries, and it can be searched and processed by

computerised systems.

The above symptoms indicate that basic concepts of knowledge must be reviewed.


Knowledge is a construct formed by linking a spectrum of intellectual components, the simplest being ‘information’. The further expanding levels include ‘assumption’, ‘definition’, ‘hypothesis’,

‘theory’, and ‘disciplinae’. ‘Disciplinae’ is a subset of knowledge which embraces a domain which is for some reason distinguishable from other knowledge.

A ‘disciplinae’ is constructed by combining

‘theories’ and ‘hypotheses’.



‘Knowledge’ survives by being shared with others and continues to exist over a significant time-span with

considerable reliability.

‘Theory’ is composed of ‘definitions’. A ‘definition’ is a fixed set of relations that significantly

increase probability of an intended realisation. Such actualisation is to be achieved by

an organised system.

A definition cannot be created without existence of a manned system.

However, once it is recorded, it becomes independent.


The attribute ‘fixed’ emphasizes the difference between the restless ambient and the permanent definition. Although our

ambient is in the state of perpetual motion, a definition is generated, not to imply that the defined phenomenon is at a

standstill, but to create an unchanging metric.

When conceived by a relevant system, a definition becomes autonomous from its own representation; definition can be distinguished from any substanceof which its record is made.

Therefore, an identical definition can be replicated endlessly; it is infinitely shareable.


An information is an ‘intellectual photograph’ of a phenomenon.

Any theory and definition are limited by axioms and scope. However, new hypotheses can be derived from an

established theory.

Many hypotheses have been proven wrong, and numerous theories modified over the history of sciences.

Evolution of knowledge would be impossible without having established an incremental evidence of this process:

fixed definitions that serve as the signposts.


Significance of the above discussion is in defining knowledge in terms of its application and sharing. Teams perform differently pending on how their members share knowledge. Appropriate understanding of a ‘common goal’ requires sharing a variety of aspects such as:- perceptions, - intentions and - beliefs.

An academic institution which rejects collaboration with peers to protect its market can instead experience a loss of market

due to the reduced versatility of services. An industrial system can suffer losses due to the lack of dialogue between expert teams. Protection of intellectual property can result in the loss of the expertise.


One of the most detrimental impedances to effective team work is a belief that the knowledge is a confidential property.

An opposite belief that our fate does not depend on the outcome of a competition with other teams, as much as it will

be affected by the outcome of the competition with global ambient, such as global climate change, will trigger

momentous motives, and dramatically change our intentions.

There are known cases of industrial systems that employ quite aged experts because they are the only sources of relevant

knowledge. Technology can be forgotten.


The overall efficiency, growth and verifiability of knowledge increase rapidly with the sheer quantity of informed participants. A belief that a rapid sharing of

knowledge incubates new ideas, and speeds up the testing procedures, leads to better utilisation of resources.

A constructive competition is most effectively achieved by: (1) cross-disciplinary sharing of knowledge; and(2) publishing new knowledge or new evidence for existing knowledge.


Academic and industrial leaders promote open knowledge sources via the Internet.

The model of open sources can be efficiently scaled within the structure of

any institutional system.

Barriers such as information divergence, intent disparity, knowledge imbalance and conflict of

beliefs can be mitigated by means of proactive use of artificial intelligence aids

(computers, internet and other software).



Information systems are omnipresent in all human endeavours and, today, human-

computer interaction lies at the crossroads of many disciplinas.

In this new ambient the leading sources reflect informed beliefs and constructive intentions thus increasing the probability of growth, sharing and application of knowledge.


In Conclusion

In this age of knowledge both communication speed and misinformation waste multiply at critical rates.

Defining the basic scientific concepts is a task that demands gathering together of appropriate institutions.

Missions of academe include sustaining knowledge shareability and applicability.

Successful application of knowledge is equal to its validation. Appropriate definitions are probability intensifiers.


Perspective of interaction between artificial intelligence and manned systems, and the rise of the open networks, uncover new gates.

However, the actual purpose of knowledge treasures should not be lost out of the sight; more attention to disaccord in

beliefs and intentions is needed to take better advantage of available knowledge.

Sustainability of life forms is proportional to the efficiency of knowledge-sharing and it is encouraging to realize that knowledge is infinitely shareable.


Thank you