DIKW pyramid
The DIKW pyramid, also known variously as the DIKW hierarchy, wisdom hierarchy, knowledge hierarchy, information hierarchy, information pyramid, and the data pyramid,[1] refers loosely to a class of models[2] for representing purported structural and/or functional relationships between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. "Typically information is defined in terms of data, knowledge in terms of information, and wisdom in terms of knowledge".The DIKW acronym has worked into the rotation from knowledge management. It demonstrates how the deep understanding of the subject emerges, passing through four qualitative stages: D – data, I – information, K – knowledge and W – wisdom[1]
Not all versions of the DIKW model reference all four components (earlier versions not including data, later versions omitting or downplaying wisdom), and some include additional components.[3] In addition to a hierarchy and a pyramid, the DIKW model has also been characterized as a chain,[4][5] as a framework,[6] and as a continuum.[7]
Description[edit]
The DIKW model "is often quoted, or used implicitly, in definitions of data, information and knowledge in the information management, information systems and knowledge management literatures, but there has been limited direct discussion of the hierarchy".[1] Reviews of textbooks[1] and a survey of scholars in relevant fields[2] indicate that there is not a consensus as to definitions used in the model, and even less "in the description of the processes that transform elements lower in the hierarchy into those above them".[1][27]
This has led Zins to suggest that the data–information–knowledge components of DIKW refer to a class of no less than five models, as a function of whether data, information, and knowledge are each conceived of as subjective, objective (what Zins terms, "universal" or "collective") or both. In Zins' usage, subjective and objective "are not related to arbitrariness and truthfulness, which are usually attached to the concepts of subjective knowledge and objective knowledge". Information science, Zins argues, studies data and information, but not knowledge, as knowledge is an internal (subjective) rather than an external (universal–collective) phenomenon.[2]
Wisdom[edit]
Although commonly included as a level in DIKW, "there is limited reference to wisdom"[1] in discussions of the model. Boiko appears to have dismissed wisdom, characterizing it as "non-material".[8][29]
Ackoff refers to understanding as an "appreciation of 'why'", and wisdom as "evaluated understanding", where understanding is posited as a discrete layer between knowledge and wisdom.[8][18][31] Adler had previously also included an understanding tier,[8][20][21] while other authors have depicted understanding as a dimension in relation to which DIKW is plotted.[6][31]
Cleveland described wisdom simply as "integrated knowledge—information made super-useful".[8][14] Other authors have characterized wisdom as "knowing the right things to do"[6] and "the ability to make sound judgments and decisions apparently without thought".[8][28]
Wisdom involves using knowledge for the greater good. Because of this, wisdom is deeper and more uniquely human. It requires a sense of good and bad, right and wrong, ethical and unethical.
Zeleny described wisdom as "know-why",[17] 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").[4] According to Nikhil Sharma, Zeleny has argued for a tier to the model beyond wisdom, termed "enlightenment".[15]