What is Knowledge:

Knowledge and its descriptive formula Knowledge = Theory + Information, is a core principle underlying the development of Knowledge Foundations’ semantic technology. Knowledge is an expression of knowingness that results through the interaction between theory and information. Both theory and information are dependent upon the other to be an expression of knowledge. Knowledge can be captured from documents, drawings, illustrations, forms, spreadsheets, books, contracts, policies and procedures, reference sources and from the very minds of employees, consultants and subject experts.

• Theory represents more than 85% of knowledge. It is the element that gives meaning to concepts, ideas and thought patterns, the conditional reasoning power of humans that answers our How, Why and What if questions. Most of the theories that shape our behavior related to social relationships, for example, were conceived 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, passed down through the generations. Much of our financial theories, such as "buy low, sell high," or "it is better to have it sooner than later," or "the principles of interest," were conceived and put into use by our ancestors millenniums ago. An example of a modern theory is the wire tap,conceived by Chester Gould in 1948. Circumstances and situations may change rapidly, but the underlying theory that gives them meaning, do not. Theory is “A’ Priori” (known before the fact). It is learned through enculturation, education and life experience and shapes our behavior and the way we assess our world. Well-justified theories such as those proven most successful by science, engineering, business and so forth, are most valuable. Theory considers all possibilities. Learn once, use forever. Theory
  
  
• Information represents approximately 15% of knowledge content and is the instances of anything that exists in time and space that can be processed by the senses, measured and counted. Information is the facts of circumstances and situations, which is “A’ Posteriori”, known after the fact. The Who, What, When, Where and How much of circumstances and situations. Information technologies, like applications and databases, store facts but require people to use the theory in their brains to interpret those facts. Knowledge Foundations' semantic systems make sense of these facts on their own.
  
  

Types of Organizational Knowledge:
KF has defined five primary catagories of knowledge. Catagories that apply to any kind of organization, and across all industries and intellectual disciplines.

• Reference Dominance - the capture, storage and retrieval of every form of knowledge such as the content from documents, drawings, illustrations, forms, spreadsheets, books, contracts, published policies and procedures, reference sources, and the tacit knowledge that is carried around in the heads of employees, consultants and subject experts. For the first time, organizations can own the knowledge that employees and consultants carry around in their heads.
  
  
• Knowledge Superiority -aggregrations of knowledge content that include every relevant perspective (CEO, CFO, CIO, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Service) required to answer the most logical, strategic, precise, legally defensible or best practice questions within seconds - no matter how complex the knowledge domain. It is like having 20/20 hindsight at the time a decision is made. Rational outcomes and consequences are known before action is taken.
  
  
• Knowledge Transfers - intuitive, self-service, on-the-fly training that succinctly answers common and complex questions like a manager or subject expert would. Allows organizations to seamlessly pass along the mastery of complex operations without incurring massive training expense.
  
  
• Expert Replacement - tools and knowledge engineering methodologies to create intuitive, self-service, on-the-fly Professional to Para-professional solutions such as answers, out-comes, expected impacts, unexpected impacts, alternatives, strategies, tactics, procedures, diagnosis and anything else related to a specific discipline (attorney to paralegal transfers, doctor to medical practitioner transfers, etc.).
  
  
• Knowledge-based computing - machines that reason like humans with the knowledge of an enterprise. Machines that are self-aware, self-organizing, self-transcending that solve problems and adapt. Machines that are equal co-creators with people.
  
  

Enduring Value of Knowledge:
Theories do not change for hundreds and even thousands of years. The theory "buy low, sell high" is at least 30,000 to 40,000 years old. Once captured, owners can expect their knowledge assets can evolve with the organization, and have a useful life well beyond current organization or project expectancies. Additionally, because captured knowledge (theory related to specific domains such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, organizational management, etc.) can be stored in "knowledge stacks", it can be sold, bought or licensed. Knowledge stacks can be integrated with existing knowledgebases to accommodate additional knowledge capacity.

Economics of Knowledge Asset Ownership:
KFI’s semantic tools have proven to be an economically sound investment for both standard and complex operation/project situations where “time to decision” is crucial. Especially when decision logic requires justification. Knowledge technology provides “decision path” answers to complex questions within seconds compared to the time it might take a team of costly employees or consultants - hours, days, weeks or even months to answer.

Likewise, in organization or project environments where the rotation of personnel is the norm, semantic technologies can significantly improve the “continuity” of operational efficiency and integrity by providing unbiased information and insight to those who are new to an organization or project. Under mission critical conditions, there is no substitute for continuity of knowledge. If it is not captured, it could be lost forever.

How Does A Declaraltive KnowledgeBase Work:
Declarative semantic technology mimics the human reasoning process, but provides the user with a far richer theory environment to use. A knowledgebase contains the full scope and detail of a subject domain. This includes the “constraints” such as organization mission, goals and objectives that make decision processing relevant and meaningful. It is like having an organization's most knowledgeable authorities, and in fact, the world’s most revered authorities on any subject, available to answer the simplist or most complex questions.

Because KFI’s semantic tools are “vector” based and have the capacity to reason along multiple reasoning paths, starting at any point within the knowledgebase. That starting point is found using a "query-navigate" method that sidesteps search and takes the user directly to the concept source of highest interest. At the navigation point within the knowledgebase web of concepts and theory, lies multiple answer path possibilities to include unexpected consequences or results that the user might never consider. KFI’s tools provide its users with magnitudes of reasoning power that is beyond super computers.

"How" questions are answsered by moving forward along an intuitive reasoning path. "Why" questions are answer by back-tracking along the "how" reasoning path, and “what if” reasoning is accomplished by following converging paths that may contain unexpected consequences and insights. This functionality is available to both people and machines.

Dr. Ballard explains this phenomenon in greater depth. “Our development experience proves that most alternative rational paths "emerge" in the accidental crossings of many paths piled on many others. This massive cross linking exposes new routes for getting from "unplanned for" situations to "unimagined" solutions. That is why KFI's knowledge capture process models absolutely everything within a fruitful knowledge source. Every "interesting excursion" may well turn into a breakthrough opportunity as rational path webs pile upon rational path webs. Perhaps no other mode of knowledge aggregation has such a competitive production efficiency. We may reasonably surmise that human behaviors grow fastest from this exploratory play and group interactive adaptation.”

© Knowledge Foundations 2004 - 2005

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