Knowledge: 'Creation' or 'Discovery'

guydm — Mon, 2 Oct 2006 12:44:48 -0700

These comments are cross-posted in dotguy

Is knowledge 'created' or is knowledge 'discovered'?

Until most recently I considered this merely a point of semantics. I used to stand firmly in the 'knowledge is created' camp. And I think mostly I still do.

With respect to the role that information technology has in the process of creation, we first articulated that during the days of preaching the gospel of the Net, in teaching that the Connection to Information, enhanced by Communication, led to the creation of Knowledge. Today, that process might be further refined by the addition of 'Collaboration' somewhere in the chain, perhaps between Communication and Knowledge. Again, for my money and reality, this seems to be a fairly solid approach, however, recently I came upon a reference to Jorge Luis Borges' "Library of Babel" that certainly lends some credence to the 'knowledge is discovered' camp, if only from a philosophical standpoint. And as we draw the continuum and historical timeline of the evolution of the Learning Platform at ASU, I think perhaps this is a notion that we may want to further consider and include.

The role that technology plays in the creation and discovery of knowledge is evolving. Communication technology has historically been merely a vehicle of transmission, enabling messages and knowledge to be transferred from one source to another, where individual and isolated reflection and contemplation eventually led to the creation of new knowledge through inductive and deductive reasoning. Presently, the value of technologically enhanced communication is emerging as a powerful medium of collaboration and discovery, enabling synergistic relationships of knowledge creation to form and evolve rapidly and without bounds of time or distance. Dynamic collaboration, enhanced and enabled by new communication technologies, that reach across multiple disciplines, nations, and cultures, foster the exchange of ideas, principals, theories, and knowledge rapidly and on an ever increasing scale. New knowledge is being created faster and in greater volumes today, than in any previous time in history. The pace and volume continue to increase exponentially.

Today, technology plays a critical role in enabling us to create new knowledge. Additionally, technology is also becoming increasingly necessary as a means of merely navigating through the vast quantities of knowledge that we collectively create. As we extract each individual volume from the "Library of Babel" and place it in our own collection of knowledge, the difference between that which is known and the unknown becomes ever smaller. At some point, the quantity of what is known becomes so great as to represent a whole new frontier of unknown for the generations that follow. New tools and new technologies will need to evolve to both store and sort knowledge for current generations, but also to preserve it and present it for the future. The relationship between creation and discovery, and the role that technology has in the processes of each is an ever evolving entity, and each have bearing on the notions of teaching, learning, and research today and tomorrow.

Past: Technology/Media used in the Transmission/Transfer of Knowledge (Print, Theater, Film, Radio, Television, Internet 1.0)
Emerging Present:</strong> Technology as a Facilitating/Enabling Medium in the Collaborative Knowledge Creation process (Digial Asset "Knowledge" remixes, Web 2.x, Ubiquitious Connectivity)
Possible Future:</strong> Technology as a Guide through the vast Library of Babel (Genetic Algorithms, Google Wetware, etc.)

ASU, (alt^I) - Term

Knowledge: 'Creation' or 'Discovery'