We saw in an earlier post, the importance for information seekers to provide knowledge results rather than bits of disconnected information. Connect things to give a common thread to your information results (and your search process). Make the context, the relationships, patterns, and principles between your different pieces of information as explicit as possible. Give the intentions behind each, the WHY, and justify why you are giving these results. Your audience understands when, where, why, and from whom each is sourced.
We quoted Russel L. Ackoff well known DIKW (Data – Information – Knowledge – Wisdom) pyramid, which links together not only information and knowledge but also data and wisdom. Let us be more concrete and take a couple of easy examples to understand what each means.
| Data | Information | Knowledge | Wisdom/Intelligence/Decision |
| 8000 | 8000 meters | Humans have difficulty breathing at altitudes of 8000 meters (and above). | One better takes some oxygen to reach the top of Everest. |
| 100 | 100 kilos | An average human is unable to carry 100 kilograms. | Obtain assistance from someone to carry objects weighing 100 kilograms (or more) |
| #ff0000 (this is the red color code) | Red | In most countries on the roads, red lights mean cars must stop. | I better stop my car, or I’ll get into an accident |
Through these basic examples, we see that knowledge is information with added value. Knowledge combines information with experience and insights. If you add the source, date, and origin, it becomes contextualized and allows the audience to use your results « knowingly », in order to take the right decision/s.
Let us stop a minute and connect this to the object of the search: the re/search question/s.
In a 2012 YouTube, Alpheus Bingham, the founder of InnoCentive, an interesting think-tank seeking to foster innovation, presented “Flash of Genius” and started with the DIKW pyramid. He highlighted the amazing data search capabilities of today. Relationships between data, which makes information, we do it relatively well (with the contribution of artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others), but patterns and principles, i.e. what make knowledge and wisdom respectively, we are still far away. Even if some impressive changes are on their way in early 2023; ChatGPT from OpenAI is one such example
For Bingham, one central element is the search question(s)that shape the research process. To support his argument, he quotes Archimedes’ difficulties to calculate the density of an irregular object (a gold crown) until he lowered his body in his bath and found the way to measure the density of the gold crown. Why hadn’t he found it earlier? Bingham argues that the question had not been posed previously to him in such a clearly organized way. Posing the question within the context of the bath made it take a new significance. Thomas J. Watson, IBM founder highlighted the same thing “the ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer”.
According to Bingham, both the question and the context are crucial to the “finding information”process, especially when one researches difficult issues, such as the mind and the future. He concludes that knowing how to ask important questions will change the future.
In an information search, the re/search question/s, when correctly identified and reformulated provide half or more of the results. My experience researching many subjects for various decades has taught me to take my time in the beginning, to understand what the issue to research is, what my audience/requestor needs, each term, concept, and the underlying motives.
For complex in-depth requests, I usually hand rewrite the request on a new piece of paper, organizing each aspect as clearly as possible with colors, highlights, etc, and making sure I have understood what is needed.
Very often, I go back to my requestor, asking him/her to explain what s/he has in the back of her/her mind: to understand the intentions behind a request for information, to have some answers to the “why” question, also to have an idea of the expected results.
When you work on your own research project, do the same. What are the motives behind the research, what are the purpose/s, and what is expected? Don’t restrain yourself by possible limits. At this stage, be bold. Ask yourself: in an ideal world, how the results of the research will be used, to achieve what, and to take which decision/s? This little brainstorming will greatly help you to focus your re/search, giving it a common thread. If you don’t have an audience, imagine one, it will help.
And you should resist the urge to jump on Google right away, even if you do perform a quick search of the terms and concepts of the request to ensure that your understanding is as correct as possible.
Making the request as explicit as possible, before starting the search journey is probably one of the most important recommendations of the “Knowledge is Power” series. Searching for information is much more than the search itself. The subject, the underlying motives, and the results are an integral part of the process. Integrating them into the process will allow you to re/search in a much more focused and efficient way. It is not a waste of time to carefully work out your research questions before starting to search for the information. Acting upstream ensures that the downstream activities are targeted and in synch.
More on the information searcher’s tools & techniques in our “Knowledge is Power” series, especially the second Handbook, “Information Research Techniques” available on most Amazon marketplaces.
