Sunday, July 21, 2013

Sheddroff's Continuum of Information Processing

Nathan Shedroff puts the overarching experience of learning into four distinct but overlapping processes.  I thought this approach was very valuable for the information professional, as it is extremely objective and quite true.  I would have added the label "teaching" to the third circle, because that is what "conversation, storytelling, and integration" mean to me.  However, from Shedroff's position, I can see that would be personalizing his explanation a bit too much.  He is writing for the "everyman", and the word "teaching" in many cultures carries with it a feeling of responsibility for the education of our progeny or youth in general.

There is another component that I would add to Shedroff's diagram, and that is "action".  I would add that between the third and fourth circles, or possibly as a fifth circle.  To me, knowledge without acting upon it cannot be wisdom; even if it is a minor matter such as knowing that 2 + 2 = 4.  If I know this, and I'm buying something, then what good is my knowledge of this fact, if I have only $4 but buy three items at $2 each?  That is not wisdom; it is denial of my knowledge.  Wisdom, to me, lies in the practice of what knowledge you have.

Shedroff does address this quite briefly in his statement "....wisdom is an ultimate level of understanding in which we understand enough patterns that we can use them for ourselves in novel ways and situations...." (Shedroff, p 2 of class pdf; emphasis mine)  I just feel that more weight needs to be put on the action portion.

This is a great way to explain these concepts in a business or organization setting, however.  I plan on using this as a simple explanation of what a knowledge architect does.

Teresa

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