How can you measure knowledge?  I'm basically seeking tools and
techniques including methods (tangible and applied ways) to identify
types of knowledge and how to effectively (in a speedy simple and high
quality manner) quantify knowledge.

Findings: 
Many of the findings I have found are very academic and theoretical in
nature with little true tangle depth to the subject.  Therefore I?m
seeking a tangible and simple method to quantity knowledge.  Little
definition has been given in the type of knowledge or categories of
type of knowledge in a comprehensive manner.

Expected answer:
A comprehensive multi-perspective view on simple well defined and
systematic methods, tools and/or techniques used to measure knowledge.
 I?m not seeking overly academic, theatrical and over lengthy and
inclusive sources that really lead to no tools or tangible ways to
measure knowledge.   I expect steps or processes in actually being
able to measure knowledge and anything related to this.  The
measurement tools I?m seeking are to be assessed in such away that is
realistic can be implemented and is compliant in the sense of taking
people into account so therefore nothing overly complicated and pie in
the sky fancy dancy things that just sound and look nice but don?t
have much substance to it.   Expect all sources to be sighted with
processes, formulas and any aids that can help in this issue.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 27 Dec 2005 07:56 PST

Can you give us a bit more context for your question?

What sort of knowledge are you looking to measure?

My kids get tested on their 'knowledge' in school by having tests on
the subjects they study.  Is that what you have in mind?

Let us know a bit more about your interests here.

Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by inspirationalhope-ga on 27 Dec 2005 20:13 PST

Fair comments!
In this case I'm seeking to measure the knowledge within an
organization.  The answer I seek is more of a high level framework
style answers VS only applicable to say for example your kids at
school.  The point is that I would like to look a bit deeper at
measuring the knowledge within an organization.
The Perspective I take on this to further clarity the context is the
way I see it is it is in layers that finally lead to a knowledge
measurement.  It starts from the micro level to the macro level.

1. Competencies = abilities + skills 
2. People = competencies
3. Knowledge = people

This is just an example I'm not sure what is out there.  However, it
is people's competencies that lead to the knowledge of an organization
as people's knowledge is that drives innovation forming intellectual
assets that lead to value creation for the organization.  This falls
into some areas of Intellectual assets etc...  However I need to look
at knowledge on its own as it is core drive behind it all. Without
knowledge it cannot drive innovation leading to intellectual capital.

Going back to my point above is that I'm seeking a framework (simple
and applicable as tangible as possible) that can be applied whether
you?re measuring at a school or in an organization.  However, for
simplification and clarity let?s zoom into a corporate level
environment.

ALSO are there any discussion groups or where can I find more
likeminded people who are interested in this subject such as yourself.

Thanks

Your question is a very difficult one, so don't expect a simple or
precise answer. As you probably know, there is a very highly developed
and mathematically rigorous theory of "information", not to be
confused with knowledge. For example, you can accurately measure how
much information a computer can store. It is measured in bits or
bytes. In fact the term "bit" (binary digit) was coined by Claude
Shannon in his papers on information theory. Similarly, we know very
precisely how much information could be stored in the human genome (2
bits for each nucleotide, or slightly less than 1 gigabyte).

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to measure how much information
(to say nothing of knowledge) is stored in a computer. For example, if
the computer's memory is filled with all zeros, or with the digits of
pi, I have very little information, since I could instead store a
short computer program that could compute the necessary digits to
stuff into the computer's memory.

So far as I know, there is no mathematically precise definition of
knowledge, which connotes a certain utility that goes beyond mere
information. It sounds much harder to quantify, so I wish you luck in
your quest.

Good comment.
When it comes to quantifying knowledge, we have to agree on a
definition of the word  - or definitions of the types of knowledge to
be measured, since Inspirationalhope has mentioned that.  Just for
fun, search Google with
define:knowledge   and the choice of definitions becomes apparent.

Is the quantity of knowledge greater because more people know
something?  I rather doubt it.  What about ephemeral bits of
knowledge, things one knows immediately in a situation but which are
otherwise of no interest?  Or are we looking only at recorded
knowledge  - encyclopedic knowledge (rather what Google is all about)?

Even though the question seems unanswerable, please don't cancel it,
the subject is very intriguing and close to our hearts.
Regards, Myoarin

Well it is definitely interesting and something that requires the
exchange of knowledge between likeminded people who are interested in
the subject.  Let?s keep the comments rolling.  Meanwhile is there any
where on the Internet that people discussion in any forms this subject
to exchange information on knowledge management or intellectual
capital management?

It seems the knowledge in question only becomes observable when it's
being used.  Therefore, reality is it's measurement.  A simulation of
reality may be a viable method of testing.

1. From an organization's point of view first we should separte
relevant and irrelevant knowledge. For example for a company that
produces computers, knowledge of how to raise chickens is not very
useful. So for a particular organization only relevant knowledge
matters and only relevant knowledge should be measured.

2. Then we should divide the organization by knowledge divisions. This
could go in line with departments eg. HR, Finance, Marketing etc.
Again knowledge relevant for each of these division is unique.

3. For the individuals within a department relevant knowledge is a
measure of practical experience and qualification. To keep it really
simple and applicable I would measure each individuals knowledge as a
product of relevant experience factor and relevant qualification
factor.

3.a. Relevant experience factor could just be the number of years of
experience in the related field. To make it more sohisticated you
could introduce the performance rating of the person to add weight to
the good / not so good experience.

3.b. Relevent qualification factor could also be number of years of
training/education in the relevant field. However to make it more
sophisticated you could add weights to differentiate the qualifactions
and weights based on the grades scored by the individual in that
degree/certification.

For a department the knowledge factor would be the sum of all
knowledge of its individuals.

Hope it helps.

There is an obsverable state to which knowledge can be measured within
an organization however the question is how to do it.  I can see the
value in how to identify the area's and build up the layers of
measurement however the question of what is the most effective way to
measure the knowledge and in a realistic sense as well.

Creating area's of knowledge measurement by divsion and type makes
sense which leads to me to another question of where can we find or
how can we create a list of types of knowledge and an inventory list
of knowledge.

HOW CAN WE GET INTO A BRAINSTORMING SESSION ONLINE where we can
exchnae some ideas on this matter.

Thanks

I understand that the request is about "practicality" not about
abstract issues. However, this all argument is about epistemology or
the science of knowledge. My dear friend, you want to solve a problem
with 30 bucks that thousands of philosophers have struggled for
centuries. In addition, recently, there is a new approach in relation
to corporate knowledge that somehow made your research even more
complicated: lateral thinking. In short, knowledge is a more relative
concept that cannot be classified since all too often non-professional
views can produce innovativity that is outstandingly original in
relation to professionals in the field.

The best way to measure the breadth and depth of organizational
knowledge is through the administration and analysis of a combination
of the instruments available for this purpose.

The proper mix of instruments is determined by first identifying the
specific type(s) of knowledge the organization is measuring. Once this
quantifiable metric is established, you can administer a battery to
measure:
?	Logic
?	Reasoning
?	Problem Solving Skills
?	Adaptability
?	Communication Skills
?	Personality Traits
?	Management ability
?	Specific Skill Abilities
and a host of other areas.

This data can provide an overview of an organization?s abilities, as
well as a component to component comparison. With it you can make
better hiring decisions, better determine the amount and type of
training the organization requires, and produce effective strategic
plans.

You can learn more at www.johncelloconsulting.com

This company has done a brilliant job with knowledge management. See
http://www.knowledge-nurture.com/

It is Buckman Laboratories and a former client of mine for unrelated systems work.

To financially value the potential impact of knowledge on
productivity, output, revenue, sustainability, and earnings you can
apply intangible accounting and international intangible standards.

Intangible Accounting was developed through the International
Intangible Management Standards Institute (www.standardsinstitute.org)
and I read recently that they will be releasing software that will
allow knowledge, relationships, and intangible processes to be audited
and financially valued according to their standards.   From what I
understand, this will be the first software of its type.  The
Institute is going to allow the software to be downloaded and used by
individuals and companies free of charge, although certain functions
will be disabled.

You might also like to read the book "Intangible Management - Tools
for Solving the Accounting and Management Crisis, Ken Standfield,
Academic Press, 2002" and "Intangible Finance Standards - Advances in
Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis, Ken Standfield, Academic
Press, 2005".   Both of these books give excellent insight into the
required new rules to correctly identify, classify, measure, report
and financially value the impact of knowledge and relationships on
productivity, revenue, and value.

Hope it helps, Ken

Very good sources I shall go take a look at them. A very good area to
expand on is the financial perspective which is the final outcome that
an organization will be seeking to measure end of the day.  Anymore
information relating to measuring and more importantly valuing
intangible assets will be helpful.