The noetic prism as a theoretical framework for contextualisation

In this position paper we outline the concept of the noetic prism (Pigott and Hobbs, 2001), and show how it suggests a useful framework for modelling context in managing knowledge. This paper draws substantially on a more detailed treatment of the paradigm of Pigott, Hobbs and Gammack (in prep). The power of noetic prism as framework lies in its generic and principled nature, and gives constructs with which to theorise about the issues familiar in the field, without being grounded only in particular case studies of practice. Reconceptualising the terms data, information and knowledge, it presents a radical departure from the conventional view of the field by removing ontological status from artefacts to active process outcomes. The data, information and knowledge of an organisation are all late-binding, purpose-determined aspects of a single body of material, which we term its noetica. Particular bindings are brought out through its being analysed and modelled using various tools and formalisms. This view suggests the homogeneity of the resource, whose status becomes determined by active usage, rather than storage descriptions. This is supported in Clancey's (1997), major review of knowledge representation, which argues that knowledge is irreducibly based in human semantic spaces that can not be considered simply a property derivable from disembodied associations.