Addressing the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom hierarchy by Ackoff (or Eliot? or Zappa?), David Weinberger argues that “knowledge is not a result merely of filtering or algorithms. It results from a far more complex process that is social, goal-driven, contextual, and culturally-bound.”
Is DIKW a simplification? Yes. An over-simplification? Maybe. But that’s what computer scientists, as Mr. Weinberger argues, crave — drilling down into the information, filtering out the extra, and refining the unnecessary to reach the real raison d’etre.
Relating text editors to The Lord of the Rings… Clever…