This is the summary of my article which provides an introduction to the concept of knowledge structures.
Article scope: in this article I introduce the concept of knowledge structures and, in particular, how it relates to non-fiction books.
Why the concept of knowledge structures is important: there are a limited number of standard structures that we use to understand the world and to order our knowledge. I call these structures ‘knowledge structures’. Having an explicit concept of knowledge structures allows us to create an x-ray of underlying order (and sometimes disorder) that we might otherwise miss.
What is a knowledge structure?: knowledge structures can be defined as ‘arrangements of knowledge elements’. Knowledge elements can, in turn, be defined as ‘the constituent parts of what we are thinking about or discussing’.
The different categories and types of knowledge structures: knowledge structures can be divided into three categories:
- Space/time: knowledge structures related to space and/or time
- Non-space/time: knowledge structures that aren’t related to space or time
- Meta: the only meta knowledge structure is the summary. It is not a knowledge structure in itself but represents a condensed version of other knowledge structures.
What differentiates knowledge structures?: knowledge structures are differentiated from each other by the nature of the relationship between the individual knowledge elements that make them up.
Key distinctions: there are two key distinctions:
- Organising/supporting knowledge structures: organising structures are the more important knowledge structures that organise and give meaning to the lower-level supporting structures
- Organisation/content knowledge structures: knowledge structures can relate both to the organisation of a book and to the content of a book.
