A framework for thinking that’s building upon the traditional DIKW model. The key distinction: understanding isn’t a layer you reach and then move on from, it’s the process that enables transformation between layers.

• Data: Raw, unprocessed symbols. Numbers, characters, signals. No meaning attacheOur “wird.
• Information: Data with context, relevance, purpose, and organization.
• Knowledge: Information applied through agentic action. Synthesis, decision-making, building mental models.
• Wisdom: Knowledge tempered through time, trial, and error. Developing judgment, ethics, and long-term perspective.

Origins

T.S. Eliot (1934) planted the seed in The Rock: “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” Eliot was lamenting decay, not mapping ascent—the original articulation pointed down, not up.

Milan Zeleny (1987) formalized the hierarchy, mapping each layer to a cognitive mode: know-nothing, know-what, know-how, know-why.

Anthony Debons, Esther Horne, and Scott Cronenweth (1988) introduced the Knowledge Spectrum—the first graphical representation. The pyramid visualization everyone pictures came from them.

Russell Ackoff (1989) published From Data to Wisdom, which became the canonical reference. But Ackoff actually proposed five tiers, adding Understanding between Knowledge and Wisdom. The field cited him but quietly dropped his contribution.