Data warehousing LO8587

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Sun, 21 Jul 1996 07:57:50 +0000

Replying to LO8577 --

David raises some interesting questions. They get at the heart of what
is, in my opinion, the mistake that pervades the way we approach
information and knowledge.

The problem with the metaphor "data warehousing" is that it continues the
deep misunderstanding of information and knowledge as though they could
exist as material "bits". It may be accurate for "data" but it's not the
central concern in most cases.

That is, we don't want more data, we want more information, knowledge and
wisdom. (We don't have information overload - by definition of
information - we have data overload. Or merely noise.)

David appears to be contrasting or at least questioning the relationship
of "warehousing" to organisation of data. Organisation brought to data (or
data brought to organisation) creates information and allows for
development of knowledge and wisdom.

Is a "mad monk's library" inferior to that of an ordered order?

It depends on what you want. As David asks:
> Question: If organisation is the medium of continuous improvement, then is
> disorganisation the medium of continuous innovation?

It's all organisation. The question is, "What is the organisation and
what is it most useful for?" The WWW may be unorganised at the level of
its totality (and maybe not) but there are many organisations within it
and these organisations appear to have no limit of possibility. That is
the problem as well as the glory.

We cannot explore an unlimited space of possibility. So we must make
choices. We must master the techniques of exploration of the territory of
possibility. These techniques are very different than those required to
explore a space which has been mapped. The purposes and results of each
will be very different.

I think this is what David was pointing to by his question. My specific
response to his question is:

A particular form of organisation which focuses on permanence (and often
the physical) and moves in the linear cause & effect of classical science
is the domain of continuous improvement.

A different form, which from a classical science (and ordinary culture
standpoint) many call disorganised, that moves in an emergent cause &
effect way is the domain of innovation.

The truly unorganised is random and not much use, in that state, for
anything. Whether or not such a state even exists or is merely a
reflection of our lack of ability to understand is an interesting
question.

Michael McMaster : Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk
book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
Intelligence is the underlying organisational principle
of the universe. Heraclitus

-- 

Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>