Hierarquia DIKW

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T.S. Eliot, "The Rock", Faber & Faber 1934.

The origin of the DIKW (Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom) hierarchy is ably presented in Sharma (2004) highlighting the first appearances of the hierarchy in both the Knowledge Management and Information Science domains.

Although references to the DIKW hierarchy were made by both Zeleny (1987) and Ackoff (1989) in the Knowledge Management domain, the closest reference to T.S. Eliot’s original hinting appeared in a Futurist article by Cleveland (1982).


Conspicuously, data was not in the original information, knowledge, wisdom hierarchy suggested by Eliot or Harland but was added by others. Since then others have also proposed extensions to the ‘top half’ of the hierarchy; Ackoff includes understanding (and some use intelligence) as its own level before attaining wisdom, and Zeleny proposes enlightenment as the final stage beyond wisdom.

Extraído de The Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom Chain: The Metaphorical link