Abstract:

Integrating ideas from the fields of systems science and knowledge science, the book shows how to create and justify various pieces of knowledge systemically. Written by one of the foremost experts in this area, the book presents approaches for the systemic integration of knowledge, which can help solve complex problems today and in the future. After discussing issues of systemic knowledge synthesis, the book emphasizes the importance of the human dimension in problem solving and introduces a new integrated systems approach called the informed systems approach. It also covers mathematical information aggregation techniques. Moving on to knowledge science concepts and approaches, the book discusses organizational and academic knowledge creation models and considers a sociological interpretation of the knowledge integration system. To support knowledge science as an academic discipline, the author explains how to justify knowledge and summarizes a theory of knowledge synthesis (construction) systems. Through case studies of technology archiving, academic research evaluation, demand forecasting of perishable foods, and other real-world concerns, this book demonstrates the use of new knowledge-based methods in addressing a variety of complex issues. It also illustrates the importance of acquiring a systemic view through trained intuition.