explicit knowledge

{{Short description|Type of knowledge}}

File:Wikipedia_and_Encyclopædia_Britannica.jpg showing the same article.]]

Explicit knowledge (also expressive knowledge)L. C. Jain, Virtual Environments for Teaching and Learning, World Scientific, 2002, p. 179. is knowledge that can be readily articulated, conceptualized, codified, formalized, stored and accessed.{{cite journal|last1=Helie|first1=Sebastien|last2=Sun|first2=Ron|title=Incubation, Insight, and Creative Problem Solving: A Unified Theory and a Connectionist Model|journal=Psychological Review|date=2010|volume=117|issue=3|pages=994–1024|doi=10.1037/a0019532|pmid=20658861|url=http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/folder-files/helie-sun-psycrev2010-f.pdf|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-date=2019-07-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712082025/http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/folder-files/helie-sun-psycrev2010-f.pdf|url-status=dead}} It can be expressed in formal and systematical language and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, specifications, manuals and such like.{{Cite journal |last=Nonaka |first=Ikujiro |last2=Toyama |first2=Ryoko |last3=Konno |first3=Noboru |date=2000 |title=SECI, Ba and Leadership: a Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0024-6301(99)00115-6 |journal=Long Range Planning |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=5–34 |doi=10.1016/s0024-6301(99)00115-6 |issn=0024-6301|url-access=subscription }} It is easily codifiable and thus transmittable without loss of integrity once the syntactical rules required for deciphering it are known.{{Cite journal |last=Kogut |first=Bruce |last2=Zander |first2=Udo |date=1992 |title=Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.3.3.383 |journal=Organization Science |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=383–397 |doi=10.1287/orsc.3.3.383 |issn=1047-7039|url-access=subscription }} Most forms of explicit knowledge can be stored in certain media. Explicit knowledge is often seen as complementary to tacit knowledge.{{cite journal|last1= Ikujiro |first1= Nonaka |title= The Knowledge-Creating Company |journal= Harvard Business Review |date= 2007 }}

Explicit knowledge is often seen as easier to formalize compared to tacit knowledge, but both are necessary for knowledge creation. Nonaka and Takeuchi introduce the SECI model as a way for knowledge creation. The SECI model involves four stages where explicit and tacit knowledge interact with each other in a spiral manner. The four stages are:

• Socialization, from tacit to tacit knowledge
• Externalization, from tacit to explicit knowledge
• Combination, from explicit to explicit knowledge
• Internalization, from explicit to tacit knowledge.{{cite journal|last1= Ikujiro |first1= Nonaka |title= The Knowledge-Creating Company |journal= Harvard Business Review |date= 2007 }}

== Examples ==

The information contained in encyclopedias and textbooks are good examples of explicit knowledge, specifically declarative knowledge. The most common forms of explicit knowledge are manuals, documents, procedures, and how-to videos. Knowledge also can be audio-visual. Engineering works and product design can be seen as other forms of explicit knowledge where human skills, motives and knowledge are externalized.

In the scholarly literature, papers presenting an up-to-date "systemization of knowledge" (SoK) on a particular area of research are valuable resources for PhD students.{{Cite web |title=Systemization of Knowledge (SoK) Papers |url=https://www.jsys.org/type_SoK/ |access-date=2023-02-23 |website=www.jsys.org}}