How do we define knowledge?

In the context of information systems and AI, knowledge is best defined to us as access to information, or the procedure of its retrieval, rather than its storage.

In that context, the storage of information is referred to as a knowledge base.

Knowledge can be defined in many ways. In a scientific way such as above, or in a common way, where knowledge can take two meanings: what ones know and the people ones know. In simpler, or lazy, terms, knowledge is what we know and often who we know.

Indeed, in the context of society or relatively large organizations, the access to information is granted by systems and people. If we cannot find information within a system, we’ll tend to search it within our direct entourage, meaning the people around us.

Finally, knowledge is a hard word to define that can take various meanings depending on the context and the point of view. The reason being that there are many aspects to take into consideration when talking about knowledge.