Knowl. Org. 46(2019)No.1 M. Frické. The Knowledge Pyramid: the DIKW Hierarchy 33 The Knowledge Pyramid: the DIKW Hierarchy † Martin Frické University of Arizona, School of Information, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A. <mfricke@u.arizona.edu> Martin Frické is a full professor in the School of Information, at the University of Arizona, in the United States. His long-term research interest involves the intersection between the organization of knowledge, logic, and pro- cessing by computer. Currently he is working on blockchain technologies and their relation to distributed trust and recorded information. Frické, Martin. 2019. “The Knowledge Pyramid: the DIKW Hierarchy.” Knowledge Organization 46(1): 33-46. 93 references. DOI:10.5771/0943-7444-2019-1-33. Abstract: The data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy or pyramid is a model or construct that has been used widely within information science and knowledge management. The nature of the pyramid is explained, and its historical origin is described. The conceptual components of the pyramid—i.e. data, infor- mation, knowledge, and wisdom—are given brief explication. Some modern developments, criticisms, and re- buttals of the DIKW Pyramid are described. Nowadays, the DIKW Pyramid would generally be considered to be unsatisfactory. The arguments and reasoning behind this conclusion are sketched. It is claimed that two more concepts, document and sign, are necessary to provide a fruitful theoretical frame for knowledge organization. Received: 5 June 2018; Accepted 13 July 2018 Keywords: knowledge, wisdom, data, information † Derived from the article of similar title in the ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization, Version 1.0; published 2018-06-07, last edited 2018-06-13. Article category: Theoretical concepts. The encyclopedia entry uses some passages of background material previously available as part of Frické (2009). The editor of IEKO, Birger Hjørland, has contributed with modifications of the original manuscript, including modifications that are substantial. 1.0 Introduction Seeing information in terms of a data-information- knowledge–wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy or pyramid is com- monplace (Bates 2005; Frické 2009; Rowley 2007; Zins 2007; Baskarada and Koronios 2013). Figure 1. The Knowledge Pyramid. As Rowley writes (2007, 163) The hierarchy referred to variously as the “Knowledge Hierarchy,” the “Information Hierarchy” and the “Knowledge Pyramid” is one of the fundamental, widely recognized and ‘taken-for-granted’ models in the information and knowledge literatures. It is often quoted, or used implicitly, in definitions of data, infor- mation and knowledge in the information manage- ment, information systems and knowledge manage- ment literature. Rowley (2007) offers a detailed exegesis of just how wide- spread this view is, and of the similarities and differences between the writers’ statements. There also have been wide- ranging discussions on the JESSE listserv (Wallace 2005) and on the Knowledge Management for Development Wiki (KM4DEV 2012). Further, Zins (2007) has surveyed forty- five leading researchers on the topic and produced 130 def- initions of data, information, and knowledge. One issue that arises immediately is that there is not a single concept of information, nor, for that matter, a single