Epistecybernetics: A New Way of Thinking About Knowledge; Its Structure, Storage, and Retrieval
The UNR the Ideal Knowledge Tool
Think about your finding any knowledge in the World by carrying in you pocket a digital storage device the size of a lipstick
that could be plugged into a computer USB port and within 30 seconds & with less than 12 key strokes you could retrieve
any essential knowledge element that man has stored in a Knowledge Register. I believe that is possible and I and my
colleagues hope to place the pilot structure of knowledge onto a Jump Drive in the fall of 2004.
In 1947, I took my final examinations for grade school graduation and I prayed to God to supply me with the knowledge of
arithmetic, correct English usage and American history facts. Sometimes correct answers popped into my head;
unfortunately. For my grades many specific requests were unanswered. I went off to Roosevelt High School where I
dreamed of finding an Aladdin’s lamp that would give me and my friends instantly any knowledge we wished for. Of
course, the Genie would have to give us unlimited wishes for knowledge. Then I went to college and to work where I was
always dissatisfied with my memory and the knowledge arrangements in the scientific Yearbooks, Standing Operating
Procedures Manuals and the morass of chemical literature buried in 4,000 journals. Many times as an analytical chemist, I
spent days locating specific knowledge after surveying difficult to acquire books and journal. Again, I wished for some
type of external support service that would give me essential knowledge immediately. In 1958, I started teaching in the St
Louis public schools and working on a Master Degree and once more dreamed of a modern Tower of Babel. Later, as an
academician and graduate dean, I worked on several national projects that developed computerized accounting systems
and management information systems Fortunately these school boy fantasies never completely left me, but I became
more sophisticated in my thoughts and more realistic in my expectations for finding knowledge, .
Sometime in the 1980, I realized that it was possible to create a UNR if we used computers, found a way of distinguishing
between knowledge and situational data and information
Today, it is August 2004 and my many colleagues in CUES, my students and I are working assiduously to place the pilot,
CUES Register for the Structured-Knowledge of American Language and Culture for Russians online. At the heart of what
we are doing is epistecybernetic thinking: a new way of thinking about knowledge. We have organized a lot of American
language and cultural knowledge into a very crude register and now we want to see if people will use it and what
problems we, the architects, will have when it goes into use. We (8 Russians, 2 Americans and 1 Nepalese computer
programmer ) have been working on this endeavor for more than three years with a lot of effort (37 CUES Little Blue
Books in draft development and testing) but 6 pilot editions published and test in Russia in 2003 (only one book published
for Americans, May 2004). And one concomitant CUES-CD burned in (November 2003) The CUES Register for the
Structured-Knowledge of American Language and Culture for Russians is key to advancing epistecybernetic theory for it
will provide convincing proof of concept and provide the practical place for us to continue our experimentation with
epistecybernetic devices and practices. Now, I have the task of devising a coding system that my colleagues can use to
tag knowledge for storage in computers-that is epistecybernetic theory coupled with a ton of practical work. Few people
care much for the theory and my writing colleagues in particular could care less for theory what they want is to produce
books for the classroom., that they can understand. The Register is too ephemeral for teaching academicians. They don’t
see the use of a knowledge register but one can not work well in the real world, especially the cyber-world without a
vision of were the Register can go and the theory for how to build a Universal Knowledge Register.
I can not write about the theory of Epistecybernetics without talking about the current practice of knowledge stewardship
in contemporary society, but they can be separate and are separate for many people. For theory’s sake, I have made the
following distinctions, but theory and practice are so intermingled in my work that they can not be separated Oliver
Hensley thinks as an epistecyberneticist and acts as an entrepreneur with CUES, Incorporated. Epistecybernetics is a
discipline like chemistry, the law, journalism, computer science, and education. CUES is a corporate entity like DuPont,
Law Firms, Hearst Publishing Co., Microsoft , and the St. Louis Public Schools
Pardi (1997, pp33-42) provides an excellent introduction to the Establishment of the International Society of
Epistecybernetics which was part of my work ten years ago and Hensley (1997,pp 1-24) provide an outline for the
beginning thinking in this field.
Mission of CUES
Mission of CUES UKRThe mission of CUES Universal Knowledge Register. (UNR) is to provide an electronic knowledge
depository for storing all of the structured- knowledge of all disciplines in one place. The complement of this mission is to
facilitate the retrieval of knowledge for users from anywhere in the world. CUES program for knowledge retrieval will allow
the user to select a particular Essential Knowledge Element (EKE) from within the CUES Structure of Knowledge (SOK) and
retrieve that element within 30 seconds while using less than six computer key-strokes. The CUES Universal Knowledge
Register is a system for storing pure knowledge. The Register stores only structured-knowledge, but relates its EKE’s to
data banks, information systems, technologies etc that are stored elsewhere.
Immediate Goals of CUES
Our immediate goal is to start the creation of the first knowledge depository by developing and testing the CUES Register
for the Structured-Knowledge of American (English) Language and Culture and by using the most efficacious systems for
storing and retrieving structured-knowledge. CUES Register for the Structured-Knowledge of American Language and
Culture will be proof of concept and then we will accelerate the pace of development in other disciplines, which will copy
the CUES Taxonomic Schemes and Technologies. Within the Universal Knowledge Register, the sine qua non is the
Essential Knowledge Element—a very exact concept that permits distinguishing among data, information, and knowledge
elements in intermingled use and storage. Once knowledge is identified, it can be classified and stored at precise points in
the system and then the placement of concomitant data and information can be used in other stewardship functions. The
theoretical foundations for UNR rest on the following:
UNR Knowledge Principles:
Knowledge is “the acceptance of a generic solution into a problem-solving repertoire.” [“A,B,C….Z are 26 EKE’s in the
Discipline of American Language and Culture. These 26 symbols are generic solutions for they solve part of the problem of
representing with graphic symbols precise language sounds and they are the essential characters for reading and
writing.] Similarly, but in another discipline [a2+b2=c2 is the Pythagorean Theorem. The Pythagorean Theorem is an
Essential Knowledge Element (EKE) in the Discipline of Mathematics] So, mankind has amassed billions of these generic
solutions and randomly dumped them into disciplines. We love the advancement of knowledge and must encourage its
dissemination, but CUES has the mission of bringing order to this ataxic mass of knowledge for the information glut is
overwhelming us in daily activities.
Knowledge grows in an evolutionary manner within disciplines, trades, and social units. Therefore, all knowledge can be
structured, arranged according to the major functional processes and according to the species of objects being studied by
the discipline and then EKE’s can be ordered logically within a model from the most elementary of concepts to the most
sophisticated theories, within a Structure Of Knowledge (SOK) for a discipline.
The genius of CUES SOK rests on the development of models showing the evolutionary development of the discipline’s
knowledge over the centuries.
For purposes of structuring knowledge in computers and elsewhere, matrices are very useful models for showing the
exact location of a particular EKE in a SOK The knowledge models serve didactic and heuristic functions as well as giving
guidance to storage and search activities.
Conventional classification schemes (Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal System etc) can classify books and articles
according to author and subject, but they do not have the ability to identify and classify the EKEs of disciplines. Hence, the
majority of knowledge is lost temporarily within journals and books. Classifying EKE’s requires a new taxonomic system, a
reordering of knowledge and then new placement that rests on setting the major disciplinary processes, on establishing a
new precision in placement that depends on a taxonomic system using levels of species of objects of study, and new
classification techniques for showing relationships among the major stewardship purposes. This sophisticated coding of
every EKE requires an epistecybernetic approach to the advanced study of a discipline.
It is easy to retrieve anything if it has its proper place and if it is always located there.(Think of your silverware tray—forks
belong with forks, spoons with spoons) Knowledge is easy to retrieve if it is properly classified and properly stored in
logical structures of knowledge. Without SOK and epistecybernetic classification of EKEs, it is impossible to find knowledge
quickly. Therefore SOK and precise classification of EKE are necessary to rapid retrieval of knowledge.
Despite the considerable thought on the subject of SOK, the first structures will be crude and anemic, but they will work
and they will let us think in a new paradigm. Of course, Registers will have to be revised in the light of practical experience
and in the second generation, they will show a truer nature of the discipline and they will more accurately place each
element. This revision will require much academic argument and finally agreement on standards for a more robust and
refined Register. Ultimately, we will have a true representation of the structure of knowledge for each discipline. The
architects of the CUES Register are very aware that periodically all knowledge should be reviewed for validity and
relevancy, established models revised and knowledge rearranged according to new acquisitions, new needs and new
technologies.
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