SMART Knowledge Portals as New Instruments of Investigation – for lifelong learning and education

Cover of An Intimate History of Humanity

Why is it so rare for me to be understood and believed? Why do more people like my poetry than the potential of my software? When will my idea of Smart Knowledge Portals see the light of day?

In a nutshell, Smart Knowledge Portals (here in 14 slides) are what Alexander von Humboldt described as a new instrument of investigation:

“Humboldt had a horror of the single fact, believing that  in order to explore any one thing, one needs to approach it from all sides… Every discovery opens up the imagination further, stimulating more discovery:

it enlarges the sphere of ideas, excites a taste for investigation, while the creation of new instruments of observation increases the intelligence.”

  Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity, London 1994

However, given our digital world, the potential is even richer:

1. Humboldtian science was based on using state of the art measuring instruments
2. Open Data is ‘in’: note Open Government and The Open Data Institute  
3. Measurement-based science is ‘data-based’ or ‘evidence-based’ web science, as Sir Tim Berners-Lee would like to see the web being used;
4. investigating is open across all age and income groups;
5. a Smart Water Portal would allow for better planning and prioritising just as a Smart Energy Portal; 
6. a Smart Climate Portal would allow for comparing data visually that can not be compared meaningfully with existing software.

‘Measuring on-screen’ means: 

• comparing visually – spotting patterns at a glance;
• evaluating numerically – comparing values;
• and interpreting what we see – by assigning measurement units.

Thanks to the web, ‘education‘ becomes a ‘life-long learning process‘ – at any age and for any income group – as long as we have a browser!

Related articles

• Governments looking for economic ROI must focus on open data … (radar.oreilly.com)
• Open data highlights from European Data Forum 2013 in Dublin (okfn.org)
• Europe Set For Continent-Wide Open Data Rules (techweekeurope.co.uk)
• New York Launches Open Data Portal (govtech.com)
• Big Data, Open Data and Official Statistics (blogstats.wordpress.com)