Musing July 2012

Knowledge versus Information

In Webster’s 1988 New World Dictionary the words knowledge and information are used to define one another and in our culture often used as synonyms. I think, however, that there is an important distinction between the two words. When I think of these two words I think of information as the data from which knowledge is gleaned. I tend to think of information as passive in that it is a collection of facts and figures that someone else has already discovered. Knowledge, on the other hand, I consider active in the sense that you have to practice the information to learn something, be it mental or physical practice. In some sense information represents the theory while knowledge is the practical (or impractical) experience. More important than the semantics is why does this matter to me?

I run into this conflict between information and knowledge frequently. A stranger recently contacted me to say: “I can’t afford your workshop on Ghost Towns so please tell me where you are going and I will go by myself”. These locations are on public land so I complied. Another calls to say: “I can’t take you platinum workshop but I am having problems with my platinum prints, can you help me?” I try to do this in emails and over the phone but trying to solve printing problems without seeing the print is almost impossible. I’ve had people email and say: “I don’t want to take your Soft Focus workshop. Just tell me what lens to buy.” I can give a suggestion but that is all it can be. In each of these cases I have only given some information. Granted, it is information from my knowledge, my own experience, but for the person receiving it, it is only information.

Back in college, when I went to the library to research facts and figures pertaining to my thesis, I was gathering information. I was also gaining some knowledge. I was sorting through a myriad of information and deciding what was important to my thesis and what wasn’t, based on the reputation of the sources I was investigating.  With the internet and search engines I can find information much quicker but it is harder to determine the validity of this information. One example of internet unreliability still sticks in my mind. A few years ago I was helping someone research a new digital camera. It was expensive and he wasn’t sure if it was worth the money. We both read the magazine reviews by people who had actually used the camera. There were also plenty of online reviews. Several online reviews were extremely critical and went totally counter to what was said in the magazine. With a great deal more research and several emails I was able to determine that the person writing the negative reviews had never actually handled the camera. He was basing his review on the published information and from that drawing his conclusions. He had information but no actual knowledge.

I taught a View Camera workshop a couple of weeks ago. My sons joined us for dinner. They had just returned from swimming at a friend’s lake house and I asked if the rope swing was still in place. It was and they’d been entertaining themselves using it. One of the photographers said she had never used a rope swing so the boys described the process of holding on, swinging out and then dropping into the lake. She then asked a very pertinent question: “How do you know when to let go?” They answered: “when the rope gets to the top of it’s swing”. It sounds simple: hold on tight and let go when the rope gets to the top of its arc. That is information. Knowledge is gained the first time you use a rope swing. Out you go over the water but when is the rope at the top of its arc? You have to experience it to know. If you let go to early you won’t get a good ride; too late and you can land on your back or get a rope burn or run back into the tree because you held on too long.

Many believe that if they have the information then they have the knowledge. I don’t believe this to be true. You can get the book on platinum printing or soft focus lenses and read the material. However, unless you make platinum prints or work with a lens, you have no experience, and I think then, no practical based knowledge. You can be told the exact locations of neat places to photograph but without knowledge of photographic experience under your belt, you aren’t going to make photographs like you see an experienced photographer making. Going to a rope swing and making one ride by yourself may give you a sense of a rope swing, but only repeated tries will consistently give you the ride and landing you are practicing for. Knowledge is gained when you take the information and try it for yourself.

When you are researching a workshop, camera, technique, or anything else, search for sources with knowledge as well as information. Check your facts with multiple sources, research the credibility of your sources and don’t mistake information for knowledge. To paraphrase a familiar ad campaign: Information can be cheap. Knowledge is priceless.

All the best,

Tillman