[Back]Procedural knowledge
Procedural knowledgeor know-how is the knowledge of how to perform some task. It focuses on the way needed to obtain a result. Typical examples are procedural programming languages, which allow the specification of the actions and/or operations needed to obtain something. One important fact to remember here is that procedural knowledge is typically incorporated in an algorithm or a program.
Procedural knowledge comes in many forms, for example, in legal systems, procedural knowledge or know-how is considered intellectual property. This property can be transmitted, transferred, or sold. One limitation of procedural knowledge is its job-dependence; thus it tends to be less general in nature. For example, a computer expert might have knowledge about a computer algorithm in multiple languages, or in pseudo-code, whereas a Visual Basic programmer might only know how to run a specific implementation of that algorithm, written in Visual Basic. Thus the 'hands-on' expertise and experience of the Visual Basic programmer might be of commercial value only to Microsoft job-shops, for example.
The following are other aspects of procedural knowledge:
- It can involve more senses, such as hands-on experience, practice at solving problems, understanding of the limitations of a specific solution, etc
- Thus know-how can frequently eclipse theory
- Has high efficiency
- Has low modifiability
- Has low cognitive adequacy (which is considered better for knowledge engineers)
Knowing how the strategy works or is implemented is called procedural knowledge. What are the steps, the process, and the procedure? What do I do first, then next, and then following? Knowing that a strategy exists is only so much good if you don't know how to implement it.
Procedural representation:
Control information necessary to use the knowledge is embedded in the knowledge itself. e.g. how to find relevant facts, make inferences etc.
Requires an interpreter to follow instructions specified in knowledge.
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