Knowledge processing as structure transformation

As big enterprises and consumers communicate, collaborate and conduct commerce almost at the speed of light using voice, data and video, information explosion (a term first used in 1941, according to the Oxford English Dictionary) has created a need for its accumulation, processing and integration to create “knowledge.” Knowledge processing, in turn, allows us to use the information to make strategic decisions and improve the efficiency of the processes involved. Therefore, knowledge processing systems, their theory and practice are receiving renewed focus. These systems include processes and activities such as cognition, knowledge production, learning, knowledge acquisition, reasoning, management and application. In this paper we discuss how knowledge processing can be viewed as manipulation of various knowledge structures and their transformation. We argue that efficient organization of knowledge processing has to be based on structure transformations of data represented in a symbolic form.