Slicing information into layers is of course a simplification of real world situation using brutal force. However, if we don’t use conceptualization – we cannot communicate to each other – humans communicate with symbols. Each layer presented below probably manages to capture the essential and differentiating characteristics of each layer. First time I read about IM Layers in some Forrester’s study. They had defined an IA reference model containing: Conceptual, Logical and Physical layer. I have just renamed bottom one as Implementation, due to many people complained about the word “physical”.
The major enhancement I made by adding
Contextual layer on top. Even though it sounds like hyper abstract on top of already abstract cake – I believe it deserves its place. Should we consider IM and IA from
strategic performance management (SPM) viewpoint, it becomes imperative to bind Information Big Picture to business goals and direction.
Some years ago – even before I added the top layer, I thought, smart heads have already developed concepts for SPM – how could I utilize that fine work as aligning attributes for Knowledge Maps (or any other conceptual representation of information)? Then I ran into the Strategy Maps (Kaplan&Norton) and did few prototypes. It looks pretty promising to loosely bind Knowledge Map to Business.
