All cultures have developed a means of knowledge mapping(1). Knowledge mapping is simply the means of handling knowledge so that it may be applied and transferred within and between generations, to enable survival and sustain a way of life. As cultures evolved into technological societies, means such as libraries, formal education, professions/disciplines, data bases and various media supplanted myths, rituals and learning from one's direct experience and immediate community.
In this dynamic process, little if any account was taken at the outset as to how to manage and cope with the growth and diversity of knowledge. When knowledge was primarily handled in an oral fashion, cultures remained relatively static in order to sustain the essential knowledge base. This conciseness remains important today as the path to the leading edge of knowledge, required to sustain the survival of a diverse and dynamic global culture, lengthens and splinters. There is now a growing awareness that our predecessors have bequeathed to our present day civilization a system of knowledge mapping which is reaching its limits of growth.
Stemming from this awareness is a recognition that the real foundation of any sustainable culture is a sustainable knowledge base. There is also recognition that there are a number of perspectives on how a sustainable knowledge base may be best achieved. This paper offers one such perspective in what is hoped will promote a meaningful dialogue on this subject.