Galileo's stream: A framework for understanding knowledge production

We introduce a framework for understanding knowledge production in which: knowledge is produced in stages (along a research to development continuum) and in three discrete categories (science and understanding, tools and technology, and societal use and behavior); and knowledge in the various stages and categories is produced both non-interactively and interactively. The framework attempts to balance: our experiences as working scientists and technologists, our best current understanding of the social processes of knowledge production, and the possibility of mathematical analyses. It offers a potential approach both to improving our basic understanding, and to developing tools for enterprise management, of the knowledge-production process.