Thresholds of Knowledge

Reading this essay by Jeff Jarvis on the future of newspapers (which encourages, among other things, radical experimentation as community-centric service delivery internet start-ups) I ran into this useful hierarchy of knowledge:

1. knowledge of the tool and what it can provide,
2. ability to spec requirements with a developer or expert,
3. ability to adapt what has been developed without screwing it up,
4. ability to make the thing,
5. expertise or the ability to teach the tool or skill.

I'm in the midst of wrapping up a series of booklets on data visualization and these are handy. While it would be great to get everyone up to stage 4 or 5, practitioners at each of these stages require a different type of information and instruction. I'm hoping folks will at least move up one level.