Body of Knowledge

A Body of Knowledge is a term used to represent the sum total of all knowledge in an area expertise, most notably professional bodies. A body of knowledge is usually made up of knowledge areas that represent a taxonomy of relevant concepts. Most BOKs also reference a significant amount of supporting literature.

It is also used to describe the repository that documents that knowledge.

A Body of Knowledge is not a collection of data, a professional reading list, a library, a website or a collection of websites, a description of professional functions, or even a collection of information.

Examples of Bodies of Knowledge

The following are examples of Bodies of Knowledge from professional organisations:

* Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge
* Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) – for international Information Security professionals.
* Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) – for the profession of software engineering.
* Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) from the PMI – for those following the project management discipline.
* Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) – for the geospatial realm.
* Enterprise Architecture Body of Knowledge (EABOK) – for the Enterprise Architecture (EA) discipline.
* [http://www.theiiba.org/content.asp?contenttype=Body%20of%20Knowledge Business Analysis Body of Knowledge] (BABOK) from the IIBA – for the Business Analysis profession
* [http://www.usabilitybok.org/ Usability Body of Knowledge] – for the usability profession.
* [http://www.iqa.org/membership/e0-1.shtml The Body of Quality Knowledge] – for quality professionals.

ee also

* Knowledge representation
* Ontology
* Taxonomy