Knowledge Classification
The first Encyclopedias, which were based on Francis Bacons model of classification of knowledge, were published in the Age of Enlightenment. Between 1751 and 1772, Denis Diderot's Encyclopedie (Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts) offered a vast compendium of knowledge, notably on the technologies of the period, describing the traditional craft tools and processes.
Although these formats offer a quick reference to quench one's thirst for knowledge, they do not provide a method for the production of ideas.
Knowledge is too often reduced to historical facts, which are consumed in hindsight. This leads to the normalization of society by teaching them to be the same.
''...compartmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called 'practice' from insight, of imagination from executive 'doing.' Each of these activities is then assigned its own place which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then suppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.''
(John Dewey)