Page 208 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

Measuring knowledge hardness for quantifying back-

bone knowledge

1, 2
Ronda J. ZHANG & Fred Y. YE 〇a ∗2, 3
1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2 International Joint Informatics Laboratory & Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Data Engineering and Knowledge Services,
School of Information Management, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
3 National Experiment Base for Intelligent Evaluation and Governance, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

Abstract
Every discipline is underpinned by its unique foundational knowledge, referred to as “backbone
knowledge”. The “backbone knowledge” is the foundation of any science, and it is necessary to explore
how to quantify the “backbone knowledge” in library and information science. With using scientific
metrics to define the “knowledge hardness” of a disciplinary field as the sum of the number of formulas
and diagrams divided by the quantity of words in the disciplinary standard textbook, we can quantify
the “backbone knowledge” via measuring the “knowledge hardness”. By applying the new metrics, we
derived the knowledge hardness for physics, medicine, and economics, which indicates a hierarchy of
Physics > Medicine > Economics. Upon assessing the knowledge hardness within the field of Library
and Information Science (LIS), we observed to be notably inferior to that of economics. It is suggested
to strengthen the backbone knowledge and improve the knowledge hardness of LIS, for deepening and
enriching LIS knowledge.

Keywords
Knowledge hardness, Backbone knowledge, Knowledge measurement, Hardening knowledge, Library
and information science

0 Introduction

The “backbone knowledge” embedded within various disciplines makes direct comparison
a challenging endeavor. However, as our collective knowledge continues to expand and
interdisciplinary studies emerge, pinpointing the foundational or “backbone” knowledge of each
discipline becomes imperative. Such recognition is crucial not only for understanding the core
essence of individual fields but also for discerning the true nature of interdisciplinary knowledge
and its implications for pedagogy. Given this context, a deeper exploration of the subject is
warranted.
Historically, the evolution and systematic organization of knowledge have given birth to
what we now recognize as distinct academic disciplines. In the formative stages of knowledge

* Correspondence should be addressed to Fred Y. YE, Email: yye@ nju. edu. cn, ORCID:0000-0001-9426-934X.