Issue
Every day, people with profound knowledge retire. Too few are invited to make their judgment available to those who follow.
Mission
Honor and extend expert judgment across generations.
Status
Knowledge Harvesting is an established method with decades of development and application. A scalable protocol, practitioner materials, safeguards, and review criteria are in development.
The method Make expert judgment visible without reducing it to a checklist.
Experts use Knowledge Harvesting to explain what they notice, how they decide, and why they act. The resulting resource helps others learn from that judgment.
How an expert makes judgment available to others.
- 01
Establish the purpose
Identify who should benefit, which situations the resource should address, and what must remain confidential or outside its scope.
- 02
Choose real situations
Select cases, decisions, exceptions, and turning points that reveal how judgment affected the outcome.
- 03
Follow structured inquiry
Use focused prompts to surface what the expert noticed, knew, considered, decided, and did.
- 04
Organize what emerges
Separate facts and procedures from context, interpretation, uncertainty, and judgment so each remains clear.
- 05
Test and improve
Have another person use the resource. Observe what it helps them notice or decide, then improve it.
The expert directs the work.
Expert judgment is contextual and can be difficult to explain on demand because experience has made it intuitive. Structured prompts help the expert recognize and articulate that judgment.
AI supports inquiry and organization. It does not replace the expert’s judgment or decide what the final resource says.
Protocol Apply Knowledge Harvesting consistently and responsibly.
The protocol in development defines the steps, materials, safeguards, and criteria an expert needs to use Knowledge Harvesting consistently. Independent use has not yet been publicly validated.
What it includes
- 01
Define the purpose, intended users, and boundaries.
- 02
Examine real situations and articulate what guided judgment.
- 03
Organize the resulting knowledge without losing context.
- 04
Test whether the resource helps others, then improve it.
What governs it
The expert directs the work and determines what the final resource says. Ownership, consent, confidentiality, and intended use must be explicit. AI may support inquiry and organization, but it does not replace expert judgment. Context, limitations, and uncertainty remain visible.
Evidence and status Distinguish what is established from what remains to be demonstrated.
Established
Knowledge Harvesting is an established method with decades of development and application.
In development
A scalable protocol, practitioner materials, safeguards, and review criteria are being developed.
Not yet demonstrated
Independent use by other practitioners—and the protocol’s ability to scale with fidelity—have not yet been publicly demonstrated. Supporting evidence is being organized for publication.