Managing environmental knowledge and the necessary IT tools - Environmental Deterioration and Contamination: Problems and their Management - page 432

One particular problem is the lack of knowledge and misunderstanding, for
example about in situ environmental technologies applied to soil, groundwater and
sediment. The processes within these technologies are not visible, and their results
cannot be observed visually over the short term. Similar gaps in knowledge are caused
by long-term adverse effects such as chronic toxicity, reprotoxicity or endocrine and
immune disruptions. Furthermore, new environmental methods and technologies are
not always characterized and verified satisfactorily—often not even the routine ones.
For this reason, the potential users—developers and decision makers—do not trust
innovative remediation technologies but rather buy and apply those which have good
marketing, a but a questionable performance.
The gap between scientific-technical knowledge and the understanding by the
general public and that of the professional community is still wide, in spite of the
fact that modern environmental science has made tremendous development recently.
Basic knowledge and facts have been collected and summarized in a large number
of major research projects but information transfer to decision makers and users still
lags behind. Information is not structured in a user-friendly manner and innovations
receive insufficient publicity. Also, there are delays in education due to the long process
of teaching the teachers. The delayed responses in terms of education and practice have
resulted in a variety of misunderstandings, exposure to risks and poor decision making
in both industrial and environmental management as well as in private life.
The basis of modern environmental science is nature itself, in which we live. Our
understanding of nature, environmental processes and trends is undergoing a major
improvement and is being integrated into environmental technologies, biotechnologies
and eco-technologies. This deludes us with the misleading belief that the scientific
basis and practical knowledge in modern environmental sciences can be explained to
everyone from high-level decision makers through practicing engineers to students,
pupils and the general public.
Certain types of information bases have been prepared for marketing purposes
and concentrate on marketable products. These pieces of information support only
indirectly the decision making; the user is supposed to make the evaluation, comparison
and selection. Other types of information bases focus on a special area or an innovative
tool, without providing the complete context and the basic knowledge necessary to
understand its content. An information base on innovative technologies cannot be
used for decision making without information on common, well-known and routinely
applied methods and technologies. A useful and widely applicable knowledge base has
to consider users with various knowledge levels and targets. When planning such a
web-based IT tool, the targeted end user should be specified.
2 THE EXAMPLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
(ENFO) KNOWLEDGE BASE
K. Gruiz
Creation of knowledge from information and data is described in Chapter 10 in this
Volume. The key of the procedure is the organization of information and data by
experts such that they provide support by arranging information in the right way in