Some aspects of disambiguation of multi-disciplinary knowledge

Backround: The outburst in the internet-based sharing of knowledge has opened a Pandora’s Box of the third millennium (the phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem beneficial,but that turns out to have unexpected consequences). Scientific and engineering contents are distributed by means of the high-speed internet; however, this includes dissemination of misalignedand otherwise ambiguous concepts as well. Bearing in mind the increasing trends in knowledge migration between initially disunited disciplines, there is an urgent need to mitigate misunderstandingsthat block the communication avenues. This work presents a contribution to disambiguation of multidisciplinary knowledge, by means of exposing selected examples of ambiguity and proposing thedisambiguation solutions.Purpose: Ambiguous presentations obstruct knowledge sharing, application and expansion, and hence there is a pressing need to investigate the relevant causes and roots, and to propose appropriate remedies.Design/Method: A review of scientific and engineering databases enabled detecting acute examples. Selected cases of importance in engineering are subjected to systematic scrutiny based on ontology, semantics andepistemology.Results: The ambiguities are exposed and the causes explained. Engineering educators are prompted to recognise the damaging effects of conceptual misalignments and to consider the proposed improvements.Conclusion: There is an urgent need to improve the definitions of key engineering concepts that are currently burdened by ambiguous interpretations. The examples of disciplines where the scientific taxonomy is well established (such as entomology and some branches of geology and medicine) should be followed and a systematic hierarchy of transparent definitions introduced.