PhD defence Willem de Veij: Quantifying tacit knowledge in the production of salt

On Friday 27 September, Willem de Veij will defend his PhD dissertation ‘Quantifying Tacit Knowledge: Assessing the Evolution of Tacit Knowledge in the Production of Salt in the Low Countries (1000-2000)’.

Tacit knowledge in historical salt production

Not all jobs or activities can be automated, De Veij explains in his thesis. In order to automate activities, the knowledge needed to carry out this activity must be explicit. If an activity is largely based on tacit knowledge, it cannot be automated.

Most studies on tacit knowledge focus on the future. For De Veij, this raised the question: what was this like in the past? His study examines the production of salt in the Low Countries between 1000 and 2000. He split the production process into logical steps to determine in each case whether the knowledge used was largely explicit or tacit.

From tacit knowledge to automation

De Veij concludes that the role of the salt maker evolved from a craftsman with knowledge, often obtained through years of experience, into an operator overseeing a fully automated process with minimal intervention.

Whereas in the Late Middle Ages about half of salt production activities still relied on tacit knowledge, by the twentieth century this dependence had dropped to zero. According to De Veij, this was partly due to the developments in measuring instruments and a better understanding of chemistry and physics.