Knowledge discovery may be defined as the development of new tacit or explicit knowledge from data and information or from the synthesis of prior knowledge. The discovery of new explicit knowledge relies most directly on combination, whereas the discovery of new tacit knowledge relies most directly on socialization.

New explicit knowledge is discovered through combination, wherein the multiple bodies of explicit knowledge (data and/or information) are synthesized to create new, more complex sets of explicit knowledge (Nonaka 1994, as cited in Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2010). This happens through communication, integration, and systemization of multiple streams of explicit knowledge. Existing explicit knowledge, data and information are reconfigured, recategorized, and recontextualized to produce new explicit knowledge.

Example: Data mining techniques may be used to uncover new relationships among explicit data that may be lead to create predictive or categorization models that create new knowledge

In the case of tacit knowledge, the integration of multiple streams for the creation of new knowledge occurs through the mechanism of socialization (Nonaka 1994, as cited in Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2010).

Socialization is the synthesis of tacit knowledge across individuals, usually through joint activities rather than written or verbal instructions.

Examples: By transferring ideas and images, apprenticeships help newcomers to see how other think.