(Professor Doris Jones and our two Data Revolution researchers, Stefanie Felsberger and Nancy Salem.)
The Common Reading Program, organised by the Rhetoric and Composition Department at the AUC, aims to encourage reading among Freshmen students by selecting a book each year for interested students and faculty members to collectively read and discuss.
This year, in collaboration with the Library and the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D), as well as through support from the School of Sciences and Engineering, the theme of Big Data was selected.
Under this theme, three books were chosen:
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle;
Matters of Life and Data: A Memoir: the remarkable journey of a big data visionary whose work impacted millions (Including You) by Charles D. Morgan; and
Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room by David Weinberger.
In order to allow participants to engage further with the readings, a skype talk was organised with Dr. David Weinberger, Fellow at the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, and author of Too Big to Know, on the state of information and knowledge in the age of the Internet.
Participants read Chapter 1 of the book, and sent in a number of questions for Dr. Weinberger to address. Below you will find a short review of the chapter and an e-book download link here. The students’ questions are at the end of the review. We are curious to hear what questions you have as well!
Chapter 1: Knowledge Overload
At the very outset of his book, Weinberger introduces readers to what he refers to as the crisis of knowledge, carefully tracking knowledge’s transformation from a domain centered around expert opinion and carefully curated information, to an unbounded network of information accessible to all in its creation and use. According to him, this transformation occurred as a direct result of the move from traditional mediums of knowledge - namely books, with their finite storage capacity, to the Internet - unlimited in its size and scope.
In comparing its contemporary form as networked knowledge to the triangular knowledge structure of the past, Weinberger acknowledges many of the concerns expressed by people regarding the validity and reliability of information today. The familiar argument goes as follows: whereas knowledge used to be developed by experts, reviewed by others, and filtered by still more, on its way onto one of the many library shelves around the world, today anyone with an Internet connection and electronic device can create and disseminate potentially inaccurate, deceitful, and harmful information, reaching the eyes and ears of anyone with just a few clicks.
Accordingly, he states, popular anxieties have been transformed from fears surrounding “information overload”, an oft-propagated notion in the 1970s, to ones about the absence of accurate and reliable information today. (36)
However, Weinberger argues, the move towards an open network of knowledge has also allowed for more thorough and consistent fact-checking (think US elections), an increase in the availability of diverse perspectives on important issues (think DemocracyNow!), and a growing amount of contributions from, and collaborations between, individuals around the world (think OpenIDEO).
“Networked knowledge is less certain but more human. Less settled but more transparent. Less reliable but more inclusive. Less consistent but far richer.” (18)
Furthermore, he states, unlike the filtering process that took place in the publishing houses, libraries, journals, and news outlets of the past - through which things that were deemed unimportant, inaccurate or unworthy of dissemination were excluded, today’s information filtering process works instead through a process of promotion. This Weinberger refers to as filtering forward.
“Filters no longer filter out. They filter forward, bringing their results to the front. What doesn’t make it through a filter is still visible and available in the background.” (40)
Consequently, save for direct censorship, any information and knowledge made available online can technically be accessed by anyone. Thus, Weinberger appears to claim, the Internet has triggered a democratisation both of the creation of new forms of knowledge, and of the access to and use of it.
Finally, Weinberger addresses the impact that this new type of knowledge has had on knowledge-based institutions. Beyond almost rendering traditional libraries and scholarly journals obsolete, it has, he purports, also transformed the way more advanced institutions, such as consulting firms and think tanks, operate. No longer relying on a number of “credentialed authorities” for expertise, many firms are now embracing a method that places a higher value on integration, diversity, and disagreement. Bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, and in this way, further solidifying the transformation of knowledge from a pyramid into a network.
Questions from Students and Faculty Members:
1. Student - Computer Engineering
In your book, you argue that human beings became the dominant species on our planet due to the filtering systems we have created. What exactly are those filtering systems and how do you think we came to develop them?
2. Student - Construction Engineering
Since the Internet provides information to the public in overwhelmingly uncensored amounts, can the benefits include elevated levels of wisdom; or an unattainability of useful information that pushes us down the DIKW hierarchy? (Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom)
3. Student - Accounting & Financial Analysis
How can we develop education to boost the concept of critical thinking and questioning about what we know?
4. Student - Electronics and Communications Engineering
In a world where the Internet is expanding and data is everywhere, is there a possibility we can secure data and knowledge online, to minimise misleading information?
5. Student - Architecture Engineering
What are the criteria to filter the good and bad data without potentially neglecting and/or excluding important information?
6. Student - Construction Engineering
Due to the increasing amounts of online data, some important information may be lost or difficult to reach. How can we make relevant data more recognisable?
The philosophers Plato and Socrates argued that wisdom requires that you know nothing. In what ways is the Internet spoon-feeding us with information that others have sacrificed to discover?
8. Student - Construction Engineering
In Chapter 1 of your book, you appear to argue that the large amounts of information found on the Internet, is in some ways causing problems. But yet we cannot live with only a limited amount of information. Where and how can we find the right balance between too much and too little information?
9. Student - Mechanical Engineering
What do you mean by “information fatigue syndrome” and how can an overload of data help minimise it?
10. Student - Business Administration and Integrated Marketing Communication
In Chapter 1 you argue that since there exists such a diverse range of knowledge, as a medium, the Internet is big enough to contain it. Yet, is the Internet a proper medium for storage and retrieval of knowledge acquisition without risking the loss of integrity?
11. Faculty Member - Centre for Excellence for ME & Arab Cultures
In answer to the question “Is the Net making us stupid,” you seem to reply “No, not if we create a culture of openness, and train ourselves to examine critically the ‘metadata’ of whatever the Net presents us with.” Is that a fair summary of your conclusion?
You seem to take a stand against techno-determinism; is it not true, however, that technology limits the way in which we can interact with things? We can “like,” but not “dislike,” for example. We may also be subject to limitations imposed by the state (no YouTube in China, or WhatsApp in Turkey!), or more subtly, to limitations of language - knowledge gained from the web looks radically different for speakers of English, and of Arabic, for example.
