Through this chapter Weinberger expresses that knowledge is a result of a strive to understand, it is our ability to retain and understand information as well as connect it to other things in a network. He discusses how knowledge grows and morphs as resources change; as the internet became readily available, so did information and places to store it. Due to the fact that we are no longer limited by a space as small as a library and we can find seemingly endless articles about a given subject, knowledge has become trying to know all you can rather than just what you need. As Weinberger points out, the old fear about knowledge was that all of the available information would cause a mental breakdown versus now, where the fear is that not enough of the information we need is being received because there is so much out there. I do agree with this point made by Weinberger, today it is hard to tell if you know enough about something, whether enough research was done, whether the correct articles and publications were read, because ultimately there will always be more than a couple of days of research will reveal, whereas when books were all that was available, there seems to be an endpoint, a point where you had to have done enough research. Additionally, in the past, Weinberger points out that, available knowledge was filtered out by the storage capacity of things like a library, a library will not have endless books on one subject, but will rather have a handful of books on that subject. On the other hand, currently the internet doers not filter out information, but rather filters forward information, which Weinberger explains by saying that the most relevant or credentialed or interesting or liked results will be at the beginning of a search, but behind the first page of results lies an ongoing list of more sources that are less relevant, or less credentialed, or less interesting, or less liked by your friends. Nevertheless, as Weinberger points out, these ‘bad’ sources are still out there. Furthermore, Weinberger discusses how the institution of knowledge is changing, how the pyramid structure is giving way to the network structure, which is wider, seemingly boundary-free, and full of not just full-time experts. Weinberger illustrates this with the example of Jack Hidary, who employs people to peer review works. Unlike before, these employees are not a small group of set full-time experts or full-time peer reviewers, rather there is a larger group of part-time experts to choose from. Through Chapter one of Too Big to Know Weinberger discusses what knowledge is and how various aspects of knowledge, how it is produced, spread, altered, accessed, and applied has changed over time.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Too Big to Know: Chapter 1 - Summary and Response
To begin the first chapter of his book, Too Big to Know, David Weinberger discusses the DIKW hierarchy. This hierarchy resembles the structure of a pyramid where data is on the bottom, then information, then knowledge, and on the top, in the smallest portion of the pyramid lies wisdom. Weinberger explains that to get from one level of the pyramid to the next requires the processing of the current level, for example, one must process data to get information. Weinberger then expands on the topic of knowledge, exploring different views throughout time as well as views that have continued to hold true. Specifically, he discusses the view of ancient Athens that in order to for someone to be knowledgeable they must hold opinions that are both true and justifiable. (4) Next Weinberger transitions into a discussion about the evolution of knowledge as a filter. He discusses how knowledge used to be processing and retaining things necessary to our success and filtering out unnecessary information, but now, due to our seemingly endless resources we go through information trying to retain as much as we can about something, rather than just what we need to know. Weinberger continues by discussing the need to fix our way of filtering in order to avoid the overload of information and how the control of filters is changing from experts to those closer to the general population, who we know. Then Weinberger points out that due to the influx of readily available information there is more good information, but also more bad information, there is more information readily available to prove a point, but also to contest that point. Finally, Weinberger ends the chapter by discussing the new structure of knowledge and its emergence as a wide and populous network rather than a pyramid. Through this chapter, Weinberger explores what knowledge is and its evolution through time as well as the evolution of how knowledge is used and handled.
Through this chapter Weinberger expresses that knowledge is a result of a strive to understand, it is our ability to retain and understand information as well as connect it to other things in a network. He discusses how knowledge grows and morphs as resources change; as the internet became readily available, so did information and places to store it. Due to the fact that we are no longer limited by a space as small as a library and we can find seemingly endless articles about a given subject, knowledge has become trying to know all you can rather than just what you need. As Weinberger points out, the old fear about knowledge was that all of the available information would cause a mental breakdown versus now, where the fear is that not enough of the information we need is being received because there is so much out there. I do agree with this point made by Weinberger, today it is hard to tell if you know enough about something, whether enough research was done, whether the correct articles and publications were read, because ultimately there will always be more than a couple of days of research will reveal, whereas when books were all that was available, there seems to be an endpoint, a point where you had to have done enough research. Additionally, in the past, Weinberger points out that, available knowledge was filtered out by the storage capacity of things like a library, a library will not have endless books on one subject, but will rather have a handful of books on that subject. On the other hand, currently the internet doers not filter out information, but rather filters forward information, which Weinberger explains by saying that the most relevant or credentialed or interesting or liked results will be at the beginning of a search, but behind the first page of results lies an ongoing list of more sources that are less relevant, or less credentialed, or less interesting, or less liked by your friends. Nevertheless, as Weinberger points out, these ‘bad’ sources are still out there. Furthermore, Weinberger discusses how the institution of knowledge is changing, how the pyramid structure is giving way to the network structure, which is wider, seemingly boundary-free, and full of not just full-time experts. Weinberger illustrates this with the example of Jack Hidary, who employs people to peer review works. Unlike before, these employees are not a small group of set full-time experts or full-time peer reviewers, rather there is a larger group of part-time experts to choose from. Through Chapter one of Too Big to Know Weinberger discusses what knowledge is and how various aspects of knowledge, how it is produced, spread, altered, accessed, and applied has changed over time.
Through this chapter Weinberger expresses that knowledge is a result of a strive to understand, it is our ability to retain and understand information as well as connect it to other things in a network. He discusses how knowledge grows and morphs as resources change; as the internet became readily available, so did information and places to store it. Due to the fact that we are no longer limited by a space as small as a library and we can find seemingly endless articles about a given subject, knowledge has become trying to know all you can rather than just what you need. As Weinberger points out, the old fear about knowledge was that all of the available information would cause a mental breakdown versus now, where the fear is that not enough of the information we need is being received because there is so much out there. I do agree with this point made by Weinberger, today it is hard to tell if you know enough about something, whether enough research was done, whether the correct articles and publications were read, because ultimately there will always be more than a couple of days of research will reveal, whereas when books were all that was available, there seems to be an endpoint, a point where you had to have done enough research. Additionally, in the past, Weinberger points out that, available knowledge was filtered out by the storage capacity of things like a library, a library will not have endless books on one subject, but will rather have a handful of books on that subject. On the other hand, currently the internet doers not filter out information, but rather filters forward information, which Weinberger explains by saying that the most relevant or credentialed or interesting or liked results will be at the beginning of a search, but behind the first page of results lies an ongoing list of more sources that are less relevant, or less credentialed, or less interesting, or less liked by your friends. Nevertheless, as Weinberger points out, these ‘bad’ sources are still out there. Furthermore, Weinberger discusses how the institution of knowledge is changing, how the pyramid structure is giving way to the network structure, which is wider, seemingly boundary-free, and full of not just full-time experts. Weinberger illustrates this with the example of Jack Hidary, who employs people to peer review works. Unlike before, these employees are not a small group of set full-time experts or full-time peer reviewers, rather there is a larger group of part-time experts to choose from. Through Chapter one of Too Big to Know Weinberger discusses what knowledge is and how various aspects of knowledge, how it is produced, spread, altered, accessed, and applied has changed over time.
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