KCB201 Week 1 Lecture: Information, Knowledge, Community?

Information, Knowledge, Community? KCB201 Virtual Cultures Dr Axel Bruns [email_address]

Core Terms

What are

data?

information?

knowledge?

wisdom?

Data  Information  Knowledge  Wisdom

(‘DIKW’)

Flickr image by Pixelsior

Flickr image by avlxyz

Example: The Matrix

A DIKW story:

the matrix is made up of data

it is visible to its inhabitants as sensory information

But Neo takes the red pill, and:

acquires the knowledge that the visible world is an illusion

Finally, he makes it to Machine City, and:

gains the wisdom to make peace between machines and humans

From Data to Wisdom

What skills are needed?

Data  Information: Finding relations between data

Information  Knowledge: Evaluating patterns in the relations

Knowledge  Wisdom: Understanding the underlying principles

Finding  Evaluating  Understanding

DIKW in a Social Context

Knowledge improves with communication:

Information  Communication  Collective Intelligence

Understanding can’t be the end of the line:

Finding  Evaluating  Understanding  Sharing

Information Skills

What you need:

searching for (and finding!) information

recording and evaluating information

developing and communicating knowledge

sharing knowledge and contributing to collective intelligence

…in a networked, online environment…

The Network Is Us

Networks enhance knowledge processes :

faster search and retrieval

greater access

broader communication

wider sharing and collaboration

collective intelligence effects: smart mobs

Visions of the networked society:

Vannevar Bush: “ As We May Think ” (1945)

Mark Pesce: “ Mob Rules ” (2007)

As We May Think

Bush’s vision:

Man [ sic ] “has built a civilization so complex that he needs to mechanize his records more fully if he is to push his experiment to its logical conclusion and not merely become bogged down part way there by overtaxing his limited memory. His excursions may be more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold things he does not need to have immediately at hand, with some assurance that he can find them again if they prove important.”

Technology aiding us

in navigating the information available to us, and

storing (and sharing) the knowledge we accumulate.

(Technology as driver, determining what people are able to do.)

Mob Rules

Pesce’s vision:

“ Things will come crashing down: some on purpose, and some quite by accident. This can’t be avoided: the future is entirely unpredictable, contingent upon the spontaneous emergence of behaviors we’ve never seen before, behaviors which will spread like wildfire… It seems apocalyptic. It seems impossible. But it is already happening. … A new social organization is emerging, thoroughly global, and ignorant of class or race. There’s some cause for hope in that. … But we do not yet understand what is rising to replace the world we know.”