“Real dialogue isn’t about talking to people who believe the same things as you.”
―
society & information
When we want to find the essential characteristics in the contemporary world, what can we mark as the keyword? I suggest that it is information. I will use it as a unit for exploring our society.
We are surrounded by information. We are almost overwhelmed. Any topic which we can look at is described in many approaches by many scientists, journalists or experts. It is possible to find thousands articles or interviews about anything we want. But there is the danger. There is no clear sign of what is valid and reliable. We need to process the sources and work on it before we create our opinion about the topic. There are two types of sources: scientific studies and texts for the public. When we need to absorb scientific conclusions, we have no chance to read all the reviews which were written and all the facts which were collected about the topic. We also have no opportunity to check the data integrity of all these surveys. We should do it when it is our job, and our responsibility is to dig out reliable facts from this “informational jungle” and mediate our results. Although we also need to find our stand as a regular citizen because we must manage our behaviour on this basis.
Then we need to trust someone who did the work instead of us. It can be a doctor, a journalist or an expert in some field who took all the sources, read them and claim the conclusion which can be received. There are many people doing this work. The goal of this game is to find those who provide the most reliable facts which are available, not just part of them, which can be convenient for their analysis, but all of them. Each interpretation of the existing data is always a bit dangerous. It is only a suggestion but also a seed which can fall into arable soil. If we want to navigate us to a sensible direction, we need to check every seed to prevent the expansion of aggressive weed in our garden.
There is a study focused on a strategy of seeking information in academic research.
Shen, Y. (2007). Information seeking in academic research: A study of the sociology faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Information technology and libraries, 26(1), 4-13.
It is available online here:
https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ital/article/view/3284/2897
"Informational Jungle"
Saturnin looked out of the window and figured out that our society is divided in two fractions. But why? Because of the “informational jungle” about the pandemic and virus called COVID-19. The first one is careful about germs and these people don’t complain to stay home and wear masks because they believe that is the way how to stay safe against the contraction of the virus and solve the pandemic in the most reasonable way. The other one is doubting the measurements, looking for more medical information and asking questions if the mainstream way what do do, is the sensible solution of the situation. But is not enough. Many people are somewhere in the middle but where? What exactly do they think? And HOW they think? That is the most important question. This guy was evidently struggling with his feelings of curiousness and started asking questions how people get their information and how do they process them in order to find their place in the “right crowd”.
The first question is how they feel that the virus is dangerous.
The second question is what they think about measurements
The third is if they see any consequences in the future.
It looks like a short list of questions, but appearances are deceptive. Answers can be pretty epic.
If you are curious as this guy, you have a chance to follow the workings of minds of people who kindly agree to share them.
We are grateful for it, thank you.
interviews
Mr Hercules is an experienced scientic with a long track of commercial scientific resarch in media studies, psychology, and highly educated in chemistry, physics and physical science. He is also engaged with statistics and still working as an independent contractor in data analysis, data mining.
Mr Draco is a sought-after chiropractor and nutrition specialist. He studied philosophy, anatomy, medical care and statistics. He also educated in holistic health care and chinesse medicine.
Next interviews are coming….
Literature review
This is not the only place where is this topic discussed. There is a brief review which was written by other about this topic.