In chapter two of Weinberger's, Too Big To Know, he illustrates the role and importance of facts throughout history. Weinberger discusses from what the ancients consider facts to what we use today to discover facts. Throughout the chapter, Weinberger is able to view the perspectives of great people of the past like the ancient greeks, Robert Thomas Malthus, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. He states that the ancients believed in a balance of their senses and of their bodies, if this was unbalanced they would become ill and possibly pass. Malthuss' opinion on facts were to look at the logical deduction to support his statements. Dickens believed that facts constrain creativity and imagination, it only allows for a black and white no space for gray area. Lastly, Darwin was able to reveal facts through the knowledge of his research and experimental studies. Later, Weinberger continues to explain that today we have trust in facts. Individuals don't have the time to investigate every single fact that they come upon, so they trust the credentials. The credentials being its publication. However, facts can be used in contrary with other facts. Throughout time facts have evolved, starting with the age of classic facts, to an age of database facts, to an age of networked facts. Knowledge will continue to evolve and facts will continue to serve different purposes.
According to Weinberger we put stopping points on knowledge because there is simply too much knowledge in the world to fully comprehend. Stopping points are the credentials we use to filter out information, so only reliable facts will get published. An encyclopedia is a very reliable source, therefore making it a stopping point. Once information is found in an encyclopedia the reader automatically deems it as a fact. However, when performing research on the internet we look for multiple sources to give us a common answer and then we stop once we deem the fact as credible. During ancient times though these commoners had a different perspective to what facts were. They believed in "humors" and that the body was able to connect with the environment in different ways. Each "humor" or "favor" was sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic. Each one of these was a part of a conceptual system of organs, bodily fluids, seasons of the year, astrological signs and treatments. Todays we knows these are false facts, but they help us today to understand the base of knowledge. The point that Weinberger is making by using Malthuss' book is to lead us to understand that facts are the building blocks to knowledge. Malthus first uses over generalizations to attempt to make arguments regarding population and food resources, this was very incredible. Eventually, Malthus is able to support his claims with statistical evidence and facts, thus making his claim more credible and helps realize that facts build up to knowledge. Another author that Weinberger includes in this chapter is Charles Dickens. Dickens is very skeptical of facts because he believes that they can take away from ones imagination. He continues this by explaining that, "Facts in blue books didn't reveal the truth." By this he means that in order to understand something you have to experience it, not just read about it in a book, thats where it loses its compassion. Other than Dickens point of view on facts there are also other forms of facts. Charles Darwin has developed facts through scientific observations and experiments, thus making his facts a very credible resource. While other facts, that make come from websites like hunch.com, aren't as valid. They aren't valid because they aren't developed through a scientific approach and tested. Even though these types of facts have their differences they also have a similar goal, to get conclusions. Whether its a credential one or not a conclusion is still obtained. There is a downside with having too many facts, this downside is caused by the internet allowing too many facts in one location. Most of the information is not credible and we can't assume that since its published online thats its as valid as it would be if it was published in a book. In life we have to perform our research, learn facts and not assume the knowledgeable internet to be the house of credibility.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Summary Revision
Before:
In Weinberger's, Too Big To Know, he discusses the value of knowledge, and how in modern times that value has begun to disperse. In the past, information was used to make data more valuable, then knowledge came to make information more valuable. Weinberger states that knowledge is a treasure. In todays society I don't believe that knowledge holds the same respect that it once use to. Its not treasured and seen as sacred because everybody has the ease to obtain and borrow the knowledge. Everything we need to know is accessible through the internet, whether its information about the past, present or future, its all just a couple clicks away. Today we are all writers, we are all editors and we can all get the information we need not through interacting with others or reading a newspaper, but through the internet. The internet is the only thing that is able to hold all of the knowledge the world has to offer, its limitless. This knowledge through the internet is known as a 'network'. Networks enable knowledge to be spread, to grow over time and for individuals to collaborate with one another to create more.
After:
David Weinberger, author of the book, Too Big To Know, argues that knowledge has evolved from its value to it's accessibility. He begins by reflecting how knowledge was cherished in the past. Historically, information was used to make data more valuable and then knowledge was developed to make information more valuable. All knowledge was found in a few places, books, libraries and the mind of experts. These forms of knowledge thus had to be "filtered". Filtering is a term Weinberger uses to explain that only important information was to be used in these knowledgeable places. For example only certain amounts of information could be held in a library regarding one topic, so the most informative was kept while the rest were filtered out. Weinberger then speaks about present day and how knowledge is now looked at and where it is found. Knowledge is still found in some texts, some locations and in some of the minds of others, but the main source of knowledge that is the most accessible is the internet. Todays generation relays on speed and accuracy and the fact that people can just type in a word to google and endless amounts of knowledge comes up regarding the topic that was searched. This new knowledge that is found through the limitless ends of the internet is referred to as a "network". Networks enable knowledge to be spread, to grow over time and for individuals to collaborate with one another to create more.
What needed to be changed in my revision:
After watching the video and reading over the templates placed for the class and I, I learned that I needed to edit my paper by emphasizing the key ideas, using specific terminology and provide a better organized flow of concepts. I did this by stating the thesis in the first or second sentence, by using terms like "reflecting" and "thus" and by keeping it in chronological oder from past to present. I also learned that its best to keep a neutral stance and try not to put my opinion in the summary. The summary should be based on what the author solely wrote and their perspective. Lastly, what I attempted to do in my revised summary that I didn't do well in my first summary was to be clear and not only use the authors terms, but explain their meanings too.
In Weinberger's, Too Big To Know, he discusses the value of knowledge, and how in modern times that value has begun to disperse. In the past, information was used to make data more valuable, then knowledge came to make information more valuable. Weinberger states that knowledge is a treasure. In todays society I don't believe that knowledge holds the same respect that it once use to. Its not treasured and seen as sacred because everybody has the ease to obtain and borrow the knowledge. Everything we need to know is accessible through the internet, whether its information about the past, present or future, its all just a couple clicks away. Today we are all writers, we are all editors and we can all get the information we need not through interacting with others or reading a newspaper, but through the internet. The internet is the only thing that is able to hold all of the knowledge the world has to offer, its limitless. This knowledge through the internet is known as a 'network'. Networks enable knowledge to be spread, to grow over time and for individuals to collaborate with one another to create more.
After:
David Weinberger, author of the book, Too Big To Know, argues that knowledge has evolved from its value to it's accessibility. He begins by reflecting how knowledge was cherished in the past. Historically, information was used to make data more valuable and then knowledge was developed to make information more valuable. All knowledge was found in a few places, books, libraries and the mind of experts. These forms of knowledge thus had to be "filtered". Filtering is a term Weinberger uses to explain that only important information was to be used in these knowledgeable places. For example only certain amounts of information could be held in a library regarding one topic, so the most informative was kept while the rest were filtered out. Weinberger then speaks about present day and how knowledge is now looked at and where it is found. Knowledge is still found in some texts, some locations and in some of the minds of others, but the main source of knowledge that is the most accessible is the internet. Todays generation relays on speed and accuracy and the fact that people can just type in a word to google and endless amounts of knowledge comes up regarding the topic that was searched. This new knowledge that is found through the limitless ends of the internet is referred to as a "network". Networks enable knowledge to be spread, to grow over time and for individuals to collaborate with one another to create more.
What needed to be changed in my revision:
After watching the video and reading over the templates placed for the class and I, I learned that I needed to edit my paper by emphasizing the key ideas, using specific terminology and provide a better organized flow of concepts. I did this by stating the thesis in the first or second sentence, by using terms like "reflecting" and "thus" and by keeping it in chronological oder from past to present. I also learned that its best to keep a neutral stance and try not to put my opinion in the summary. The summary should be based on what the author solely wrote and their perspective. Lastly, what I attempted to do in my revised summary that I didn't do well in my first summary was to be clear and not only use the authors terms, but explain their meanings too.
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Weinberger's Too Big To Know: Prologue and Chapter 1
In Weinberger's, Too Big To Know, he discusses the value of knowledge, and how in modern times that value has begun to disperse. In the past, information was used to make data more valuable, then knowledge came to make information more valuable. Weinberger states that knowledge is a treasure. In todays society I don't believe that knowledge holds the same respect that it once use to. Its not treasured and seen as sacred because everybody has the ease to obtain and borrow the knowledge. Everything we need to know is accessible through the internet, whether its information about the past, present or future, its all just a couple clicks away. Today we are all writers, we are all editors and we can all get the information we need not through interacting with others or reading a newspaper, but through the internet. The internet is the only thing that is able to hold all of the knowledge the world has to offer, its limitless. This knowledge through the internet is known as a 'network'. Networks enable knowledge to be spread, to grow over time and for individuals to collaborate with one another to create more.
To Weinberger, knowledge is something that ever growing and needs to be withheld in something that is boundary free, this why the internet is the only place where all of the knowledge we have can be and where the knowledge will continue to grow in. Weinberger also explains how in the past we had the urge to know knowledge and today we want to share knowledge. I agree with this statement in the past it was necessary for us to know information and today we want to share want we know or what we've seen on the internet. I personally see this a lot throughout the media. One example is on social media, specifically Facebook. On this cite people are able to share pictures, articles and other information that they feel has a value to them or another person. Knowledge is able to be passed on from one person to another with such ease, and since we are able to share this we can allow it to grow and morph into something else so easily.
Weinberger explains how times differ from the ways in which knowledge was produced, disseminated, altered, accessed, and applied. He states that in the past everything had to go through filters and only what was deemed necessary would get published. But today information doesn't get filtered out, it gets filtered forward, so we have what he calls 'knowledge overload'. We are able to maintain this overload a lot easier with access to the internet, the web provides a single space full of databases and cites for all of us to use in the convince of our home. Knowledge has also evolved through the different forms it comes in. Information used to be solely found in books and from others, but today knowledge is most accessed through the internet. Knowledge is continually changing and even just in my lifespan I've been able to see it. I'm curious to see how much technology continues to enhance throughout the rest of my life.
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