Good morning, to begin with, I'd strongly recommend that you look at Naomi Baron's _Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World_ (Oxford U.P., 2008), including her ch. 9, "Gresham's Ghost." This is one of the most thoughtful, well-informed, and carefully argued accounts I've seen of what we've gained and lost as literate culture is rapidly overshadowed by electronic media and attendant practices. More broadly, both Neil Postman's _Amusing Ourselves To Death_ (1984) and Bill McKibben's _The Age of Missing Information_ point to larger frameworks for understanding what's lost, not only in terms of research, but in terms of what we might think of as an epistemological diversity, as easily accessible information tends to drive out the kinds of knowledges and knowledge practices that are more difficult, time-consuming, etc., but, in my view, are essential to acquiring centrally important kinds insight, understanding, and abilities - most grandly, wisdom and a kind of ethical judgment that Aristotle called _phronesis_, a judgment about what sorts of information (including ethical norms, principles, etc.) are indeed relevant to a given context. (Along these lines, this week's _Time_ includes an article on how financial managers are figuring out that they became over-reliant on information as processed for them via sophisticated computer programs, etc - and thereby lost sight of the central importance of human judgment. Perhaps it takes disasters of these sorts to remind us that there's more in the human game besides information?) Where to begin on research that I can't find via Google? Obviously, all of the articles, books, etc. that have yet to be digitized or made freely available - for example, an important article on the history of capitalism in _Dictionary of the History of Ideas_ from the 1970s. This article refuted the then prevailing notion that capitalism and the (alleged) Protestant work ethic were somehow linked, and highlighted instead the (Biblically-rooted) resistance among early Protestant leaders to the emerging institutions of capitalism. Perhaps this is "out there" somewhere now - but I don't know what search string I might have entered to get a result that would show me something that I was not originally looking for ... (tell me "everything I don't already know"? - smile) And, as I teach my students to read the Platonic dialogues - not as "information sources" in a narrow sense, e.g., as if these were transcripts of an ancient debate, etc., but as literary and theatrical pieces that must be looked at again and again in order to tease out important clues about the character and beliefs of specific interlocutors, in order to then begin to discern how these shade specific arguments, etc. - all sorts of insights and "aha's" come forth for them, as they learn to investigate, interpret, argue for an interpretation, and make connections between diverse arguments, interpretations, etc. _on their own_, i.e., as they acquire a kind of intellectual maturity in terms of their own abilities. It seems to me that good research does the same thing for us. It might begin with a casual and easy Google search - one that will turn up some interesting and useful resources (often enough, a Wikipedia article is really, really good!). But for me, at least, the hard work really begins when I confront a coherent article or book, and then begin to critically analyze, interpret, connect, and thereby create a larger intellectual understanding of what's going on. None of this is anything that I can look up - whether in print or online - as easily searchable "information." To paraphrase Postman, we are in love with the technologies of our enslavement. I'm certainly in love with these technologies - so, no thanks to the Chinese boot camp, even though I think there are quite serious issues to discuss along these lines. One of these would be, to paraphrase Naomi's argument in her ch. 9, how far the intellectual equivalent of good currency (and, to stretch the metaphor, the sorts of exchanges it makes possible among us, thereby leading to new and important insights, etc.) is driven out by bad currency - sheer "information" that we prefer not necessarily because of greater accuracy, depth of insight, quality, etc., but simply because it's easier to produce and find, thanks to the affordances of new technologies? Sorry, I really should be doing other things - hope this is more helpful than clutter-ful - with greatest respect, - charles ess
For an upcoming paper at an Institute of General Semantics conference, I would be grateful to hear from anyone on this list of your experiences, feelings, or opinions on what, if anything, you've "lost" in this age when we can find answers and information so quickly and easily by going to Google (or to a lesser degree Wikipedia.)
I am not focusing on the traditional issues or concerns like information quality, accuracy, comprehensiveness, etc., but more subtle matters, eg, if you have noticed a loss in areas like:
* No more unanswered "burning questions"/less mystery in life/less wonder * Loss of what had traditionally been enjoyed/appreciated in a longer, slower research journey and process: eg fewer serendipitous discoveries? Less reflective reading with internal questions and analysis? More going on "Automatic" and less use of your own thinking and less mindfulness, etc?
(Feel free to let me know too if you found there really are no losses at all from the Google research age, and that it is really primarily all to the researcher's benefit)
Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.
Robert Berkman Associate Professor, Media Studies The New School, New York NY Editor, The Information Advisor www.informationadvisor.com Intelligent Agent Blog www.ia-blog.com
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Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Center <http://www.drury.edu/gp21> Drury University Springfield, MO 65802 USA President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org> Co-Editor, International Journal of Internet Research Ethics http://ijire.uwm.edu Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23