[Air-L] What's "Lost" in the Google age of Research?

[Charles Ess]

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