How Electronic structures have affected knowledge and information
As the ‘information age’ has been set upon us, the way in which knowledge is ordered and utilized has changed in numerous ways. I would like to briefly focus on how these electronic structures have affected the sure quantity of information that is available and how this vast amount of information has affected society’s knowledge. Bolter examines how, unlike the printed book, electronic text becomes available immediately to the reader anywhere in the world. Devices such as phones, tablets and computers are all networked together thus sending and receiving information simultaneously (Bolter 36%). These devices have drastically changed the way in obtain our knowledge. Dr. Martin Hilbert at the University of Southern California noted, “100 years ago people were lucky to read the equivalent of 50 books in a lifetime.” Dr. Hilbert and his team performed a study, which concluded that in 1986 the average person absorbed the equivalent of 40, 85 page newspapers in information. By 2007 this absorption of information by the average person had skyrocketed to 174 newpapers. This takes into account all mediums of communication including audio and video. Hilbert attributes this glut of information absorption to the surge of digital data that was stored over those two decades (Alleyne 2011).
Over the past several weeks in this course there have been a number of discussions in regards to the quality of information found on the internet. One can ask, “With this surge in digital information that we have seen, does this in fact lead to a more knowledgeable society or are we establishing a society that is consuming the equivalent of ‘informational junk food?’ A study done by the Internet Center at Elon University in North Carolina and the Pew Internet and American Life project surveyed a large number of scientists, business leaders, consultants, writers and technology developers. The study showed that 75% of these ‘experts’ believed the internet improved human intelligence by improving reading and writing. According to co-author Janna Anderson, however, 21% believed the opposite criticizing the authenticity of websites such as Google and Wikipedia (Whitcomb 2010). The latter I would consider overly harsh, as even instructors at Harvard University “may advise their students to read entries for scientific concepts on Wikipedia as a way to begin understanding those concepts (Harvard Guide to Using Sources Website).” So what is the effect that this electronic smorgasbord of information having on our society?
There is no doubt that electronic structures have changed the way in which knowledge is ordered and utilized. We have gone from a single plate of food to an ‘informational all-you-can-eat buffet.’ It is up to us, the consumers of this knowledge, to identify what is the ‘good information’ and cut out the ‘junk information.’ If we are able to do this, the future looks bright in regards to producing a knowledgeable society.
Alleyne, R. (2011, February 11). Welcome to the information age – 174 newspapers a day. The Telegraph. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8316534/Welcome-to-the-information-age-174-newspapers-a-day.html
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Harvard Guide to Using Sources. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page346376
Hilbert, M., & Lopez, P. (2011). The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information. Science, 60-65. Available at: http://www.uvm.edu/~pdodds/files/papers/others/2011/hilbert2011a.pdf
Whitcomb, D. (2010, February 19). The Internet will make you smarter – Experts say. Reuters. Available at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/19/us-internet-survey-idUSTRE61I5CW20100219#tb0pUHvBBsrXpwyW.97