Networked Knowledge – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
I found this week’s set of readings thought-provoking and at times, a bit dismaying. While I had heard about the “dangers” of living in the Internet age, I had little knowledge of the extent of the impact the Internet is having on us as living, breathing, thinking, human beings. That is, as David Weinberger expertly acknowledges in Too Big to Know, we now live in a world where the Internet dominates and where traditional ideas about knowledge and the scope of information available appear antiquarian, at best. Indeed, Weinberger argues that “It’s the connecting of knowledge–the networking–that is changing our oldest, most basic strategy of knowing. Rather than knowing-by-reducing to what fits in a library or a scientific journal, we are now knowing-by-including every draft of every idea in vast, loosely connected webs” (5). And this is precisely what is in some ways, “scary” about the Internet: it has the potential to hold more than we can ever know or even want to know. Furthermore, while the Internet certainly has its advantages (i.e. connecting people around the world, allowing for instant access to a variety of sources and materials, etc.), it also has its disadvantages as well. As Weinberger mentions, there are contradictions everywhere on the Internet and anyone can claim to be an expert on any topic. There is also a great deal of misinformation alongside fact-based, solid information and it is this messy web that must be traversed and rifled through by scholars, students and run-of-the-mill, everyday individuals. This is no easy task for anyone to undertake.
William Cronon also explores the dangers of the digital age in his American Historical Association Presidential Address entitled, Storytelling. More specifically, Cronon addresses the issue of today’s youth not reading for pleasure and being wholly overwhelmed by a book of any considerable length. He argues, “In a manically multitasking world where even e-mail takes too long to read, where texts and tweets and Facebook postings have become dominant forms of communication, reading itself is more at risk than many of us realize” (4). In an age when (as mentioned above), any and all information is at our fingertips, why would anyone venture into a library or pick up a book to read? This is the frightening reality of the world we now live in. Will there come a time when we no longer need libraries or archives? When reading is a thing of the remote past? As someone who enjoys reading for pleasure and also enjoys the feel (and smell) of an old library and a good book between my hands, this is a disheartening realization. We can only hope that the limits of the Internet will one day be met and that the world of books and book-based learning will not be lost to the ages.
What, then, are the implications for the subject of history? William Cronon argues that history must be reverted back to its narrative, storytelling roots. He writes, “we need to remember the roots of our discipline and be sure to keep telling stories that matter as much to our students and to the public as they do to us” (5). And yet, is that enough to combat the changes the Internet will bring (and has in fact already brought about) to the subject? Can history truly return to its storytelling roots? Or is the subject forced to transform and change with the changing, modern, technological times?
September 8, 2014 @ 11:47 am
Laura,
Thanks for some great insights! Something I actually think about quite often is the changes I see as “time marches on.” I can remember the days before the internet, desk-top computers and digital music. A lot of the changes I like. I like information at the touch of my fingers, but I disliked my children’s addiction to video games. (At one point we put the TV in the closet so they could not play.) Thinking over a much longer time, however, one of the things that has endured through the years is books. It is hard to imagine a world without them. But books are not history. Will history always be recorded as written works? I certainly hope so. But I really don’t know.
September 8, 2014 @ 11:07 pm
The subject of the internet and its effect on books and libraries is one I am very concerned with, as you probably know already. In the library and archives field we constantly hear that our profession is becoming extinct. Instead of accepting this fate libraries have found ways to still be relevant to professionals and laypersons. One of these ways is through digitization projects, which make items in archives and libraries accessible to individuals who may otherwise never have a chance to view these items. These collections are valuable but you lose some of the value of the source. You cannot feel the paper or smell the mustiness of a 150 year old document online, at least not yet anyway! I read books on my Kindle, computer, and tangible forms. They all have advantages and disadvantages, but I’ll take a real book any day. I think, and hope, this feeling never changes, both for me and others. As to storytelling, some of my favorite historical works have started with a good story and they were stories that mattered. Without the story I may never have finished the work. Thanks Laura!