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Agnotology & Cultural Ignorance

The Problem of Too Much InformationLIS 880 Knowledge Management

Session 2, Part I

Referenced Readings

Proctor RN, Schiebinger L (2008). Agnotology: A Missing Term to Describe the Cultural Production of Ignorance (and its Study) (pp. 1-33). Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ingorance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Berwick DM. Disseminating innovations in health care. JAMA. 2003;289(15):1969-1975.

Agnotology

The study of ignorance

The cultural production of ignorance

Information explosion = ignorance

3 Types or Variants of Ignorance

Native State or Native Ignorance (natural state)

Lost Realm, Selective Choice or Passive Construct (too much information)

Strategic Ploy or Active Construct

Native State & Lost Realm most pertinent to organizations

Examples of Agnotology

Tobacco Industry

Other Examples

Healthcare Bill

President Obama’s Religion

2012 Election

Propaganda, Censorship, Misinformation

The Information Cascade?

Sometimes known as herding action where decisions are made based on others’ knowledge independent of your own knowledge

Also explains rumors and misinformation in an organization

Why Agnotology?

If these problems persist in a society, is it not logical to conclude they exist in an organization?

Example: Straight Razor or Clippers for pre-surgical shave prep?

Another example: Alice Stewart Dare to Disagree

Wrap Up

Part II we discuss how ideas spread

Dissemination of innovations

And the curious case of scurvy in the British Royal Navy