“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
- (T.S Eliot, 1934, p. 7)
This week in ETL401, we have been exploring the information environment. I hadn’t really ever considered how complex even just defining ‘information’ could be, let alone variations or different ways to categorise. Theorist Donald Case explains that even just defining ‘information’ is fraught, highly contentious and can have different subject-specific meanings/interpretations. Further, if the definition is too narrow, then it is too limited for application, but if it is too broad then it “poses problems for operalization and measurement of concepts” (Case, 2006, p. 66). I imagine this could make research investigations very challenging! For the purposes of his book, Case opts for broad definitions finally concluding that information is such a base, “primitive concept” it doesn’t really need a fine-tuned definition anyway!
It helped me to better understand the concept of information through the data-knowledge continuum or the DIKW pyramid (data-information-knowledge-wisdom). This theory is a way of categorising information in a hierarchy that progresses based on meaning and understanding. Here is a short video lecture, presented by Kay Oddone, that helped me to better understand this theory:
I think it’s important for us as budding Teacher Librarians to get a grasp on ‘information’ as it is to become our dialect and is such an integral part of helping students/staff manage the ever-growing world of information. Personally I find the conceptualisation of defining ‘information’ a bit too philosophical and am far more interested in the meaning we attach to it and practical application!
Reference:
Case, D. O. (2006). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior: a survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Eliot, T. (1934). Choruses, The Rock: A Pageant Play. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
Oddone, K. (2022). Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9i3_soqoC00
Image Credit: Photo by Philip Strong on Unsplash
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