Knight S. Finding knowledge: what is it to «know» when we search?. LIFELONG EDUCATION: The 21st Century.
2015. № 2 (10). DOI: 10.15393/j5.art.2015.2802


Issue 2 (10)

Innovative approaches to lifelong learning
pdf-version

Finding knowledge: what is it to «know» when we search?

Knight S
PhD student, BSc, MA, PGCE, MPhil
Knowledge Media Institute, Open University U.K.
tweet@sjgknight
Keywords:
knowledge
knowledge search
search engines
search strategies
social networks
information filters
metacognitive skills.		 Abstract: the article discusses the epistemological implications of people’s social and technical interactions with information including those important for education. The author analyzes search in an open informational environment as a specific educational tool. The author seeks to answer the questions: what the role of search functions in gaining knowledge is; how they affect students' understanding of the information and teachers' assessment of students' knowledge; how users evaluate the quality and impact of the informational sources they use. The paper examines the role of modern search engines and social networks as sources and media of different search strategies and information representation. It compares the targets of different search engines (Google, Bing Social, DuckDuckGo), social networks (Facebook), technologies and apps (Semantic Web, Facebook Graph Search, Tumblr). The author shows different options of information bias arising from the filter bubble. He draws attention to the fact that search engines through personalization and demographic characteristics filter SERPs to provide individuals with biased information, affirming prior beliefs. The article develops the idea of preparing a person for diversity-aware search and understanding the broader knowledge context. The goal is to develop search engines that can both personalize information and reduce the risks of testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice. The paper highlights the importance of developing the initial position of a search engine user aiming to check, filter, analyze and evaluate the information obtained as well as understand the knowledge gaps. This poses the question of what is "knowledge" and how it may be assessed within the educational system. It also sets the task of developing the ability to think critically and evaluate judgements and information obtained as a result of the search for knowledge. The proposed conclusions will be interesting to researchers in the field of education philosophy, experts in IT, school teachers, university instructors and continuing professional development instructors.
The article is translated into Russian and provided with the necessary translator’s comments with the author’s and publisher’s (Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam) permission under the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
Originally published: Knight Simon. Finding Knowledge: What Is It to 'Know' When We Search? / Society of the Query Reader. Ed.by R.König and M.Rasch. - Institute of Network Cultures, 2014, pp. 227-238.

Simon Knight‘s research focuses on student’s epistemic practices in information seeking. Following teaching high school philosophy and psychology, he completed his MA in philosophy of education exploring the implications of the ‘extended mind’ thesis for our understanding of knowledge and its assessment. That work particularly focused on the Danish use of internet in examinations, asking the question ‘Is Wikipedia a part of my extended mind?’ He then completed an MPhil in Educational research, focusing on the epistemic dialogue children used in collaborative information seeking tasks. His PhD work at the UK’s Open University continues this line of research, applying learning analytic techniques to the exploration of epistemic dialogue and commitments in collaborative information seeking.

English version of the text is open access, URL:http://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SotQmagazine_def.pdf
Paper submitted on: 05/25/2015; Published online on: 06/20/2015.

1. Clark Andy and Chalmers David. The Extended Mind // Analysis 58.1 (1998). URL: http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/people/clark/pubs/TheExtendedMind.pdf. 
2. Knight Simon. Danish Use of Internet in Exams – Epistemology, Pedagogy, Assessment… // Finding Knowledge blog, 23 July 2013. URL: http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/ knight/2013/07/danish-useof-internet-in-exams-epistemology-pedagogy-assessment/.
3. See for discussion and critique of these articles Simon Knight: Is Google Making Me [Stupid|smarter]… How About Bing? // Finding Knowledge blog, 23 January 2013. URL:  http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/knight/2013/01/is-google-making-me-stupid-or-smarter-how-about-bing/.
4. Amongst others, Dan Russell discusses these issues: Why Knowing Search Isn’t the Same as Having an Education // SearchReSearch blog, 1 August 2011. URL:  http://searchresearch1.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/why-knowing-search-isnt-same-as-having.html.
5. Adams Tim. Google and the Future of Search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph // The Guardian, 19 January 2013. URL: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/ 2013/jan/19/google-searchknowledge-graph-singhal-interview.
6. Connell Derrick. Bing Social Updates Arrive Today: For Every Search, There is Someone Who Can Help // Bing Blogs, 17 January 2013. URL: http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2013/01/17/bing-social-updates-arrive-today-for-every-search-there-is-someone-whocan-help.aspx.
5. Adams Tim. Google and the Future of Search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph // The Guardian, 19 January 2013. URL: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jan /19/google-searchknowledge-graph-singhal-interview.
6. Connell Derrick. Bing Social Updates Arrive Today: For Every Search, There is Someone Who Can Help // Bing Blogs. 17 January 2013. URL: http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2013/01/17/bing-social-updates-arrive-today-for-every-search-there-is-someone-whocan-help.aspx.
7. См.: URL: http://actualfacebookgraphsearches.tumblr.com/.
8. Fricker Miranda, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
9. Simpson Thomas W. Evaluating Google as an Epistemic Tool // Metaphilosophy 43.4 (2012): 426−445. URL: http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/tws21/preprints/ 2012_Metaphilosophy_Evaluating% 20Google%20as%20an%20Epistemic%20Tool_preprint.pdf.
10. Simpson T., «Evaluating Google as an Epistemic Tool», p. 439.
11. См. например, этот пост со ссылками: Simon Knight. The Pragmatic Web: More than Just Semantics Contextualized // Finding Knowledge blog, 4 January 2014. URL:  http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/knight/2013/01/the-pragmatic-web-more-than-just-semantics-contextualised/. 
12. Интересное обсуждение по этому поводу см.: Garfield Eugene. When Is a Negative Search Result Positive? // Essays of an Information Scientist vol. 1, 12 August 1970. P. 117−118. URL:  http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/V1p117y1962-73.pdf.
13. Knight Simon and Mercer Neil. The Role of Exploratory Talk in Classroom Search Engine Tasks // Technology, Pedagogy and Education, forthcoming. 2014.
14. White Ryen W. Beliefs and Biases in Web Search // SIGIR’13, Dublin, Ireland, 28 July − 1 August, 2013. URL:  http://research.microsoft.com/e
15. См. также: Feuz Martin Exploratory Search and Extended Cognition in Health Information Interaction / Society of the Query Reader / Institute of Network Cultures. 2014.
7. См. например: Simperl Elena, Madalli Devika P., Vrandevcic Denny, and Alfonseca Enrique et al. DiversiWeb 2011 // ACM SIGIR Forum, 45 (2011). URL: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1988861.
16. Resnick Paul, Garrett R. Kelly, Travis Kriplean, Sean A. Munson, and Natalie Jomini Stroud. Bursting Your (Filter) Bubble: Strategies for Promoting Diverse Exposure // Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Companion, 95−100, 2013. URL:  http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2441981.
17. See: URL: http://project.liquidpub.org/tools.
18. Verbeke Mathias, Berendt Bettina, and Nijssen Siegfried. Data Mining, Interactive Semantic Structuring, and Collaboration: A Diversity-Aware Method for Sense-Making in Search // Proceedings of First International Workshop on Living Web, Collocated with the 8th International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC-2009). CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Washington DC, USA. Vol. 515, 2009. URL: http://www.liacs.nl/home/snijssen/publications/iswc2009.pdf.
19. Singh Rahul, Ya-Wen Hsu, and Moon Naureen. Multiple Perspective Interactive Search: a Paradigm for Exploratory Search and Information Retrieval on the Web // Multimedia Tools and Applications 62.2 (2013): 507−543.
20. Nadamoto Akiyo Eiji Aramaki, Takeshi Abekawa, and Yohei Murakami. Content Hole Search in Community-type Content Using Wikipedia // Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information Integration and Web-based Applications & Services, 25−32, 2009. URL:  http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1806353.
21. Thomas Patrick. Give Us Your Feedback on Search Policies // Inside Search blog, 23 August 2013. URL: http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/give-us-your-feedback-on-search-policies.html. 


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15393/j5.art.2015.2802