Transcript Societal Knowledge and Public Communication

[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Information, Knowledge, and Public Communication
A Social Science Perspective on the Medialization of Society
Christiane Eilders
Prof. of Communicaton Studies, U of Augsburg
First Sino-German Symposium on
Knowledge Handling: Representation, Management and Personalized Application
Beijing, Nov. 7th, 2007
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
General Goal of this Presentation
This presentation suggests a conceptual expansion of the
examination of knowledge:
• Introduce new discipline into interdisciplinary research on
knowledge: social sciences
• So far, review of research activities regarding micro and meso
aspects of knowledge handling: individual of organizational
knowledge
• Focus on macro aspects: entire system, structures and processes
in society
• Special emphasis on politics and decision making in western
democracies
• Key concepts: public sphere, public opinion, access and
participation
• How does knowledge relate to this? Obvious need for individual
knowledge in decision making, but how can knowledge be
conceptualized on macro level?
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Objectives of the Presentation
Conceptualization of knowledge on macro level (rather than on
organisational or individual level) implies…
• Specification of knowledge as a macro concept:
– What kind of knowledge?
– Knowledge about what?
– How is knowledge generated?
• Presentation will show that macro perspective assigns
communication a crucial role in knowledge handling
• Relate knowledge to public communication and media
• Discuss in which ways and to what degree conventional (“old”)
media can generate knowledge (conducive conditions and
constraints)
• Discuss how the new media technologies contribute to the
emergence of knowledge
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Outline of the Presentation
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Knowledge as macro-concept (what kind, on what, how
generated?)
Role of public communication in emergence of societal
knowledge
Conducive conditions and constraints in mediated public
communication and medialization of society
New media technologies in the emergence of societal knowledge
Conclusion
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Knowledge as Macro Concept
What kind of knowledge in social science perspective?
• Relevance of knowledge for societies: needed to sustain the
system (same as for individuals and organisations)
• Knowledge in a society serves as the basis for social and political
action
• Not only individidual, but collective knowledge is needed;
collective knowledge it not the aggregate of individual knowledge
• Knowledge has to be localized on macro level (entire society)
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Knowledge as Macro Concept (continued)
Knowledge about what?
• not „how-to“-knowledge, skills or particular expertise or scientific
knowledge
• In order to adapt to changes societies observe themselves and
the environment; knowledge regards perception of social reality
• special regard to problems: changes in environment and problems
within the system (threats from outside and inside like increasing
discontent, inequalities and injustice, violence, threats to freedom
and sovereignty)
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Knowledge as Macro Concept (continued)
How is macro knowledge generated?
• Start with knowledge in micro perspective: result of processing in
cognitive system of individual
• knowledge in macro perspective: what is collectively being
processed: selective relevance assignment to diverse input
through exchange of views, development of positions on issues
(opinion formation)
• Exchange takes place in public communication; generates
knowledge on macro level
• Public communication serves the function of the cognitive system
in societies; generates knowledge on macro level
• „Knowledge about what?“: knowledge on macro level is result of
public communication on the perception of social reality
• Knowledge relevant for sustaining the system of society is
referred to as societal rather than collective knowledge
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Societal Knowledge and Public Communication
Characteristics of public communication as processing agency …
• Exchange of individual views in public (provides minimal degree
of accountability)
• Allows passive audience to learn what is going on and actively
contribute own views
• Issues and opinions compete for attention and support in public
• Variety of reality perceptions is condensed to only few prevailing
issues and opinions
• Societies need processing agency with useful results when
dealing with complexity of problems. Criteria:
– diversity (the more diverse the views being processed in public
communication, the more reliable the picture of social reality and the
better the solutions to problems
– discursiveness (reference to other contributions)
– rationality in opinion formation on issue relevance and positions
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Public Communication, Public Sphere and Public Opinion
Public communication relates to public sphere…
• Public sphere can be described as system of communication
where speakers (members of society who publicly speak) address
certain issues and take positions on particular policies, in front of
an audience
• Process model: input (from speakers) is processed (throughput)
and transformed into output
• Throughput: only most relevant issues and convincing positions
prevail (ideal: best argument wins under conditions of diversity,
discursiveness and rationality)
• Output is referred to as public opinion; can be described as issues
and opinions that have „survived“ processing
• Processing does not imply consensus: there might be competing
perceptions by different social units, perceptions of conflict are
included
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Role of Media in Public Communication
In modern societies public communication is carried by the mass
media…
• Processing takes place in media discourse; does this processing
agency generate useful results?
• Very efficient processing due to experts (journalists) selecting
input and affecting processing (according to media logic)
• Efficient reduction of complexity, but reflects media logic:
– prevailing issues and opinions in media content comply with media
selection and presentation routines (elite-bias, personalization,
emphasis on negativ aspects, etc.)
– biased representaton of divese interests (civil society, certain regions of
the world not represented)
• Public opinion or societal knowledge in media societies has
limited degree of complexity, but underlies media logic
• Societal knowledge generated in media discourse not a good
basis for decision making
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
New Perspective on Medialization
• Notion is reflected in negative connotation of medialization of
society: does mediated public discourse have the capacity and
capability to generate useful results?
• But medialization has several dimensions: impact on media
content and increasing significance of media in society
• Medialization regarding the quality of media content can be
explained by the need for selection and the professional
journalistic routines
• Medialization regarding increasing role of media or ubiquity of
media has also positive connotations: more sources, facilitated
communication
• Positive interpretation on content dimension? If there was more
room and different routines, mediated public communication might
produce better results
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
New Media Technologies as a Chance?
With the advent of new media technologies and larger memory…
• Increase in information sources easily available; individual
knowledge gain is facilitated
• Sufficient space: less pressure to select
– not only content complying with media logic prevails
– better representation of diversity of other people´s views when
problems are addressed by users rather than journalists
• Easily available space: facilitated participation for formerly passive
audience as users
– diversity of views is represented in users themselves
– no media routines determining output
• Potential of more and diverse input; indicates good conditions for
emergence of useful societal knowledge. But:…
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Constraints in Public Communication via the www
• Low degree of efficiency in processing:
– no reduction between input and output (quantitative condensation)
– hardly qualitative condensation: users instead of professional
journalists: which criteria if not relevance criteria, how about
discursiveness and rationality?
• Lack of credibility (no loss of reputation for lay-journalists)
• Still: unequal access to public communication among segments of
society and regions of the world
• Audience increase not focused on shared content, further
fragmentation of audience
• Better conditions for individual knowledge gain, but not
nessesarily for emergence of societal knowledge
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Summary
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Social science perspective on knowledge relates to perception of
social reality in society which is needed to solve problems
Societal knowledge is more than the aggregate of individual
knowledge: processing in public communication condenses input
into public opinion
Useful basis for decision making: diversity, discursiveness,
rationality; in media discourse conditions are rarely fulfilled
New technologies can improve societal knowledge due to better
conditions in public communication: more space, less media
logic, better representation of interests (user access and issue
selection)
But: access and processing capacity (discoursiveness,
rationality) still not sufficient. Unclear whether or not input of webusers produces relevant issues and opinions as processing
results
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders
[kommunikationswissenschaft augsburg]
Research Questions
Goals for future research:
• assess quality of processing in different media environments
• identify conditions under which diverse interests receive public
attention, relevant issues prevail, and best solutions are derived
• Current project on conventional media and web 2.0: role of news
factors as selection criteria (media logic in restricted space), and
role of narrativity (not necessarily media logic, possibly logic of
entertainment and suspense)
• Further plans: analysis of kind of public opinion/processing result
that comes out of web 2.0 user-interaction (public communication
in new media)
Information, Knowledge and Public Communication; Christiane Eilders