Information naïveté

Im Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (Volume 59, Issue 7, Pages 1124-1127) ist ein interessanter Aufsatz von Roberta Brody mit dem Titel "The problem of information naïveté" erschienen. Thematisiert werden ethische Probleme nicht genügender Informationskompetenz. Angesprochen werden hier auch Informationsanbieter, die eine Naivität im Umgang mit Informationen unterstützen, wenn sie z.B. glauben machen, dass über ihr Angebot wirklich alles Wichtige zu bekommen ist.

Die Artikel des Teilthemenheftes "Perspectives on Global Information Ethics" scheinen zur Zeit im Rahmen einer PR-Aktion frei zugänglich zu sein.

This article explores the ethical dilemmas that can result from the lack of information literacy. […] Information naïveté includes both the hubris of incompetence and the misplaced pride of the inexperienced. […] The dilemma then is how information creators, aggregators, and disseminators should act, given an understanding that information naïveté may shape what appears to be credible information either by intent, by incompetence, or by circumstance.

The space between knowing of and knowing about also may be seen as a gap between information and its recipients, but is not meant to imply that the gap exists because there are receiver deficits and perfect information. Instead, it would appear that while there are information users seeking information […], there also are the information naïve who are unaware of such gaps, uninterested in bridging them, or intentionally exploiting them. We cannot fact check all of the information we receive and still make decisions and act upon those decisions in a timely manner, nor should we be expected to do so. We also should not obsess about whether we, as users, are sufficiently information literate.
Instead, we should consider pressing the producers, disseminators, and aggregators of information as well as the contributors to these products to be less information naïve; to be more questioning, less arrogant, and less possessed by the memories of past market conditions.