Open Password – Monday the 3rd August 2021
#967
Future of information science – Critical rationalism – Information competence – Bernd Joers – Herbert Huemer – Prior knowledge – Corona – Institute for Information Competence & Information Infrastructure – Google disease – M. Spitzer – Digital discomfort – Scientific libraries – Information scientists – Truth – Tolerance and intellectual responsibility – Authorities – Children – Post-Brexit – Privacy Rules – GDPR – Oliver Dowden – Axel Springer – POLITICO – Robert Albritton – POLITICO Europe – transcosmos – Brand Operations – Ring Central – Enterprise Communications – Facebook – Creators – Wolters Kluwer – EmmiEducation – Patient Education Platform – Care Teams – Outsell – Facts Office – Tribe Global – Open Password – BDZV – Pandemic Year – Dieter Keller – Christian Eggert – Newspapers in Germany – Sales
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Cover story:
Future of information science and critical rationalism
Against the overestimation of the representatives of “information competence” a return to Karl R. Popper is required – By Bernd Jörs
II.
International News
III.
Facts Kontor: Internationalization via
the Tribe Global agency network
BDZV: This is how German newspapers got through the pandemic year
Future of Information Science
and Critical Rationalism
Against the overestimation of the self-confidence
of the representatives of “information competence”, a return to Karl R. Popper is required
By Bernd Joers
To: Herbert Huemer , information competence as a competence for lifelong learning, in: Open Password, #965, August 25, 2021 – Huemer responded to the article by Bernd Jörs « How « information competence » can be examined methodologically and operationally » in Open Password on August 20 August 2021 reference.
Karl R. Popper
Hermann Huemer’s comments once again illustrate how the thinking of supporters of “information literacy” continues to be shaped today.
The dilemma in dealing with this nonsense of “information literacy” becomes obvious in his opening statement: (Prior) knowledge: yes, it is needed. No (prior) knowledge is also good for appearing “information-competent” in both cases.
The megalomania of the supporters of « information competence », who even speak of universal competence, seems to know no limits, because – even without any prior knowledge – the author can « familiarize himself with any subject », can even write doctorates, and can become politically competent express and have a say on all topics and obtain and evaluate relevant information at any time, “regardless of the level”.
God-like and all-competent, the author can also “question every message and check it for dis-/misinformation,” and, according to the author, “not only in my subject, but regardless of my previous (prior) knowledge.”
What helpful “competence” the author seems to have for the ongoing Corona discussion: This, for example, solves the current criticism of the contradictory, scientific Corona vaccination discussion, because with the author Hermann Huemer from the Institute for Information Competence & Information Infrastructure IICIIS Europe finally has an expert and information-competent contact person who, in addition to his disciplinary qualifications in “earth sciences”, has sufficient information competence in the medical field at all times and can always distinguish between truth and untruth. An absolute role model for future generations. A genius. And above all, the “humility of knowledge” associated with this comes clearly to light here.
According to the author, you just have to “procure” the right information products. This is where “information literacy” is once again at its best in the form of “Google’s disease”. “If you google headaches or tremors, you’ll find brain cancer or ALS in 0.1 seconds and also learn that you’ll soon die a terrible death,” says M. Spitzer in his book “Digital Unease (2020, page 88) . And further: « The remedy for Google’s disease is very simple: If you use a search engine ( or any other « information product », Jörs note) for medical topics, then it is a great advantage if you have studied medicine beforehand. » That’s why academic libraries in particular are staffed with such relevantly qualified employees (hopefully).
But this is just one problematic perception and megalomania effect of the “information literacy” supporters. The other, much more critical one is that of the absolutely arrogant and authoritarian view and overestimation of the truth assessment. With complete immodesty, the author claims to have a « general ability to distinguish truth from falsehood » for all questions, i.e. to distinguish « truth from untruth and falsehood from correctness » by referring to « information competence ». And it is precisely this “capability” that the author equates with the negative word “information competence as a collective term for the many small skills that are necessary”.
With this, the author lets the famous cat out of the bag. We, the librarians and information scientists, are the guardians of the grail of the scientific search for truth, we know what THE TRUTH is, because we OWN the truth. The scientific marginality, absurdity and ridiculousness of this attitude can hardly be put into words.
However, it is strange that these attitudes are coming from Vienna, the home of the chased and expelled Jewish scientific theorist Karl R. Popper.
It was Karl R. Popper in particular who always sharply criticized this fatal, unscientific authoritative thinking in the search for truth and, with his falsification approach, introduced a different, non-authoritarian view of the understanding of science and the search for truth, based on scientific logic.
No wonder that he had to “re-emigrate” from Vienna to England for the second time in the mid-80s of the previous century when he was repeatedly confronted with these views of knowledge authority that could not be surpassed in terms of arrogance.
Huemer’s statements once again illustrate the absurd regression to pre-scientific times of an authoritarian understanding of science and truth, which runs completely counter to the intentions of Kant’s Enlightenment and seeks to strengthen belief in religious infallibility. This has little to do with science. Anyone who turns their personal, i.e. their subjective knowledge into the unavoidable objective knowledge that is always unattainable in the search for truth is not only completely wrong, but is also revealing their actual goal: to claim personal knowledge authority and always know what is true or false.
One should remember the first principle of the warning twelve principles for the new professional ethics – not only for scientists – by the Viennese philosopher Karl R. Popper in his lecture “Tolerance and Intellectual Responsibility” (in: Karl R. Popper: “In Search of a Better One World », Munich 1989, pp. 227-229):
- Our objective conjectural knowledge continues to exceed what a human can master. There are therefore no authorities.
If the author then makes the fatal claim that “even small children should learn what is true and what is a lie, what is wrong and what is right and why that is so,” especially through such demigods, then the highest level of alarm is called for. Especially if, from today’s perspective, you go back a good eighty to ninety years.
International News
UK to Overhaul Privacy Rules in Post-Brexit Departure from GDPR
Britain will attempt to move away from European data protection regulations as it overhauls its privacy rules after Brexit, the government has announced. The freedom to chart its own course could lead to an end to irritating cookie popups and consent requests online, said the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden.
Axel Springer to Acquire POLITICO
Axel Springer signed an agreement to acquire POLITICO, including the remaining 50 percent share of its current joint venture POLITICO Europe, as well as the tech news website Protocol from Robert Allbritton. Axel Springer and POLITICO in the US have been joint venture partners since 2014, when they launched POLITICO Europe.
transcosmos sets up “Brand Operations Inc.”
transcosmos inc. announces that the company has set up a new company “Brand Operations Inc.” The new company, Brand Operations, will measure and visualize consumer behavioral changes, and offer brand operations services that manage and operate consumer brand experience.
RingCentral Announces Innovations to Supercharge Enterprise Communications and Hybrid Work
RingCentral announced a range of new capabilities to help organizations run and grow their business by enabling employees to communicate and collaborate effectively, securely, and productively from anywhere. Highlights include: Security and compliance for highest-levels of data protection and secure video meetings, and more.
Facebook: Investing $1 Billion in Creators
By the end of 2022, Facebook plans to invest over $1 billion in programs that give creators new ways to earn money for the content they create on Facebook and Instagram. This investment will include new bonus programs that pay eligible creators for hitting certain milestones when they use its creative and monetization tools. It will also provide seed funding for creators to produce their content.
Wolters Kluwer, Health announced the release of EmmiEducate to improve alignment between patients and their care teams. EmmiEducate gives providers the ability to support their patients’ information needs within their workflow, delivering educational materials that mirror the guidance provided to patients during the clinical encounter.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions unveiled a new product designed to help businesses mitigate synthetic identity fraud. LexisNexis Fraud Intelligence Synthetic Score analyzes hundreds of unique identity characteristics and events to help businesses identify inconsistencies and fraud patterns in application profiles.
Source: Outsell
Fact account
Internationalization via
the Tribe Global agency network
(Faktenkontor) The Aktuellkontor is expanding its network. In order to be able to better advise international customers, the owner-managed Hamburg agency relies on the expertise of Tribe Global in more than [40 locations from Argentina to China to the USA] ( https://www.tribeglobal.net/Members-Partners ). In addition to Germany, numerous countries such as France, Italy and the Netherlands are also represented in Europe.
As an international partner, Tribes supports the facts office in tenders outside Germany. Founded in 2012, the network consists of over 40 successful owner-managed agencies worldwide. They know trends for their respective country and understand the people with their peculiarities, languages and cultures. Each of them is different and brings individual skills and specific knowledge to the network.
With its expertise in the areas of corporate communication, data-driven communication as well as reputation management and crisis PR, Factskontor would also like to support customers across borders with their communication challenges. With its numerous subject areas and focal points in the areas of finance and B2B communication, the Aktuellkontor fits perfectly into the network. Open Password regularly reports on the studies by Aktuellkontor.
BDZV – Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers .
This is how German newspapers got
through the pandemic year
How did the economic situation of digital publishers and newspapers in Germany develop in the pandemic year of 2020? How did sales and advertising work? The “Contribution to the economic situation of German newspapers” by Dieter Keller (text) and Christian Eggert (statistics) published today offers answers to these and other questions. The publication is now available online on the website of the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV).
In March 2020, the corona pandemic suddenly ended the economic upswing in Germany that had lasted more than a decade. It led to one of the worst recessions of the post-war period. And so the consequences of the pandemic were and are a major journalistic and economic challenge for newspaper publishers.
In terms of journalism, 2020 was definitely a successful year: the newspapers gained more than three million additional readers per week. Almost 60 million Germans aged 14 and over regularly read the printed newspaper or use a digital newspaper offer at least weekly. The gain was achieved with digital news products, which 63 percent use weekly, while 56 percent regularly read the printed newspaper.
Sales: Stable sales partially offset advertising losses. At the same time, the pandemic-related recession affected newspaper companies primarily in terms of advertising and advertising revenue: they fell by 16.9 percent to 1.82 billion euros and only contributed 26 percent of revenue in 2020. In contrast, sales revenue increased by 4.1 percent to 5.17 billion euros. Total sales reached 6.99 billion euros, 2.3 percent less than in 2019.
Digital offerings contribute a tenth of sales. In 2020, newspaper publishers generated a good ten percent of their sales from digital offerings. In total, newspaper publishers achieved digital revenues of 785 million euros. Almost a third of this (248 million euros) came from e-paper sales. Overall, thanks to an increase of 20.8 percent, the number of e-papers sold exceeded the two million mark for the first time – and has therefore doubled within four years.
Digital newspaper offerings accounted for around 83 percent of the additional sales of 537 million euros, with the rest coming from unrelated activities such as classified portals and web services.
In Germany, 15.43 million print copies will be sold every day in 2021 (Q II/2021). That’s 12.28 million daily newspapers, 1.53 million Sunday newspapers and 1.62 million weekly newspapers. The German newspaper market is the largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
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