UNH Speakers Bureau
From Claiming Information to Deliberating about It
Information is increasingly viewed as something to be claimed, something one reaches out for and takes. This consumer mentality leads to a demand for more options of information from which to choose. In much the same way that Americans walk into a grocery store expecting a huge shelf of various cereals to choose from, U.S. students expect information to be easy to locate and plentiful so that they can make choices to suit their needs. This consumer mentality leads to a demand for more options of information from which to choose. Students often seek information online when making decisions. More often than not, they just take information, rather than adding to it or engaging with others who’ve produced it. This may lead to two shortcomings. First, students miss out on the valuable exercise of moving from consumer of information to producer of knowledge. Students may stay at the level of unverified or superficially verified facts, rather than engaging in a process of reflection, experiment, and critique of those facts so that they can be held more rightfully as justified true beliefs.