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 A Social Science Perspective on the Medialization of Society

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?

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

Outline of the Presentation 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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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:…

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

Summary 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 web- users produces relevant issues and opinions as processing results

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)