Folding and Unfolding Information, Trust, and Knowledge.

I haven't been posting much to The Topophilian lately because I've been busy working towards my dissertation deadline. That's right, dissertating. Every day and every night (almost). Below is a sample from my chapter on trusted sources of information. Enjoy! JTS

People typically turn to trusted sources of information when seeking answers to urgent questions as well as for mundane or technical scientific questions. As individuals, we live in an information environment deeply embedded within the day-to-day reality of our physical and social environments. These intersect through written, spoken, nonverbal, and mediated information, facilitating meaning making for abstract concepts and potentially elevating the physical world to the metaphoric plane of symbolic interactionism.

One’s information environment extends from personal to social in a dynamic and heterogeneous assemblage of experience, context, and meaning, constantly folding and unfolding (a la Delueze, 2000) as new information enters to replace or extend what was previously known and felt about the external world.

In the abstract, knowledge exists in multiplicity. There are not only many things to know, but many ways of knowing. Varying levels of knowledge and ignorance exist for both experts and non-experts. To claim to “know” about some issue is essentially to say: “From where I sit, it looks this way.” The influence of knowledge on perceptions of technological or corporeal risks and benefits is socially situated, culturally influenced, moderated by predisposition, processed through existing mental models, and bounded by experience, exposure and attention to information. Trust is similarly affected.

Trust may formulate affectively, pre-consciously, but it can percolate to a level of subjective analysis. Even if we often do not take the time to elaborate on the reasons behind our trust feelings, it is available to us by degrees.

Hardin (2001) points out a few conceptual confusions about trust that should be kept in mind. First, trust is not epistemologically primitive; it is available for subjective analysis. Trust is also not simply a matter of behavior. Rather, it is a function of knowledge or beliefs. Hardin also suggests that trust is neither a one- or two-part relation but can be conceived as a three part relation signifying that, for example, I trust you to do some thing. In other words, it is conditional and relative to context and rarely, if ever, universal or absolute. Second, trust should not be conflated with trustworthiness. Trust often begets trustworthiness, but it is a socially influenced psychological process whereas trustworthiness is a characteristic value judgment placed in a person or institution.

There may be a generalized “social trust” that people develop over time which esteems positive value on others or social institutions but, generally, trust is conceived as being grounded in specific past, present, or future relationships with other actors in the social sphere. Trust in institutions of risk management seems to be an important factor in perception and acceptance of risk as well as a prerequisite for effective risk communication (Poortinga & Pidgeon, 2003).

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Deleuze, G. (2000) Foucault. University of Minnesota Press.

Hardin, R. (2001). Conceptions and explanations of trust. In K. S. Cook (Ed.), Trust in society (Vol. 2, pp. 3–39). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. F. (2003). Exploring the dimensionality of trust in risk regulation. Risk Analysis, 23(5), 961–972.

De-identifying Track Change Attribution in a Word document

This has nothing to do with "place" but it's a small victory worth sharing. Three cheers for small victories.

Huge SHOUT OUT to "Helen C." who answered a minor computing quandary for me today via this LinkedIn post: How to change user name for track-changes (retroactively).

For academics facing a Revise & Resubmit and needing to demonstrate changes via the "track-changes" mechanism in a Word document -- but also not wanting to jeopardize the double-blind peer-review process by having identifiable information in the document -- here you go:

"on a PC you go to the 'File' button in Word, click on 'Info' and you'll see 'Check for issues' next to the 'Prepare for sharing' box. Click on 'Check for issues' and select 'Inspect document', then click 'Inspect' in the dialogue box. One section under the review results will be 'Document properties and personal information'. If you click on 'Remove all', all changes will then be attributed to 'Author', rather than to individuals." 

Don't forget to save the document after you click the "Remove all" in order for the change to take effect.

SEE AMERICA!

I just love this collection of SEE AMERICA art, a collaborative project between the Creative Action Network and the National Parks Conservation Association.

The series captures essential elements of nature, demonstrating the value of its preservation, through relatively minimalist design. The prints are visually striking, using simple multi-tone color schemes and often a woodblock print style.

Focusing on many of the charismatic megafauna and other intriguing creatures -- bison, moose, mountain goats, whooping cranes, loons, wolf, grizzly bear, wild mustangs, and more -- these images capture unique senses of place from regions across the country.

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

With the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service approaching in 2016 and the continued threat of budget cuts today, Creative Action Network put out a call to its community of artists and designers around the world to create a new collection of See America posters for a new generation. The posters will highlight natural, cultural and historic sites across the country depicting our shared history and encouraging individuals to reconnect with these places. CAN has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), who stepped up to sponsor and support See America. - See more at: http://seeamericaproject.com/pages/about-us#sthash.z9G9qivt.dpuf

GMO-free Beers

Rather than focusing on the 8 Beers That You Should Stop Drinking Immediately hows about we focus on those better brews - the non-GMO beers. After you've had a few, read the comments on the "8 Beers" post for a good laugh. So many valid opinions!*

From the Eating and Living Healthy Tips board of organics.org, you can enjoy these GMO-free beers nearly guilt free:

Organic Beers (Unpasteurized & Unfiltered)

• Wolaver’s – all beers
• Lamar Street – Whole Foods label (brewed by Goose Island)
• Bison – all beers
• Dogfish Head (organic when ingredients available)
• Fish Brewery Company – Fish Tale Ales
• Lakefront Brewery – Organic ESB
• Brooklyn – (organic when ingredients are available)
• Pinkus – all beers
• Samuel Smiths – Samuel Smiths Organic Ale
• Wychwood – Scarecrow Ale

Non-Organic Beers (Unpasteurized & Unfiltered)

• Sierra Nevada – all choices
• Duck Rabbit – Brown Ale, Porter, Amber Ale, Milk Stout
• Dogfish Head- 60 Minute IPA, Shelter Pale Ale, Chicory Stout
• Shipyard – Summer Brew
• Victory Brewery – Whirlwind
• North Coast – Blue Star
• Bridgeport – IPA (Bottle conditioned)
• Ayinger – all choices
• Royal Oak – Pale Ale
• Fraziskaner – Hefeweisse and Dunkel Weisse
• Weihenstephaner – Hefe Weissbier
• Maisel’s – Weisse
• Hoegaarden – Belgian Wit

Others

• Heineken
• Steamwhistle
• Amstel Light
• Duchy Original Ale Organic
• Mill Street Brewery
• Fuller’s Organic
• Nelson Organic Ale
• Natureland Organic

*sarcasm alert

Grass Farming in the Root River Valley.

Wherever I go, the Root River watershed of southeastern Minnesota is "home." Flowing roughly west to east, it meets the Upper Mississippi River Valley National Wildlife and Fish Refuge between the toe of Minnesota and the western belly of Wisconsin. The watershed drains the fertile bottom land and driftless ridgelines of five Minnesota counties and just a sliver of northeastern Iowa, in Winneshiek County.

The Land Stewardship Project is one group working to support a balance of sustainable agriculture and community development in the Root River watershed. By partnering with "some of the watershed’s critical thinkers and doers," the Land Stewardship Project is bringing theory to the table of practice of grass farming. At "the kitchen tables of watershed farmers," Stewardship planners seek to find out what is needed to bring more people into the world of grass farming and help make it happen.

Asking area farmers for "a kitchen table to share" by hosting a gathering of neighbors in order to discuss farming "for the birds, for the stream, for your own improved profitability" is an effort in place-making, grassroots community-building, and better communication among those who care about the land but may disagree about its best uses.

Place Literature and Climate Change Adaptation Dialogue.

Susanne Moser has a new research article out in the newest (and paywalled) edition of a Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) journal focused on climate change  (Vol. 5 Issue 2).

Communicating adaptation to climate change: The art and science of public engagement when climate change comes home (DOI: 10.1002/wcc.276) brings together an analysis on climate change adaptation language used in public policy, practice, and the news media. Scholarship on place attachment and place identity "are of particular relevance" to engaging various groups regarding climate change adaptation, as Moser suggests in the abstract:

Insights from the literature on place attachment and place identity are of particular relevance to public engagement on adaptation as it goes a long way toward explaining the quality of the adaptation debate to date while offering promising opportunities for dialogue.

Moser has her own research and consulting business in Santa Cruz, CA, and is also affiliated with the Woods Institute for the Environment of Stanford University. Along with co-author Lisa Dilling, Moser published Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change (Cambridge University Press) in 2007. More recently, Moser and co-editor Max Boykoff (University of Colorado-Boulder) published Successful Adaptation to Climate Change (2013, Routledge).

Location-based Social Technology and Sense of Place.

Microsoft has invested $15M in location-ware app maker Foursquare, based in New York City.

Pedro Hernandez at eWeek writes that licensing this social technology will "help Windows and Bing users hone their sense of place."

Connecting Windows Phone users with the search engine Bing and Foursquare's location sensitive app will allow users to receive recommendations about nearby scenes and sites, ostensibly adding depth and perspective to the user experience. Used over time, says Matthew Panzarino at TechCrunch, these platforms will allow "the user to 'come in hot' with intent information about what they're searching for and where they are."

This is "anticipatory computing," using search and activity history to make algorithmic predictions about what other information or activities a user might find interesting. Big Brother never had it so good.

Does crowdsourced, place-based technology like Foursquare "hone" a user's sense of place? Do users become more emotionally attached to places or develop a deeper sense of meaning through the use of such technology? These are empirical questions. Social scientists take note.