In “Why has Critique Run Out of Steam” Bruno Latour talks about how the art of criticism, which was once used to unmask certain truths in a given situation, is now being manipulated by people for personal and political gain. He explains that individuals are spinning facts in a way to tell stories that are not true (e.g. conspiracy theories like 9/11 not being a result of terrorism). Latour states that “a certain form of critical spirit has sent us down the wrong path, encouraging us to fight the wrong enemies and, worst of all, to be considered as friends by the wrong sort of allies” (Latour 232). Latour’s issues about using criticism in the wrong way reminds me of how mindful we must be of the influential power of language when we perform our own research in this class. While I do not think that any of our research will lead us to the extreme of purporting conspiracy theories, we as small-scale researchers must still keep in mind the importance of using facts to remain as objective as possible, not to push our own biased views forward.
Latour, B. (2004). Why has critique run out of steam?: from matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry, spec. issue on the Future of Critique, 30(2), 225-248
One might also consider the influential power of the written language in particular. With social media we have moved away from verbal language (including inflections, body language and tone) and into a static written form. For example, text communication might work against someone who is trying to be funny but comes across as disingenuous. We must also be careful to edit ourselves if we are unsure how recipients of our tweets/fb status/emails could mis-interpret our text. This is also true of our research and writing. All kinds of writing require balance, which is an art unto itself.
ReplyDeleteYour comments about the important of remaining objective as researchers reminds me of an article I read in my information policy class: (Whose) Value-Sensitive Design? A Study of Long-Distance Relationship in an Arabic Cultural Context by Alsheikh, Rode, and Lindley (2011). It is a study of 11 individuals using technology in their long-distance relationships in an arabic cultural context. The article focuses on the implications of embedded values and appropriation of technologies to fit personal values, and cross-cultural value sensitive design.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, some of the thought that underpins cross-cultural value sensitive-design translates to your point of remaining objective. When it came down to evaluating their data: "Closing readings of the data, and a careful consideration of what we, as researchers come from Iraq, the US, and the UK, took for granted in our own notions of piracy, alerted us to the need for some alternative theoretical lenses with which to interpret it." It was important that their own cultural biases from existing theories did not influence their research (engagement with the participants as well as analysis of the data).
Alsheikh, T., Rode, J., & Lindley, S. (2011). (Whose) Value-sensitive design? A study of long-distance relationships in an Arabic cultural context. Proceedings of the ACM 2011 conference on Computer supported cooperative work, March 19-23, 2011, Hangzhou, China. Retrieved from: http://dl.acm.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/citation.cfm?id=1958836