Embodied Knowledge and Sensory Information: Theoretical Roots and Inspirations

Cox, Andrew M.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/101417 Copy

Description

Title

Embodied Knowledge and Sensory Information: Theoretical Roots and Inspirations

Author(s)

Cox, Andrew M.

Issue Date

2018

Keyword(s)

• Information science
• Embodied experience
• Information behavior
• Body
• Information studies
• Theoretical influences

Abstract

This review paper examines some of the main theoretical influences prompting a reappreciation of the importance of the body and how it may be conceived as relevant to information studies (IS). It starts by placing this increased recognition of the body in its historical and social context. It then examines, in turn, how the body is viewed in the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty; practice theory; embodied cognition; and sensory studies. Existing and potential influences in information studies are discussed. Most work that reexamines the place of the body reflects the influence of Merleau-Ponty, but he has had relatively little direct impact on IS. Practice theory does deal with the body, and this has already been picked up quite strongly in IS. Work in the area of embodied cognition has the potential to fundamentally change our view of the relation of the mind and the body, and information as an aspect of that relation. Sensory studies offers a powerful framework for examining the cultural shaping of the senses as a source of information. The implications of the bodily turn for methodology are briefly discussed.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press. The School of Information Sciences at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Library Trends 66 (3). Winter 2018

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101417

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2018.0001

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2018 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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