Social Epistemology and Cognitive Authority in Online Comments about Vaccine Safety

Doty, Colin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73664 Copy

Description

Title

Social Epistemology and Cognitive Authority in Online Comments about Vaccine Safety

Author(s)

Doty, Colin

Issue Date

2015-03-15

Keyword(s)

• communication studies
• human information behavior
• human-computer interaction

Abstract

An attempt to understand misinformation, and particularly the role the internet might play in it, suggests an emphasis on how individual internet users decide what to believe. Given the social nature of the internet, an essential component of belief formation must be an evaluation of cognitive authority and the means by which any knowledge source claims to have it. A content analysis of user comments about vaccine safety reveals the evaluation of cognitive authority to be a rich and complex set of negotiations among internet users. Certain characteristics of the internet seem to enhance the experience of evidence evaluation in ways that complicate underlying assumptions about how people believe. While the internet would seem to be a collection of secondhand knowledge, it is also rife with exaltation of firsthand knowledge as a superior, and uniquely accessible, means of knowing.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2015 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

English

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73664

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 is held by the authors. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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