“Do you see,” “I hear you,” “It doesn’t feel right,” “I smell a rat,” “it tastes funny”—all common phrases we use to express whether or not we are making sense of our situations and interactions. Sense-making involves not only the five senses, but physical, emotional, spiritual, and intuitional responses. We strive to make better sense of our situations and our dealings with other people as uncertainty makes us anxious.
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Imagine encountering news about COVID-19 for the first time or experiencing unexplained bodily discomfort. Some individuals remain calm, while others instinctively turn to the Internet for answers. However, the digital realm can be both a blessing and a curse. The more information we seek, the greater our anxiety tends to grow. It’s a paradox: the quest for knowledge can inadvertently fuel worry and apprehension.This situation can be described as “cyberchondria”: the compulsive and obsessive health information seeking associated with anxiety, worry, and other negative consequences.
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If artificial intelligence is so smart, why can’t it explain itself? This somewhat flippant question has preoccupied AI developers and researchers from the earliest days. Over 50 years later, the question is still relevant and increasingly urgent. When generative AI can hallucinate with impunity, there is a problem. Explainability is part of the answer.
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In my recent TEDx Talk, I distilled the past six years of my research into a single word: belongingness. In my research on serious leisure, I discovered that one of the main motivations of people for participation in various leisure activities is looking for a sense of belonging. They achieve this goal by joining clubs, associations or local groups of like-minded people who have similar interests. Even in solo or solitary hobbies, like bonsai growing or knitting when you can perform the activity alone, there is still a need and desire for belonging.
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It’s tricky for people to agree on what counts as quality information. We see this every day with echo chambers on social media, where everyone has their own idea of what’s true or important. This suggests that information quality is a product of our own, individual minds—one that is best captured in “like,” “love,” “haha,” and “wow” buttons on social media. But our research suggests there’s a way to get people on the same page about information quality, and it involves making some changes to how we assess and share information online.
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The progress and development of science and technology have made communication and information tools increasingly convenient, leading to a growing freedom in the collaboration and exchange of scientific research, regardless of spatial constraints. Consequently, the current challenging issue is no longer the geographical barriers preventing two people who intend to collaborate on research from communicating, but rather how to help two individuals, who may not be acquainted but have the potential to collaborate, to overcome their respective knowledge limitations and facilitate possible collaboration with people outside their own cognitive scope.
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Explore the impactful research by Victoria Passau and Chern Li Liew on how Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph fosters community participation, collective memorialisation, and social cohesion. Their study delves into user interactions with this digital platform and its role in enhancing connections within New Zealand’s diverse history, highlighting the evolution of Online Cenotaph from a simple Roll of Honour to a dynamic biographical database with significant public contributions. Discover the potential of digital cultural heritage platforms to extend social inclusion and empathy in the digital age.
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Within Library and Information Science (LIS), theory development has typically prioritised the use of theory rather than its construction as well as the work of individual theorists instead of group perspectives. However, we argue that understanding collaborative theorising as a craft forms an opportunity to think creatively about how we “construct understanding from information and ideas,” including the everyday tools and strategies that bring theoretical work into being.
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How can we, as educators, support student-led inquiry? Awe-inspiring field trips, like traveling to the moon or exploring the human body, are not feasible. But, with virtual reality (VR) headsets becoming more affordable, educators may try immersive technologies to foster moments of awe and promote inquiry.
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One of the most significant aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT) is its profound impact on energy management practices. By integrating IoT technologies into energy systems, organisations can achieve remarkable advancements in efficiency, cost-effectiveness, resource optimisation, and environmental sustainability.
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