Re: [Fis] The Assymetry of Information
Hi Guy and Joseph, Joseph's observation about media coverage of the H1N1 vaccine touches on work I'm currently doing in relation to causal structure in stories. In terms of narrative information, the first piece received seems to act as a foundation, which constrains all information that comes later on the topic (perhaps in a similar way to "entry order effects"). It is very difficult to change the terms of the story once this initial piece has been established. One reason is, the purpose of that first piece is to identify what elements of a situation have agency, and in what ways. It tells the reader what the agents are so they can track causal consequence. >Assuming the sources of this information are the media and certain "experts", one can see the assymetry in terms of responsibility: if the media are right to be negative, they look prescient; if they are wrong, and all goes well, as appears to be the case, no one cares and their role in propagating the information is quickly overlooked, if not forgotten. If, however, the media information had been neutral or positive, i.e. there was no reason to be alarmed, they might be attacked legally if a flu pandemic occurred. Negative information "sells" better than positive information. This seems to me to be related to the way stories identify agency. As Joseph has noted in the above case, not much agency is attributed to not vaccinating (when in fact inaction could be disastrous). This may be because agency was first identified in terms of the negative effects of the vaccine. In order to change the notion of which elements are agents, you'd have to renegotiate the terms of the discussion, which is too complex for the news genre. There may also be a problem in that in this case, causal consequence is easier to identify in the don't-vaccinate story. It is easier to point to the victim of a bad vaccination than to see the direct impact of distributed lack of immunity in the community. It is more difficult to link the consequence of not doing anything to an identifiable person or victim. Again, the second type of agency doesn't lend itself well to representation in simple story structures, such as those in the news genre. So from my perspective, the asymmetry is in terms of causal roles and information, which then determine whether something is seen to be positive or negative information. Cheers, Beth. > Hi Joseph, > > This is an interesting topic having to do specifically with the way humans > process and weigh the validity of socially transmitted information. I > would like to add "entry order effects" to the positive/negative bias you > describe. I personally view cognition as a process that generates and > relies on heuristic models, which are generally prone to entry order > effects. In this context I think we tend to attribute validity to ideas > or claims that we encounter first. The validity-bar is raised for > subsequently encountered alternatives. Neither of these biases seem to > reflect natural probabilities, although I can imagine that they might have > had (still have?) selective value for our ancestors. > > Regards, > > Guy > > > on 11/12/09 9:26 AM, Joseph Brenner at joe.bren...@bluewin.ch wrote: > > Dear Colleagues, > > Here is a possible, and timely, FIS discussion topic: > > The refusal of large numbers of people, especially health professionals, > to be vaccinated against H1/N1 flu poses the question of the information, > if any, on which they base this decision. > > If one goes back to the beginning of the epidemic, one notes several > systems of highly negative (frightening) information: the new flu might be > extremely dangerous; the pharmaceutical industry will be unable to produce > a vaccine; even if it does, it will be dangerous because not tested > sufficiently for profit reasons. > > Assuming the sources of this information are the media and certain > "experts", one can see the assymetry in terms of responsibility: if the > media are right to be negative, they look prescient; if they are wrong, > and all goes well, as appears to be the case, no one cares and their role > in propagating the information is quickly overlooked, if not forgotten. > If, however, the media information had been neutral or positive, i.e. > there was no reason to be alarmed, they might be attacked legally if a flu > pandemic occurred. Negative information "sells" better than positive > information. > > The really frightening result of the original negative information, > however, is that it seems to override the current positive information, > statements by Ministers of Health, etc: people don't get vaccinated, and > the pandemic becomes more probable! > > My questions are to what extent has the theory of value-laden information > and this kind of dynamic been studied and what kind of public discussion > of it is desirable and possible? I look forward to comments. > > Best wishes, > > Joseph > > > ___
[Fis] Fwd: Re: The Assymetry of Information
--- Begin Message --- Joseph -- This sounds like a case for Game Theory, a topic that I find too tedious to explore myself! More 'realistically', I think that personality traits decide such things. In my case, I would gradually tend to lean in one direction, and this leaning will grow until the decision has (already previously, before my explicit decision) been made. STAN --- End Message --- ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
[Fis] The Assymetry of Information
Faith in religion, faith in science, faith in information media, etc. But let us consider that in a rough chronological order: - Millenaries ago and still now: what is written is true because it is written (well, some milenaries ago most people were unable to read) - It is written in a book so it is true - It is written in a journal so it is true - It is heard at the radio, so it is true - It is seen at tv so it is true - The computer said that it is true, so it is true - It is written in a web page so it is true - It is written in Wikipedia so it is true - It is written in a high rank science journal so it is true - It is told by some VIP (very important politician) so it is true - It is told by my director so it is true etc. etc. Yes we receive information. But received informations are most time contradictory. The asymmetry between the sender and the receiver is clear, just as is clear the asymmetry between the vendor of something you don't need and you: the vendor needs your money, and it is why he delivers his "information". It is rarely good for you. Information is received ? The question is: why the sender indeed sent information ? Michel Petitjean, CEA/DSV/iBiTec-S/SB2SM (CNRS URA 2096), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. Phone: +331 6908 4006 / Fax: +331 6908 4007 E-mail: michel.petitj...@cea.fr, petitjean.chi...@gmail.com (preferred) http://petitjeanmichel.free.fr/itoweb.petitjean.html ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
Re: [Fis] The Assymetry of Information
thanks Jo. I see an analogy (is it just an analogy?) between today's faith in science and the faith in religion of our ancestors. In both cases the system that is supposed to give right, legitimate and timely information has unsurmountable limits but faith does not like such kind of constraints. When the crisis is over, the will of god and/or the faith in scientific progress will still ocupy their role as omniscient source we want them to have. Value-laden information in the context of methdological uncertainty (as in the case of science) is probably an exception that does not function in society as a whole. Rafael > Dear Colleagues, > > Here is a possible, and timely, FIS discussion topic: > > The refusal of large numbers of people, especially health > professionals, to be vaccinated against H1/N1 flu poses the question > of the information, if any, on which they base this decision. > > If one goes back to the beginning of the epidemic, one notes several > systems of highly negative (frightening) information: the new > flu might be extremely dangerous; the pharmaceutical industry will be > unable to produce a vaccine; even if it does, it will be dangerous > because not tested sufficiently for profit reasons. > > Assuming the sources of this information are the media and certain > "experts", one can see the assymetry in terms of responsibility: if > the media are right to be negative, they look prescient; if they are > wrong, and all goes well, as appears to be the case, no one cares and > their role in propagating the information is quickly overlooked, if > not forgotten. If, however, the media information had been neutral or > positive, i.e. there was no reason to be alarmed, they might be > attacked legally if a flu pandemic occurred. Negative information > "sells" better than positive information. > > The really frightening result of the original negative information, > however, is that it seems to override the current positive > information, statements by Ministers of Health, etc: people don't get > vaccinated, and the pandemic becomes /more/ probable! > > My questions are to what extent has the theory of value-laden > information and this kind of dynamic been studied and what kind of > public discussion of it is desirable and possible? I look forward to > comments. > > Best wishes, > > Joseph > > > ___ > fis mailing list > fis@listas.unizar.es > https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis > -- Prof. Dr. Rafael Capurro Hochschule der Medien (HdM), Germany Director, Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute Information Ethics (STI-IE), Germany Information Ethics Senior Fellow, 2009-2010, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Postal Address: Redtenbacherstr. 9, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany E-Mail: raf...@capurro.de Voice: + 49 - 721 - 98 22 9 - 22 (Fax: -21) Homepage: www.capurro.de STI-IE: http://sti-ie.de ICIE: http://icie.zkm.de IRIE: http://www.i-r-i-e.net ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
Re: [Fis] The Assymetry of Information
Hi Joseph, This is an interesting topic having to do specifically with the way humans process and weigh the validity of socially transmitted information. I would like to add "entry order effects" to the positive/negative bias you describe. I personally view cognition as a process that generates and relies on heuristic models, which are generally prone to entry order effects. In this context I think we tend to attribute validity to ideas or claims that we encounter first. The validity-bar is raised for subsequently encountered alternatives. Neither of these biases seem to reflect natural probabilities, although I can imagine that they might have had (still have?) selective value for our ancestors. Regards, Guy on 11/12/09 9:26 AM, Joseph Brenner at joe.bren...@bluewin.ch wrote: Dear Colleagues, Here is a possible, and timely, FIS discussion topic: The refusal of large numbers of people, especially health professionals, to be vaccinated against H1/N1 flu poses the question of the information, if any, on which they base this decision. If one goes back to the beginning of the epidemic, one notes several systems of highly negative (frightening) information: the new flu might be extremely dangerous; the pharmaceutical industry will be unable to produce a vaccine; even if it does, it will be dangerous because not tested sufficiently for profit reasons. Assuming the sources of this information are the media and certain "experts", one can see the assymetry in terms of responsibility: if the media are right to be negative, they look prescient; if they are wrong, and all goes well, as appears to be the case, no one cares and their role in propagating the information is quickly overlooked, if not forgotten. If, however, the media information had been neutral or positive, i.e. there was no reason to be alarmed, they might be attacked legally if a flu pandemic occurred. Negative information "sells" better than positive information. The really frightening result of the original negative information, however, is that it seems to override the current positive information, statements by Ministers of Health, etc: people don't get vaccinated, and the pandemic becomes more probable! My questions are to what extent has the theory of value-laden information and this kind of dynamic been studied and what kind of public discussion of it is desirable and possible? I look forward to comments. Best wishes, Joseph ___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
[Fis] The Assymetry of Information
Dear Colleagues, Here is a possible, and timely, FIS discussion topic: The refusal of large numbers of people, especially health professionals, to be vaccinated against H1/N1 flu poses the question of the information, if any, on which they base this decision. If one goes back to the beginning of the epidemic, one notes several systems of highly negative (frightening) information: the new flu might be extremely dangerous; the pharmaceutical industry will be unable to produce a vaccine; even if it does, it will be dangerous because not tested sufficiently for profit reasons. Assuming the sources of this information are the media and certain "experts", one can see the assymetry in terms of responsibility: if the media are right to be negative, they look prescient; if they are wrong, and all goes well, as appears to be the case, no one cares and their role in propagating the information is quickly overlooked, if not forgotten. If, however, the media information had been neutral or positive, i.e. there was no reason to be alarmed, they might be attacked legally if a flu pandemic occurred. Negative information "sells" better than positive information. The really frightening result of the original negative information, however, is that it seems to override the current positive information, statements by Ministers of Health, etc: people don't get vaccinated, and the pandemic becomes more probable! My questions are to what extent has the theory of value-laden information and this kind of dynamic been studied and what kind of public discussion of it is desirable and possible? I look forward to comments. Best wishes, Joseph___ fis mailing list fis@listas.unizar.es https://webmail.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
