# Wiki Tutorial

## Reflection on [Agnotology and Epistemological Fragmentation](https://points.datasociety.net/agnotology-and-epistemological-fragmentation-56aa3c509c6b)

Danah Boyd starts off by talking about her appreciation of the librarian community due to their commitments to providing knowledge, but a "virus" has spread using technology to "tear at the social fabric of public life".

## Epistemology and Agnotology

She then introduces the term "Epistemology" which describes "how we know what we know" and “agnotology” which describes the "purposeful production of ignorance".

Another definiton of agnotology:

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Boyd underlines recent congressional hearings on online white nationalism and suspected anti-conservative prejudice in tech firms. It highlights how people who stick to evidence-based decision-making feel gaslighted when they discover online rumors and conspiracies. This article covers the spread of white supremacist views, which are frequently masked by doubts and rumors of conspiracies. It highlights the role of agnotology in disseminating doubt and false information on purpose.

She then talks about how the current information landscape is creating doubt to divide society, mentioning using data voids and purposeful term co-optation to change public opinion.Media manipulators are using things such as comment sections to spread their narratives adding to the polarization of information.

Addressing librarians directly, the article emphasizes how librarians strive to inform and educate the public and how actively participating in the networked information battle is necessary; just producing good content is insufficient. Librarians need to be aware of these challenges.


Screenshot for class: