(2017-09-21) Caulfield Information Underload

Mike Caulfield: Information Underload. I’m increasingly convinced, however, that our problem is not information overload but information underload. We suffer not because there is just too much good information out there to process, but because most information out there is low quality slapdash takes on low quality research, endlessly pinging around the spin-o-sphere. (bullshit)

You’ve heard about the reproducibility crisis, right? Most published research findings are false.

Let’s belabor the point: let’s talk about Big Data in education. It’s easy to pick on MOOCs, but remember that the big value proposition of MOOCs was that with millions of students we would finally spot patterns that would allow us to supercharge learning. Recommendation engines would parse these patterns, and… well, what? Do we have a bunch of superb educational content just waiting in the wings that I don’t know about?

the reason this happens again and again is that what we so derisively call “content” nowadays is expensive to produce, and gets produced by a large number of well-paid people who in general have no significant marketing arm.

And this is why there is endless talk about the latest needle in a haystack finder, when what we are facing is a collapse of the market that funds the creation of needles.