The entanglement of trust and knowledge on the Web

In this paper I use philosophical accounts on the relationship between trust and knowledge in science to apprehend this relationship on the Web. I argue that trust and knowledge are fundamentally entangled in our epistemic practices. Yet despite this fundamental entanglement, we do not trust blindly. Instead we make use of knowledge to rationally place or withdraw trust. We use knowledge about the sources of epistemic content as well as general background knowledge to assess epistemic claims. Hence, although we may have a default to trust, we remain and should remain epistemically vigilant; we look out and need to look out for signs of insincerity and dishonesty in our attempts to know. A fundamental requirement for such vigilance is transparency: in order to critically assess epistemic agents, content and processes, we need to be able to access and address them. On the Web, this request for transparency becomes particularly pressing if (a) trust is placed in unknown human epistemic agents and (b) if it is placed in non-human agents, such as algorithms. I give examples of the entanglement between knowledge and trust on the Web and draw conclusions about the forms of transparency needed in such systems to support epistemically vigilant behaviour, which empowers users to become responsible and accountable knowers.     

Necessary but not Sufficient: reconceptualizing primary teacher education

Initial primary teacher education should be designed to cater for the socially, culturally and linguistically diverse populations found in schools. They rarely are. As a result they tend to promote social reproduction rather than social transformation. Using vignettes drawn from our work on the New South Wales Ministerial Advisory Council for the Quality of Teaching we demonstrate the need to re‐explore the fundamental purposes and goals of preparing teachers to meet the needs of all children in our primary schools. We propose a reconceptualization of teacher education around a cultural studies perspective as a productive way forward which would allow integration rather than compartmentalization of knowledge and which encourages a search for truth in which tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty feature such that knowledge is understood as relative and fallible.     

Do anti-immigrant sentiments track into Danish classrooms? Ethnicity,ethnicity salience,and bias in children's peer preferences

Denmark's commitment to childhood characterized by equality, democracy, and social cooperation stands in stark contrast to public discourse about immigrant children, who are sometimes branded with negative stereotypes and cast as the cause of school problems. This study examined ethnic-group membership, ethnicity salience, and peer preferences of 399 children in 21 classrooms in two Danish cities to explore whether anti-immigrant sentiments tracked into classrooms, socially marginalizing minority children, and whether any such disadvantages derived from ethnicity salience, in-group favouritism and/or out-group bias. Researchers introduced an index to control for class differences in the relative number of ethnic minority and majority children and analyzed both child as chooser and child as chosen dynamics. They found that minority/majority status was associated with in-group preference, social preference, and social status, disadvantaging minority children, especially in the smaller city. Salience was associated with minority status only. In-group preference did not correlate with out-group bias. Findings revealed potential risks and protective factors for minority children. Evidence contradicted stereotypic characterizations of minority children.     

The intercultural reentry: Conceptualization and directions for future research

While there has been extensive research on the cultural adjustment of sojourners to a foreign culture, there has been a dearth of literature examining the adjustment of returning sojourners to their home culture (reentry). In order to further understanding of this phenomenon, this article discusses the reentry process as one type of cultural adjustment. First, reentry is defined and described. Secondly, research investigating the two processes of adjustment to a foreign culture and readjustment to the home culture is reviewed, and the two processes are compared and contrasted. Finally, suggestions are made concerning future research.     

Federal publications cutbacks: Implications for libraries

Since President Reagan's April 1981 moratorium on new government publications and audiovisual products, the restrictions this administration has imposed on executive agency data collection and publishing activities have provoked considerable controversy both in Congress and in the media. This article attempts to characterize the impact on libraries of the restrictions. An examination of the Office of Management and Budget's List of Government Publications Terminated and Consolidated by Agency as compared with depository distribution patterns, agency publication policies established by the President's Task Force on Management Reform, and reductions in data collection activities directed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs are reported. A pattern of neglect in federal information collection and dissemination is shown to increase libraries' dependence on private sector publishing of government information, and to reduce the availability and comparability of certain federal statistical documentation collected by libraries.