The challenge of digital epistemologies

Abstract

This article identifies a range of changes associated with intensified digitization of daily life that require us to rethink what it means for people to know things and what kinds of things it may be most important to know. In short, we need digital epistemologies. The argument focuses on four key dimensions of change that have epistemological significance. These are ‘changes in the world to be known’, ‘changes in conceptions of knowledge and processes of coming to know things’, ‘changes in the nature of knowers,’ and ‘changes in the relative significance of different modes of knowing.’ Concrete everyday examples are provided for each dimension of change. On the basis of these examples and the arguments constructed around them it is concluded that conventional epistemology faces serious challenges. These challenges in turn have far-reaching implications for contemporary educational practice and educational research.