DSA & Q-Lab: 'In an Age of Answers, Questions Matter More Than Ever'

This afternoon I joined an online webinar organised by THE DIGITAL STATECRAFT ACADEMY:

'Gaining understanding by structuring inquiry: 
probing data with one right question after another is almost here'

The art, science, and practice of governing well in the algorithmic age

The Digital Statecraft Academy (DSA) is a global hub for cultivating visionary public leaders ready to navigate the complexities of data, AI, and digital governance. Backed by world-leading academic and policy institutions, DSA equips today’s leaders with the tools, knowledge, connections, and foresight to govern ethically, strategically, and resiliently in a rapidly evolving digital world.

 

There is a manifesto to read and endorse: and Ten Principles of Digital Statecraft

 

Also highlighted was Q-Lab 

About Q-Lab

Questions shape what becomes visible, what is investigated, what is funded, and ultimately what societies come to know. They are fundamental not only to scientific inquiry but to a wide range of sectors and practices—from education and journalism to policymaking, medicine, law, and business, among others.

Despite this foundational role, questions are seldom treated as objects of systematic study. Established fields examine intelligence, knowledge production, and decision-making, yet few, if any, take questions themselves as their subject.

How should we define a good question? Which questions are most likely to serve as stepping stones toward breakthrough insights? Who determines which questions matter most? In short, what do we actually know about questions?

Questions Lab (Q-Lab) is the first multidisciplinary initiative dedicated to establishing questions as a field of study and practice, understanding how questions emerge, how they evolve, which questions make the greatest impact, and how they shape the trajectory of knowledge across disciplines and generations, in order to help individuals and institutions navigate complexity, deliberate more thoughtfully, and set better priorities.

I look forward to more events in future.

 

Previously: Questions in eclipse : 'question'

'Oh Thomasina!' Such a drama in a diagram

Arcadia

Last evening I really enjoyed a performance of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Duke of York's, or soon to be - The Tom Stoppard Theatre:

Act I, Scene 2  

'Septimus ... You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew? ...'^ p.20.

 Act II, Scene 3

'Lady Croom We are intruding here - this will not do, Mr Hodge. Evidently, nothing is being learned. (To Noakes) Come along, sir! 

Thomasina Mr Noakes - bad news from Paris! 

Noakes Is it the Emperor Napoleon? 

Thomasina No. (She tears the page off her drawing block, with her "diagram" on it) It concerns your heat engine. Improve it as you will, you can never get out of it what you put in. It repays eleven pence in the shilling at most. The penny is for this author's thoughts. 

She gives the diagram to Septimus who looks at it.' p.74
...
Now Septimus retrieves his book from Thomasina. He turns the pages, and also continues to study Thomasina's diagram. ... 

Septimus Why does it mean Mr Noakes's engine pays eleven pence in the shilling? Where does he say it? 

Thomasina Nowhere. I noticed it by the way. I cannot remember now. 

Septimus Nor is he interested by determinism -------

Thomasina Oh... yes. Newton's equations go forwards and backwards, they do not care which way. But the heat equation cares very much, it goes only one way. That is the reason Mr Noakes's engine cannot give the power to drive Mr Noakes's engine. 

Septimus Everybody knows that. 

Thomasina Yes, Septimus, they know it about engines! 

Pause. He looks at his watch 

Septimus A quarter to twelve. For your essay this week, explicate your diagram. 

Thomasina I cannot. I do not know the mathematics. 

Septimus Without mathematics, then.' p.75.

 
Tom Stoppard, (1993) Arcadia (Playscript), Faber & Faber, pb. ISBN 9780571169344.
https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571169344-arcadia/

My text source:
https://collegearts.yale.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/arcadia_by_tom_stoppard.pdf 

^ n.b. This was therapeutic, but I still mourn the losses from Alexandria and other libraries ... today.

'Finding the Signal through the Noise' - WHO EARS

It is deprived communities who desperately want to do their best for family, but struggle to have access to and make sense of many sources of information. News and information not just through 'traditional' channels, but social media. Trying to be objective, non-judgemental it can still be surprising how TVs and smartphones are the key personal and furniture items.

Outside of London, Liverpool has a low uptake of immunisation against measles:

Liverpool, now has cases and a child's death from measles:

https://liverpool.gov.uk/council/public-health-liverpool/measles-on-the-increase/

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/alder-heys-plea-after-child-32050189

Located in-between, I often visit Manchester and Liverpool. I wonder now if I should visit Liverpool less. My daughter and her partner expecting their second child have a decision to make next year.

I noticed on X a reference to 'social listening'. This was missed while drafting a paper on COVID, technology, social media and information disorder. More positively, work on 'infodemic' was captured and posted. 

Blowing the dust of another draft, I will reassess this stream of work and seek specific literature, especially contributions to improved outcomes - public (mental) health.

McGowan B. S. (2022). World Health Organization's Early AI-supported Response with Social Listening Platform. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 110(2), 273–275. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1398

See also:

Fryer, Jon. “Information Literacies – Learning, to Thrive in a Digital Age” IRMS Bulletin 230 (2022): 16-21.

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.

Knowledge - Ignorance: Political leaders always seek an informed citizenry. Discuss?

c/o 'The war on knowledge' Simon Schama 
Life&Arts :: FTWeekend

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'As the Founders saw it, the great driver of freedom was knowledge. Two decades before independence, the lawyer and essayist William Livingston insisted in a journal called The Independent Reflector that "knowledge among a people makes them free, enterprising and dauntless; but Ignorance enslaves, emasculates and depresses them". Are you an 'Independent Reflector'? MIND

'In 1779, Thomas Jefferson (who would make sure that his role as "Father of the University of Virginia would be inscribed on his tombstone) championed a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Its purpose would be to "illuminate ... the minds of the people at large" - excluding of course, women and the enslaved - "and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts . .. [that] they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes." The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, primarily drafted by Adams, committed itself to "The Encouragement of Literature" so that "Harvard-College in Cambridge" would be the institution through which the diffusion of "wisdom and knowledge" would ensure health of the body politic.' BODY

PUBLIC 'The informed citizenry' Public understanding of the sciences.

POLITIC 'As Richard D Brown's important history The Strength of a People: The Idea of an Informed Citizenry in America, 1650-1870 points out, all of America's first four presidents (including James Madison) assumed that the security of the republic depended on the "equation of virtue and knowledge". A century later, Calvin Coolidge might assert that "the chief business of the American people is business", but a rich stream of ideas flowing from the learned optimism of the Founders, through the creation of land-grant colleges and the "brain trust" administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, assumed that professors were not the "enemy" but a resource that was indispensable for the good of the nation. The true enemy of American democracy was not professors, but ignorance.'

My source:

Simon Schama. 'The war on knowledge', Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 26-27 April, 2025, pp.1-2.

Previously: 'knowledge' : 'ignorance' : 'political'

'Fake news' - nothing new under the Sun

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	PD Reporter with "fake news" from an 1894 illustration by Frederick Burr Opper

Kruck, D. A 'ROYAL' BIT OF FAKE NEWS. Gibbons Stamp Monthly, August 2021, pp.28-30.

Image source:
https://aleteia.org/2018/02/09/fake-news-post-truth-and-technology-in-the-19th-century/

Hear* are the Global Evidence Results: Health 10 :: Education 1

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EDUCATION 1 MENTAL HEALTH X?	HEALTH 10
	DEFENCE 10

Key recommendations

Our main recommendation is for countries to collaborate on evidence synthesis. The most promising avenue for evidence synthesis is Living Evidence Reviews (LERs), which are systematic reviews that are continuously updated. We propose that ‘meta’ LERs are conducted across all areas of social policy to answer the questions that really matter to policymakers.

“Globally, it may be helpful for countries to join forces in producing systematic reviews and identifying evidence gaps. One proposal, currently being shaped by David Halpern and Deelan Maru, proposes that a handful of likeminded governments join forces to produce better systematic reviews and avoid duplication (Halpern and Maru, 2024)… Like the Cochrane Collaboration and the Campbell Collaboration, such an approach can help expand our knowledge of what works, and put a spotlight on the areas where more evidence is needed.”

A Blueprint for Better International Collaboration on Evidence

https://www.bi.team/publications/international-collaboration-evidence/

My source:
Harford, T. Intellect. Used in evidence. FTWeekend, Magazine 2-3 November 2024, p.9-10.

*We really need to listen and respond to this!

What are the characteristics of living a life?

What about Nationhood?

Citizenship?

[Spiritual ( Sciences, Sociology, Intra- Interpersonal, Political )]

person(hood) individual

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speak see hear	speak hear see
speak hear see

Source: Various since 2021 - image 'X'.

Women's rights in Afghanistan: An ongoing battle
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2023)747084

Afghanistan: No future without women’s participation

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154721

Call for Papers: The Science of Trust Initiative -

Building and Restoring Trust in Science and Health Information across Patient, Community and Population Settings

 

Message(s) to HIFA alerting to, and response to a Call for Papers:

 

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Neil Pakenham-Walsh <neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Friday, 16 December 2022 at 12:11:19 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population Settings

I am forwarding this from our colleagues at Infodemic Management News, WHO.

Opportunities for action Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population Settings

The Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health seeks to solicit diverse perspectives and build a robust evidence base for a special issue on trust and misinformation as part of the journal’s Science of Trust Initiative. This special issue will explore topics across different health communication areas aimed at addressing issues fuelled by misinformation such as mistrust, social discrimination, and pervasive stigma. There is specific interest in submissions related to the science of trust that focus on interdisciplinary collaborations to promote social, policy, and/or behavioral change, address key root causes of health inequities, and can help forge the path forward for building and fostering trust. A good opportunity to showcase your latest achievements or research in infodemic management!

To read the call for papers and submit, it’s here. The deadline is 26 February 2022.

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator Healthcare Information For All Global Healthcare Information Network Working in Official Relations with the World Health Organization 20,000 members, 400 supporting organisations, 180 countries, 6 forums, 4 languages www.hifa.org neil AT hifa.org

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Neil Pakenham-Walsh <neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Friday, 30 December 2022 at 10:06:18 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (4)

Dear Najeeb, Meena and all,

Najeeb: "I think this is a golden opportunity for HIFA to publish an article (possibly written by a number of key people in HIFA) and provide a leading statement that emphasizes the role of communication (good quality information) in healthcare for all." https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/call-papers-building-and-restoring-trust-science-and-health-information-across-patient

Meena: "Very nice idea Najeeb and happy to be part of this project." https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/call-papers-building-and-restoring-trust-science-and-health-information-3-hifa-paper

Yes indeed, the call for papers is specifically about 'Building and restoring trust in science and health information'. HIFA is uniquely positioned to explore this issue through dynamic multidisciplinary discussion.

My initial thought is that this could be done within the framework of our current collaboration with WHO and specifically the consultation we are planning for 2023: 'To identify best practices, opportunities and challenges from relevant health related stakeholders, towards pursuing universal access to reliable healthcare information'. https://www.hifa.org/projects/hifa-who-collaboration-plan Lack of trust is a huge challenge and it requires engagement from all stakeholders.

I would like to invite HIFA members and supporting organisations to comment and suggest next steps.

Best wishes, Neil

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Jordan <shorbajin@gmail.com>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Saturday, 31 December 2022 at 22:12:50 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (5) HIFA-WHO Collaboration

Dear Neil and all members of HIFA family

Happy New Year. The suggestion to invite comments from HIFA members is a logical one and fully supported. HIFA current collaboration with WHO should really be highlighted in this piece especially that WHO and HIFA have both a mission to make high quality information available and accessible by the world. Good quality, timely and accurate health information provided to people is the best prevention, protection and leads to good treatment of diseases. Hopefully this will make heath goals much more attainable. Lets go for it friends.

With kind regards.

Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, PhD, IAHSI

... Website: www.shorbaji.net Director, Knowledge, Ethics and Research WHO/HQ (Retired) e-Marefa Advisor President, Jordan Library and Information Association President, eHealth Development Association, Jordan President, Middle East and North Africa Association of Health Informatics IMIA Vice-President for MEDINFO 2023 Visiting Professor, Ain Shams University, Egypt Member of the International Academy of Pubic Health Scientific Council ORCID ID 0000-0003-3843-8430

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Peter Jones, UK <hifa@hifaforums.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Sunday, 1 January 2023 at 15:45:42 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (6) Hodges' model and information disorder

As highlighted before on HIFA over many years, Hodges' model can inform such a call for papers and project.

In several ways, including but not limited to - critique and representation of data, information, knowledge, wisdom (literacies - across all academic and professional disciplines):

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.
Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.

Additional citation: IRMS Bulletin - November 2022
https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2022/12/irms-230-h2cm-literacies.htm

"I am indebted to Peter Jones, who shared Hodges’ Health Career Model with the 2022 IRMS conference in Glasgow. Although originally used in a healthcare setting, this simple, two-axis intellectual model can be readily used to analyse any complex interaction between the individual and their environment – in this case, information literacies.

The diagram shows a number of distinct yet overlapping literacies that were potentially in play in our problem example, although there are likely to be many more – even emotional literacy played a part, with the frustrations of the young people in question causing them to dismiss potential solutions before they had been tried or even considered. Likewise, socio-political and socio-economic literacies may have been a factor – if you are unaware that something exists in the world due to blind-spots in your own cultural background then you cannot even begin to look for it."

Jon Fryer, "Information Literacies - Learning, to thrive in a digital age". IRMS Bulletin, Issue 230, November 2022. cc c (A membership journal)

During the summer and the "Communicating health research" thread on HIFA, I thought about 'information disorder' and the infodemic:

https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c [*see note below] I recalled this quote too - amid 'information overload'.

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” ― T.S. Eliot, The Rock

As the evidence-base 'accumulates' there may be a questions about the life-cycle of research?

From implementation science to deimplementation: Patey et al. Implementation Science (2018) 13:134 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0826-6

As an 'ecosystem' is it imperative that one (or more) part of 'data, information KNOWLEDGE wisdom' must wither on the academic (vine) database - reduced citation hence salience?

The aims and scope of a paper may also encompass the public's understanding of science. Frameworks and models of care/selfcare are needed that can simultaneously:

"... differentiate between science writing for the public and writing across communities of scientific practice. Described by its editors as an interdisciplinary journal, they argue it is a ‘transdisciplinary journal’"

from -Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet, Orli Wolfson, Roy Yosef, Noam Chapnik, Adi Brill, and Elad Segev. Jargon Use in Public Understanding of Science Papers over Three Decades. Public Understanding of Science, 29(6) (August 2020): 644–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520940501.

Hodges' model being situated can be used in contexts that are inter- multi- transdisciplinary and interprofessional (education).

If I can assist I'd be pleased to proof read, critique drafts, provide a figure / table using Hodges' model to illustrate the conceptual scope and associations of the work.

I may have also referred to agnotology - the study of ignorance, this should (must?) be a concurrent factor in research of literacy. If anyone has time to please read and comment on a near complete draft paper on: COVID-19, technology, society, Hodges' model, fake news misinformation dis- mal- also I'd be very grateful.

[ Since this message was posted to HIFA, I greatly appreciate an offer to read the draft, which should be complete mid-end of February ]

Happy New Year to all - wherever celebrated.

Peter Jones
Community Mental Health Nurse and Researcher
Warrington Recovery Team, NW England
http://twitter.com/h2cm

The call for papers link again:
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/science-trust-initiative/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743

[*Note from HIFA moderator (NPW): Many thanks Peter, this publication looks interesting. The first paragraph of the executive summary sets the scene: 'This report is an attempt to comprehensively examine information disorder and its related challenges, such as filter bubbles and echo chambers. While the historical impact of rumours and fabricated content have been well documented, we argue that contemporary social technology means that we are witnessing something new: information pollution at a global scale; a complex web of motivations for creating, disseminating and consuming these ‘polluted’ messages; a myriad of content types and techniques for amplifying content; innumerable platforms hosting and reproducing this content; and breakneck speeds of communication between trusted peers.' I have invited the authors to join us.]

World Mental Health Day: Forms of Esteem ...

Tua Tagovailoa
Miami Dolphins, Quarterback

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psychological trauma (or^, personal trauma) personal choice Identity Memory Motivation My.. 'Skill-set' SELF-ESTEEM Expectations: *on the field *off the field	physical trauma "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy" motor impairment "He lost consciousness as he instinctively assumed the "fencing position" position and his fingers curled and tightened." "Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who discovered CTE in American football players, watched the Dolphins v Bengals game in horror. He messaged Tagovailoa, saying: .."
social (family) trauma my children's names "[ Bennet Omalu ]... If you love your life, if you love your family, your kids - if you have kids, it's time to gallantly walk away. Go find something else to do. Tua, my brother. I love you. I love you as much as I love my son. Stop playing. Stop. Hang your helmet and gallantly walk away." 'pluralistic ignorance'	'Plausible ignorance' Informed consent MENTAL CAPACITY High risk - High reward "Think of what is still happening in the NFL, of what is happening in rugby, and soon you reach the conclusion that players need to be protected from themselves. Something their sports are absolutely not doing." p.24. PARITY OF ESTEEM

David Walsh, Latest NFL concussion scandal is a sickening indictment of ... Sport, The Sunday Times, October 9th, 2022, p.24. (Paper copy.)

Mr Walsh also refers to - Head On: Rugby, Dementia and Me (BBC 2 TV)

^ Person-centred?

Report: "Memes, Magnets and Microchips: Narrative dynamics around COVID-19 vaccines"

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MEMES	magnets and microchips
[ ... MEMES - MEMES - MEMES ... ]	misinformation ignorance disinformation

 

See also:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=ignorance

My source: HIFA

https://news.stanford.edu/2022/02/24/curbing-spread-covid-19-vaccine-related-mis-disinformation/

image: @uwcip

Draft paper: Abstract - "Society, Technology and COVID19 in Hodges' model"

"Society, Technology and COVID19 in Hodges' model"

Abstract

 

This descriptive paper explores technology, society and the COVID pandemic, curated through a generic conceptual framework: Hodges' model. Developed in health and education, the model provides an underlying structure and four care, or knowledge domains. Each domain can represent part of what would formally and globally be recognised as curricula. Of four prompts leading to the model's creation, one was to facilitate reflection and critical thinking. The COVID-19 pandemic makes Hodges' model an ideal tool to expatiate its socio-political and individual mental health impacts and technoscientific reponse. This will be demonstrated by using the model to reflect and critique the paper’s themes, exposing conceptual content, dependencies, relationships, stand-points, issues and opportunities. The pandemic has crystalised the irony of the 'information age' and a concurrent gift of an 'infodemic'. In response the paper's focus is the experiential impact of misinformation, fake news, ignorance, and literacies.

To begin, Hodges' model is introduced, then COVID, followed by society and technology in combination, an approach based on previous work that Hodges' model affords. Incorporated in Hodges' model, the political domain invites and facilitates dialectic critique. The model is situated, a product of the combination of structure and potential content. The awareness of various polarities, dualities, and dichotomies inculcates recognition of the 'middle' in whatever context the model is applied. This endows Hodges' model with a substrate inherently suited to deliberation and argumentation, namely, for example, subjective-objective, qualitative-quantitative, person-population, arts-sciences, demand-supply and dependent-independent dualities. The application of the model is explained with several examples, to reveal the convention for committing the model to paper. As will be evident, the author is located in the United Kingdom, but continues to seek - as with this work - a global perspective.


Keywords: COVID; technology; society; conceptual framework; Hodges’ model; ignorance

Awaiting news!

Social media: Sanity saver or Mischief maker..?

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	"The Mercury Project is a global consortium of researchers dedicated to combating the impacts of mis- and disinformation on public health and to finding interventions that support the spread and uptake of accurate health information."

 

My source: https://twitter.com/ssrc_org/status/1460619132437774337?s=20

See previous posts:

WHO: Infodemic Management News Flash Thursday 4 November 2021 #25

COVID: Logic is the patient - again..

'Hermes'

Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109.

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.

 

c/o BBC - Whiter than white ...

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	"The Men in the White Coats"
	"The Man in the White Suit"

My source: BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4

Agnotology - (a) space for ignorance?

 Chapter 1 of Agnotology (Proctor, 2008) begins with two quotations:

“We are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance. Ignorance
is not just a blank space on a person's mental map. It has contours and coher-
ence, and for all I know rules of operation as well. So as a corollary to writing
about what we know, maybe we should add getting familiar with our ignorance.”
Thomas Pynchon, 1984

“Doubt is our product.”
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, internal memo, 1969

The discovery of this book and its title, was quite an event.

Proctor, Robert N. and Schiebinger, Londa (Eds.). AGNOTOLOGY The Making And Unmaking Of Ignorance. (2008): Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.

 

 

Previously on W2tQ:

'ignorance'

'smoking'