The post-truth phenomenon and its implications for the information science research agenda

Abstract

Objective: We present the characteristics of the phenomenon known as post-truth and how it is placed on the information science research agenda. Methods: An updated literature review is made about the phenomenon of post-truth and its tension with the literature on epistemology of information science, considering authors and perspectives from different countries. Results: It is evident that the phenomenon of post-truth implies considerable changes in the way information is produced, shared, consumed and used, presenting dimensions previously unheard of in informational issues. The intellectual production of information science, which for decades has privileged certain dimensions of informational phenomena (relevance, retrieval, search strategies, dynamics of identity and memory) has not yet developed adequate categories of analysis to have a centrality in the dimension of “truth” of the information. Conclusions: It is recommended that information science take advantage of the existing categories of analysis and theoretical models, combined with new interpretive schemes to be created, to diagnose, characterize and propose forms of resistance and action to the negative consequences of the post-truth phenomenon.