Evaluating and Enriching Online Knowledge Exchange: A Socio-epistemological Perspective

Abstract

We apply approaches from social epistemology and social psychology to the study of knowledge in online communities. We fi rst provide a descriptive analy-sis of knowledge behaviours informed by social psychology and in particular Arie Kruglanski's lay epistemics. This is followed by normative considerations concern-ing epistemic, i.e. knowledge-related, practices based upon insights from the philo-sophical fi eld of social epistemology. In particular, we refer to the works of Alvin Goldman, Helen Longino and Miranda Fricker. Outcomes of this dual analysis are norms and evaluation criteria as well as strategies to design online knowledge exchange through avoidance of bias, stimulation of diversity and warranted recog-nition of epistemic authority.