Overcome Barriers of Knowledge Irrelevance

If information is irrelevant - unavailable, inaccurate, lost, stolen, or compromised- it may hinder the achievement of business goals and even mislead the business in the wrong direction. 

Information permeates everywhere in the business, and the data environment is often fraught with inconsistency. Different information is required at different points in the decision and operational delivery chain. Knowledge irrelevance often stems from various factors affecting memory and information processing. 

These factors include decay, interference, and encoding issues. Additionally, the spread of misinformation and disinformation can significantly contribute to the perception and acceptance of irrelevant or false knowledge.

Memory and Cognitive Factors: Memories can fade over time if not activated, leading to a loss of clarity or strength of the neural engram, which is the memory trace in the mind.

Interference:

-Retroactive Inhibition: New information interferes with the retention of old memories.

-Proactive Inhibition: Old memories interfere with the retention of new information.

-Encoding Issues: New information is amalgamated with existing knowledge, potentially distorting the new information to resemble previously established memories.

Misinformation and Disinformation

-Psychological Drivers: Mental shortcuts, motivated reasoning, and emotional influences can cause misinformation to take hold.

-Alignment with Beliefs: People tend to accept information that aligns with their existing worldview, regardless of its truth.

-Emotional Influence: Content that evokes strong emotions like fear or anger can increase gullibility.

-Social Media Algorithms: Algorithms designed to maximize engagement can inadvertently amplify false narratives.

-Amplification by Media: Efforts to debunk misinformation can sometimes amplify its reach and legitimacy.

-Intent to Mislead: Disinformation is deliberately spread to manipulate truth and facts, often through false theories and manipulated media.

Information is one of the most invaluable assets of the company, but you should always keep in mind that information only has value when it has been used effectively. If information is irrelevant - unavailable, inaccurate, lost, stolen, or compromised- it may hinder the achievement of business goals and even misleads the business in the wrong direction. 

Posted in: Digital Pitfalls,Information/Data Management