Post-Truth as a New Object for Information Science

This paper presents the results of research on the information science evolution, its concepts and problems, highlighting how the recent post-truth phenomenon raises new questions to the area. The objectives are related to the identification and characterization of the post-truth phenomenon to demonstrate that it represents a new informational reality challenging the categories hitherto existing. The discussion on information science starts from the mapping of three major study models in the area: the physical, the cognitive, and the social. The first, which arose at the beginning of information science, focuses on the technical aspects of the transmission of records and on issues of information retrieval. The second focuses on the design of information systems based on the users' cognitive needs and search processes. The third focuses on the social and cultural dimensions of information, its relationship with the action of the subjects and the contexts in which these actions occur. The discussion about the post-truth is presented in terms of its causes, characteristics and consequences. Its causes include scientific denialism, the human cognitive bias of confirmation, the disintermediation of information, the formation of the bubble effect as a result of the logic of the algorithms of social networks and search engines, and the hijacking of the idea of ​​relativizing the truth produced by the philosophical movement of postmodernity. Regarding the characteristics of the phenomenon, the intentional and spontaneous forms of disinformation production stand out, through different platforms, mainly the instant messaging applications that work underground. Finally, in relation to the consequences, the strengthening of authoritarian regimes, the weakening of institutions and a greater submission of subjects are listed.

The methodology used in this research is literature review and epistemological discussion. For information science, books, manuals and articles produced by authors from different countries were considered. Their objective was to present or map the field from its theoretical currents and paradigms. Thus, for the analysis, works that only made a history of information science or those presented it only from a single point of view or theoretical perspective were not considered. For the question of post-truth, mainly recent books were considered for the depth of discussions and general analyses of the phenomenon and exploring its causes, characteristics and consequences. Analyses that correlated post-truth with other contemporary phenomena were also considered. The works selected to compose the theoretical framework were analyzed from an epistemological viewpoint in order to compose an interpretive framework to meet the proposed objectives.

The result of the confrontation between the discussion of the conceptual framework of information science and the questions related to post-truth showed the need for information science to give centrality to the attribute of "truth" of information, in addition to those already studied, such as relevance, retrieval, relationship with knowledge.The phenomenon of post-truth has technical, human, and social dimensions. Information science has the tools and concepts to explore these dimensions.

Post-truth phenomenon presents itself as the major contemporary challenge for information science, requiring further investigation for understanding it, and developing strategies to deal with it.