Cultivating Intellectual Diversity: Using Technology to Enhance Intellectual Diversity in Doctoral Research
Abstract: In Doctoral research, an increasingly pressing problem is the hemophilic sorting of knowledge. Ironically, technology has compounded this; it has made trivial finding knowledge: the problem is the nature of this knowledge. Gone are the days of serendipitously searching physical libraries: today search is schemata driven. Keywords, theories and ideas a priori drive search, rather than knowledge emerging a posteriori after physical search. And the result is a title wave of knowledge, but knowledge closely bound to the original search terms. So, we are faced with disciplines becoming research rich but idea poor. Academics and their students are becoming increasingly specialized and intellectually homogeneous. This is especially problematic in a world where diversity drives innovation. In this seminar, we explore how the mindful use of technology can be used to increase intellectual diversity in the doctoral research – to the benefit of both students and supervisors, and wider society.