Google's NotebookLM is Scary Cool.
I fed it the proofs of my new book, and it made a podcast about it. Humans take note.
I received the page proofs for my soon-to-be-released book, Misinformation Studies and Higher Education in the Postdigital Era: Beyond Fake News, last Thursday morning. Now my job is to proof everything one last time for publication. As one does, I promptly fed the entire file into Google’s new tool NotebookLM, which gave me this terrific summary of the book:
Paul Cook's book, Misinformation Studies and Higher Education in the Postdigital Era: Beyond Fake News, argues that the proliferation of misinformation online poses a significant challenge to higher education institutions, which are already facing declining enrollments, funding, and public trust. Cook proposes a multidisciplinary approach to addressing this challenge, one that involves understanding how knowledge is produced and circulated in a postdigital world, and how to effectively engage in discussions about truth and falsehood in an era of pervasive misinformation. He argues that universities have a critical role to play in preparing students to navigate a complex information ecosystem, and that the traditional focus on individual media literacy is insufficient to address the systemic issues that contribute to the spread of problematic information. He draws upon a range of examples and scholarship, including the history of fact-checking, the development of modern facts, and the rise of social media, to make his case for a more comprehensive and nuanced approach to misinformation studies in higher education.
Dang, that’s actually a solid overview of the project. Better than I could come up with, most likely.
But here’s something truly new and cool. NotebookLM will also create a podcast—a convincing podcast with interactive male and female voices—based on what you feed it (and only what you feed it, so as to cut down on AI’s penchant for weird hallucinations). Here’s the lively, less-than-ten-minute podcast Google created for me. (It’s funny because they use the file name as the title, so you will hear the title rendered as a bunch of random numbers—actually, the ISBN for my book.)
A recent article in the MIT Technology Review notes that NotebookLM is powered by Gemini1.5, which enables it to do all sorts of cool things, like create a “deep dive” podcast and develop a study guide with questions, key concepts, and summaries. Forbes provides this explainer if you want to try it out for yourself or use it in the classroom with students.
Feed it your tax return and ask for a summary of your earnings and expenses. Upload your diet and fitness plan and ask it to make an encouraging daily podcast. Scan your old love letters and ask it where it all went awry (a la John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity). There’s no limit to the fun you can have with NotebookLM. I plan to show my in-person students how to use this on Thursday when I see them again.
I don’t have class tomorrow (Tuesday) because I am presenting on a panel at the 2024 Indiana Conference on Citizenship at the Indiana State Museum. Registration is free, so if you happen to be in the Indianapolis area and have nothing better to do tomorrow morning (October 8) at 9:00am ET, come on out to the State Museum and hear me (and others) talk about misinformation and the affordances (and limitations) of media literacy education. I asked NotebookLM to provide me with a summary of my book and a few key points about media literacy that I plan to use as a cheat sheet at tomorrow’s panel. Here’s the “briefing doc” it gave me:
Briefing Doc: Navigating the Postdigital Knowledge Landscape
This briefing document analyzes key themes and ideas presented in excerpts from Misinformation Studies and Higher Education in the Postdigital Era: Beyond Fake News by Paul Cook and a selection of relevant sources.
Main Themes:
The Crisis of Knowledge: The text argues that a defining feature of the university, from its inception to the postdigital era, is a constant state of "crisis" regarding knowledge production and dissemination. This crisis stems from the overwhelming amount of information, the rise of misinformation, and the need to determine what constitutes legitimate knowledge.
The University's Evolving Mission: The text traces historical models of the university – Kant's "University of Reason," Humboldt's "University of Culture," and the modern "University of Excellence" – to highlight the shifting relationship between the university, knowledge, and society.
The Limits of Media Literacy: While acknowledging the importance of media literacy, the text critiques its individualistic approach and suggests a paradigm shift towards a more systemic and ecological understanding of misinformation.
Navigating the Postdigital: The text explores how the postdigital era, characterized by ubiquitous computing, algorithmic culture, and the blurring of physical and digital realms, further complicates the knowledge crisis and demands new approaches to education and scholarship.
Important Ideas & Facts:
1. The Enduring Crisis of Knowledge:
The text argues that the first crisis of knowledge emerged in ancient Greece with the influx of diverse ideas and the need to organize and validate knowledge within the city-state. This led to practices like the Socratic dialectic and the emergence of philosophy as a means of establishing “truth."
"The first crisis of knowledge—and hence what would come to be called phi-losophy (philo + sophia, or “love of knowledge”)—appeared in the earliest Greek city-states." (Cook, Chapter 2, p. 34).
This historical example underscores the enduring challenge of managing knowledge heterogeneity. The modern university, particularly in the postdigital era, faces a similar crisis exacerbated by information overload and the proliferation of misinformation.
2. From Reason to Culture to Excellence:
The text traces how different historical models of the university have shaped its mission:
Kant’s University of Reason: Emphasized reason as the organizing principle of the university, with a focus on cultivating critical thinking and safeguarding knowledge from external influences. (Cook, Chapter 2)
Humboldt’s University of Culture: Viewed the university as integral to the nation-state, tasked with fostering a national culture and educating citizen-subjects. (Cook, Chapter 2)
The University of Excellence: The current model, often critiqued for prioritizing metrics, rankings, and market-driven values over its broader societal role and humanistic mission. (Cook, Chapters 1, 2)
3. Media Literacy: Necessary but Insufficient:
The text argues that traditional media literacy, while crucial, is insufficient to address the complexities of misinformation in the postdigital age.
The individualistic focus on personal responsibility neglects the systemic factors (algorithms, platform design, political polarization) that contribute to polluted information environments. (Cook, Chapter 4)
The text suggests that “media literacy has reached its Stop the Insanity! moment.” (Cook, Chapter 4, p. 88).
A paradigm shift is needed, moving beyond individual skills to a more ecological understanding of media systems and their impact on knowledge formation.
4. Embracing the Postdigital Condition:
The postdigital era, characterized by the blurring of physical and digital realms, presents unique challenges and opportunities for knowledge production and dissemination.
The text emphasizes the need for critical engagement with the postdigital aesthetic and its impact on human cognition, social relations, and the organization of knowledge. (Cook, Chapter 6)
The concept of "making digital" highlights how even physical spaces and objects are now designed for their virtual representation and searchability, influencing our perceptions and interactions with the world. (Cook, Chapter 6)
5. Towards Misinformation Studies:
The text proposes "misinformation studies" as a necessary metadisciplinary approach to address the challenges of the postdigital knowledge landscape.
This field would draw from various disciplines to examine the systems, motivations, and communication practices that enable misinformation and threaten democratic values. (Cook, Chapters 7)
By fostering collaboration across disciplines and adopting a systemic lens, misinformation studies can equip individuals with the critical tools needed to navigate the complexities of knowledge production and consumption in the postdigital era.
Supporting Evidence from External Sources:
The sources by boyd, Alexander, and others highlight the complexities of digital literacies and the need for nuanced approaches to education.
Sources like Pariser ("Filter Bubble") and Stengel ("Information Wars") provide evidence of how algorithms, platform design, and deliberate misinformation campaigns shape our information ecosystems.
Authors like Poovey ("A History of the Modern Fact") and Cloud ("Frame-checking") offer valuable perspectives on the historical construction of "facts" and the role of framing in shaping our understanding of reality.
Conclusion:
Cook’s work, supported by a range of external scholarship, underscores the urgent need to rethink our relationship with knowledge in the postdigital age. By moving beyond traditional approaches to media literacy and embracing a more systemic and critical perspective on misinformation, "misinformation studies" offers a promising path for fostering a more informed and discerning public capable of engaging with the complexities of the digital knowledge landscape.
