Relevance Paradox
Encyclopedia
The relevance paradox describes an attempt to gather information relevant to a decision, which fails because the elimination of information perceived as distracting or unnecessary and thus detrimental to making an optimal decision, also excludes information that is actually crucial.
However, in many significant instances across a wide range of areas, even when relevant information is readily available, the decision makers are not aware of its relevance because they lack the information which would make its relevance clear. As a result, they do not attempt to look for it. These decision makers will seek only the information and advice they believe is the minimum amount required as opposed to what they actually need to fully meet their goals.
An analogy would be that of a short-sighted person who is unaware of the condition. They would not perceive any benefit in getting the glasses they need to improve their sight, until they tried wearing the glasses. Such a situation could be resolved by a third party, aware of its relevance, recommending an eye test.
The Relevance Paradox is cited as a cause of the increase in diseases in developing countries even while more money is being spent on them: "Relevance paradoxes occur because of implementation of projects without awareness of the social or individual tacit knowledge within a target community. The understanding of the individual and the social tacit knowledge in a given community, which is a function of knowledge emergence, is the foundation of effectiveness in leadership practice."
(bilharzia) for locals as a result of irrigation schemes that lacked simple low-cost countermeasures built in, simply because they had no knowledge of these countermeasures. Yet at the same time, the United Nations
had already published guidelines explaining cheap countermeasures and how they could be built in to the design of the irrigation schemes: matters as simple as keeping velocities above a certain level to prevent the disease vector (a water snail) from attaching to the conduits. The civil engineers were victims of the relevance paradox because they thought they only needed to know only about engineering issues such as concrete and water flows, not how to control flow velocities to prevent the snail species that carried the disease from multiplying, so they failed to seek this information.
The relevance paradox can and usually does apply to all professional groups and individuals in numerous ways. While there are many examples of wilful ignorance, there are also many cases where people do not look outside the paradigms they are operating in and thus fail to see the long term consequences.
s (IRGs) and Interlock research
were designed to counter this paradox by the promotion of lateral communication
and the flow of tacit knowledge
, which, in many cases, consists of the unconscious and unwritten knowledge of what is relevant.
A related point is that in many cases, despite the existence of good library indexing systems and search engines, the way specific knowledge may be described is not obvious unless one already has the knowledge.
Definition
In many cases in which action or decision is required, it is obvious what information relevant to the matter at hand may be lacking: a military attack may not have maps so reconnaissance is undertaken, an engineering project may not have ground condition details, and these will be ascertained, a public health program will require a survey of which illnesses are prevalent, and so on.However, in many significant instances across a wide range of areas, even when relevant information is readily available, the decision makers are not aware of its relevance because they lack the information which would make its relevance clear. As a result, they do not attempt to look for it. These decision makers will seek only the information and advice they believe is the minimum amount required as opposed to what they actually need to fully meet their goals.
An analogy would be that of a short-sighted person who is unaware of the condition. They would not perceive any benefit in getting the glasses they need to improve their sight, until they tried wearing the glasses. Such a situation could be resolved by a third party, aware of its relevance, recommending an eye test.
The Relevance Paradox is cited as a cause of the increase in diseases in developing countries even while more money is being spent on them: "Relevance paradoxes occur because of implementation of projects without awareness of the social or individual tacit knowledge within a target community. The understanding of the individual and the social tacit knowledge in a given community, which is a function of knowledge emergence, is the foundation of effectiveness in leadership practice."
Examples
Civil engineers, from the 1950s onwards, unwittingly caused a massive increase in the debilitating water borne infection schistosomiasisSchistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
(bilharzia) for locals as a result of irrigation schemes that lacked simple low-cost countermeasures built in, simply because they had no knowledge of these countermeasures. Yet at the same time, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
had already published guidelines explaining cheap countermeasures and how they could be built in to the design of the irrigation schemes: matters as simple as keeping velocities above a certain level to prevent the disease vector (a water snail) from attaching to the conduits. The civil engineers were victims of the relevance paradox because they thought they only needed to know only about engineering issues such as concrete and water flows, not how to control flow velocities to prevent the snail species that carried the disease from multiplying, so they failed to seek this information.
The relevance paradox can and usually does apply to all professional groups and individuals in numerous ways. While there are many examples of wilful ignorance, there are also many cases where people do not look outside the paradigms they are operating in and thus fail to see the long term consequences.
Avoidance
The notions of Information Routing GroupInformation Routing Group
An Information Routing Group is a component of social networks consisting of a semi-infinite set of similar interlocking and overlapping groups...
s (IRGs) and Interlock research
Interlock research
Interlock research is a concept used to overcome the gaps in individual or group knowledge of which they are unaware of and which would result in incorrect action being taken, or important action not taken, leading to unintended consequences. It is based on the notion that no individual or group...
were designed to counter this paradox by the promotion of lateral communication
Lateral communication
-Organizational communication:In organizations and organisms, lateral communication works in contrast to traditional top-down, bottom-up or hierarchic communication and involves the spreading of messages from individuals across the base of a pyramid....
and the flow of tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient...
, which, in many cases, consists of the unconscious and unwritten knowledge of what is relevant.
A related point is that in many cases, despite the existence of good library indexing systems and search engines, the way specific knowledge may be described is not obvious unless one already has the knowledge.
See also
- Filter bubbleFilter bubbleA filter bubble is a concept developed by Internet activist Eli Pariser in his book by the same name to describe a phenomenon in which websites use algorithms to selectively guess what information a user would like to see based on information about the user like location, past click behaviour and...
- There are known knowns
- Delphi technique
- Central mediaCentral mediaCentral media were defined in the book The IRG Solution - hierarchical incompetence and how to overcome it and were those media which repeatedly broadcast a single identical message to many recipients such as mass media magazines and specialist technical and scientific journals...
- Hierarchical incompetenceHierarchical incompetenceHierarchical incompetence is the often observed inability of organisations to achieve the aims set for them. This can be due to the over-simplification of issues and the loss of tacit knowledge about issues as they ascend a hierarchical organization.There is often an inbuilt tendency for people up...
- Hierarchical organizationHierarchical organizationA hierarchical organization is an organizational structure where every entity in the organization, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity. This arrangement is a form of a hierarchy. In an organization, the hierarchy usually consists of a singular/group of power at the top with...
- Information Routing GroupInformation Routing GroupAn Information Routing Group is a component of social networks consisting of a semi-infinite set of similar interlocking and overlapping groups...
- Interlock diagramInterlock diagramAn interlock diagram is a real or imagined diagram that plots the actual interactions, physical, political, social, environmental between all entities within human societies. Each node is a specific activity such as a power station, or a policy such as controlled rent...
- Interlock researchInterlock researchInterlock research is a concept used to overcome the gaps in individual or group knowledge of which they are unaware of and which would result in incorrect action being taken, or important action not taken, leading to unintended consequences. It is based on the notion that no individual or group...
- Lateral communicationLateral communication-Organizational communication:In organizations and organisms, lateral communication works in contrast to traditional top-down, bottom-up or hierarchic communication and involves the spreading of messages from individuals across the base of a pyramid....
- Lateral diffusionLateral diffusionLateral diffusion is the process whereby information can be spread from one node in a social network to another, often in a selective way, and can rapidly traverse an entire population, but preferentially to those nodes likely to be interested, or needing to know. Messages or information are also...
- lateral mediaLateral mediaLateral media can be seen as any specific technology to promote lateral communication. A grapevine is in effect lateral communication but is not necessarily a lateral media if there is no technology. We then can consider informal help networks, email circulation lists, Information Routing Groups,...
- Law of unintended consequences
- Social network serviceSocial network serviceA social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
- Tacit knowledgeTacit knowledgeTacit knowledge is knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalising it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient...
- The IRG Solution - hierarchical incompetence and how to overcome itThe IRG Solution - hierarchical incompetence and how to overcome itThe IRG Solution is a book written by David Andrews and published in 1984.-Synopsis:The book, written in 1984, developed from a number of research papers at the Open University Energy Research Group, and an article appearing in the Guardian Newspaper which attempted an information- and...
- The Wisdom of CrowdsThe Wisdom of CrowdsThe Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, published in 2004, is a book written by James Surowiecki about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often better...
- Ludic fallacyLudic fallacyThe ludic fallacy is a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book The Black Swan. "Ludic" is from the Latin ludus, meaning "play, game, sport, pastime." It is summarized as "the misuse of games to model real-life situations." Taleb explains the fallacy as "basing studies of chance on the...