ABSTRACT

Hyperconnected societies offer new opportunities for the role of the individual voice. A deregulated world of information poses a paradox, however, in which fake news might conceivably underpin the political agenda more than informed research. The sheer amount of information available forces publics and audience members to seek shortcuts to knowledge through access to preferred academic, public intellectual or ‘thought leader’ perspectives. Drawing upon theories of deliberative democracy and open communication, this paper critiques the roles of academic, public intellectual and thought leader to move beyond discussion of the value of individual voices in the sharing of knowledge. It suggests that both public intellectuals and thought leaders illuminate how the individual voice makes an important contribution in providing continuity when open communication of research is disrupted by unruly speakers and publics.

摘要

高度互联的社会为个人声音的角色提供了新的机会。放宽管制的信息世界构成了一个悖论，但是，假新闻可能比政治研究更能支撑政治议程。可获得的大量信息迫使公众和听众通过首选的学术，公共知识分子或“思想领袖”的观点寻求捷径。本文基于协商民主和开放交流的理论，对学术界，公共知识分子和思想领袖的角色进行了批判，从而超越了讨论个人声音在知识共享中的价值的讨论。